https://forum.blitzortung.org/ Sun, 31 May 2026 21:37:16 +0000 MyBB https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4233 Fri, 29 May 2026 21:00:51 +0000 Stormchaser80]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4233
I am a meteorologist who has zero DIY skills, zero electrical or solder background. 

Can someone concisely tell me the different pieces of equipment needed, and whether or not I can purchase each fully produced? I am disabled and do the best I can. I am willing to pay a premium to have a plug and play solution. 

Thank You!
Steve]]>
I am a meteorologist who has zero DIY skills, zero electrical or solder background. 

Can someone concisely tell me the different pieces of equipment needed, and whether or not I can purchase each fully produced? I am disabled and do the best I can. I am willing to pay a premium to have a plug and play solution. 

Thank You!
Steve]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4232 Fri, 29 May 2026 16:08:54 +0000 isitwindy]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4232
I sent a registration / data access request via email a while back and haven't heard back — wanted to flag it here in case the forum is a better channel, and in case anyone with context can point me to the right next step.

What I'm building: IsItWindy.com, a free, ad-free pre-flight weather dashboard for hot-air balloon pilots. The lightning widget would show nearby Blitzortung-sourced strikes on a small map alongside winds aloft, METAR/TAF, and the rest of the pre-flight picture. Strictly advisory — the page already carries a disclaimer that the dashboard is one tool among many and not a substitute for an official briefing.

Quick profile:

Non-commercial. Free to users, no ads, no paid lightning tier.
Server-side only. Credentials stay on the backend; no scraping, no re-serving as our own.
Light load — polling scoped to the user's location, cached.
Attribution: every lightning view will show "Data: Blitzortung.org / LightningMaps.org" with a link back.
I'm a commercial balloon pilot myself in Phoenix, AZ — happy to look at running a station here if it would help the network in this corner of the country.
If there's a registration form I missed or a different channel I should be using, please point me at it and I'll get it sorted today.

Thanks — the Blitzortung community project is remarkable.]]>
I sent a registration / data access request via email a while back and haven't heard back — wanted to flag it here in case the forum is a better channel, and in case anyone with context can point me to the right next step.

What I'm building: IsItWindy.com, a free, ad-free pre-flight weather dashboard for hot-air balloon pilots. The lightning widget would show nearby Blitzortung-sourced strikes on a small map alongside winds aloft, METAR/TAF, and the rest of the pre-flight picture. Strictly advisory — the page already carries a disclaimer that the dashboard is one tool among many and not a substitute for an official briefing.

Quick profile:

Non-commercial. Free to users, no ads, no paid lightning tier.
Server-side only. Credentials stay on the backend; no scraping, no re-serving as our own.
Light load — polling scoped to the user's location, cached.
Attribution: every lightning view will show "Data: Blitzortung.org / LightningMaps.org" with a link back.
I'm a commercial balloon pilot myself in Phoenix, AZ — happy to look at running a station here if it would help the network in this corner of the country.
If there's a registration form I missed or a different channel I should be using, please point me at it and I'll get it sorted today.

Thanks — the Blitzortung community project is remarkable.]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4230 Thu, 21 May 2026 13:36:03 +0000 SchwabTh]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4230
When I select the Realtime Maps tab the window that comes up shows detectors and vectors but there no longer are any MAPS in the background.

Is there a fix for this?

https://www.blitzortung.org/en/live_ligh...php?map=30]]>
When I select the Realtime Maps tab the window that comes up shows detectors and vectors but there no longer are any MAPS in the background.

Is there a fix for this?

https://www.blitzortung.org/en/live_ligh...php?map=30]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4228 Fri, 15 May 2026 11:06:37 +0000 Karri]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4228
Tried to search this forum with all the relevant keywords but could not find this to have been discussed. Sorry in advance if I'm mistaken.

I am writing software to fetch the recent strikes as per documentation, and while everything else seems to work perfectly, the "time" parameter in the URL seems to be ignored.

