2025-08-10, 20:49
Quote:My question is: are there any hams that are involved with this system to receive and report lightning strikes, anywhere in the world.
Goodness gracious. Founder Egon Wanke is DL1YDB. Look at the station list. Station 1824 is N5CNB. Station 2110 is W2PJ. Station 2382 is K9BBN. Station 1892 is VE7IPX. Station 2811 is CU7BC. Station 2818 is IZ3STA. Station 1846 is CT4RK. And on and on.
Quote:Is the board difficult to populate, and does it require any surface mount components?
There are two boards. The preamp board that I received last week (23.1) had two things to solder -- an RJ35 jack and a terminal strip. Neither was SMT. The main board that came with it (22.2) had two things to solder -- a big electrolytic and a terminal strip. Once again no SMT. Here is a snapshot of the entire solder-parts bag.
All surface-mount components had already been mounted for me.
And the firmware had already been loaded.
Quote:What about the receiving antenna...I see a lot of variations and wonder which type has shown the best success.
Keep in mind that if you purchase the station that I purchased (the Blue Mini, aka Blue Basic) you don't get to use an E-field antenna. The preamp and main board are set up specifically for H-field antennas. And the number of antennas is limited to two.
Yes it is an option to construct your own H-field antennas. As a ham myself I was very tempted to try to construct my own. Then I laid down for a while until the feeling went away, and I went to Ferrite Rod Antennas (it seems I am not allowed to post the URL) and purchased two FRA-200/12s. Smartest choice I ever made. When they arrived I hooked everything up and it worked pretty well. Lots of my reports got used. Then I shielded the antennas. Now lots more of my reports get used.
Quote:73 de K7UV
73 de AA2KW