/Data/Protected/last_strikes.php?time=1778840631155816319&number=30000&west=10&east=40&north=70&south=50&sig=0

done at time 1778840931155816319 (i.e. the request limit is 5 min earlier) results in response containing (as last record, there were 1188 records, so the "number" parameter did not limit anything either)

{"time":1778827480863817500,"lat":60.535376,"lon":33.547539,"alt":0,"pol":0,"mds":14367,"mcg":242,"status":0,"region":1}

Here are the times again with a fixed width font and a space separating seconds from nanoseconds
REQUEST:           1778840631 155816319
REQUEST DONE AT:   1778840931 155816319
RESPONSE:          1778827480 863817500

So the record is almost 4 hours old. I can easily filter those out, but just wondering whether there is a bug or I just do not understand something here. Likely the latter.

Also, the documentation states that the default value of the "time" is "current time stamp", which cannot possibly be true? Wouldn't that filter out all the strikes automatically (and by default!)?

Anyway, being new to this project and community, I have to say that I am deeply impressed by the quality of everything. Especially I love the no-nonsense diagnostic page of the station!]]>
Tried to search this forum with all the relevant keywords but could not find this to have been discussed. Sorry in advance if I'm mistaken.

I am writing software to fetch the recent strikes as per documentation, and while everything else seems to work perfectly, the "time" parameter in the URL seems to be ignored.

/Data/Protected/last_strikes.php?time=1778840631155816319&number=30000&west=10&east=40&north=70&south=50&sig=0

done at time 1778840931155816319 (i.e. the request limit is 5 min earlier) results in response containing (as last record, there were 1188 records, so the "number" parameter did not limit anything either)

{"time":1778827480863817500,"lat":60.535376,"lon":33.547539,"alt":0,"pol":0,"mds":14367,"mcg":242,"status":0,"region":1}

Here are the times again with a fixed width font and a space separating seconds from nanoseconds
REQUEST:           1778840631 155816319
REQUEST DONE AT:   1778840931 155816319
RESPONSE:          1778827480 863817500

So the record is almost 4 hours old. I can easily filter those out, but just wondering whether there is a bug or I just do not understand something here. Likely the latter.

Also, the documentation states that the default value of the "time" is "current time stamp", which cannot possibly be true? Wouldn't that filter out all the strikes automatically (and by default!)?

Anyway, being new to this project and community, I have to say that I am deeply impressed by the quality of everything. Especially I love the no-nonsense diagnostic page of the station!]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4225 Mon, 11 May 2026 12:43:03 +0000 NWStwisterman]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4225 https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4224 Sat, 09 May 2026 13:50:31 +0000 kd2om-1]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4224
Regards.
Steve KD2OM]]>
Regards.
Steve KD2OM]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4222 Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:02:33 +0000 MysticMom]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4222
As part of that process, my oldest daughter has become very focused on the lightning she experienced. She vividly remembers the sky turning purple, a tree outside her cabin being struck and split, and a period of time when the lightning felt almost constant—so much so that she says she could read her book by its light. These memories are deeply imprinted, and as we walk through therapy, we’ve found that gently grounding her experiences in verified facts can be incredibly helpful.

I have spent some time on the website and am able to see the entire state of Texas during the time period I am looking for.  But I would like to find more specialized data - a summary, list, confirmation of strike frequency, etc.

If at all possible, I would be so grateful for any lightning data you might be able to share for the following:

Date: July 4, 2025
Time window: 1:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. (local time)
Location: 30.0085451, -99.3703236

This would mean more to our family—particularly to my daughter’s healing—than I can adequately express.

Thank you for taking a moment to read this.]]>
As part of that process, my oldest daughter has become very focused on the lightning she experienced. She vividly remembers the sky turning purple, a tree outside her cabin being struck and split, and a period of time when the lightning felt almost constant—so much so that she says she could read her book by its light. These memories are deeply imprinted, and as we walk through therapy, we’ve found that gently grounding her experiences in verified facts can be incredibly helpful.

I have spent some time on the website and am able to see the entire state of Texas during the time period I am looking for.  But I would like to find more specialized data - a summary, list, confirmation of strike frequency, etc.

If at all possible, I would be so grateful for any lightning data you might be able to share for the following:

Date: July 4, 2025
Time window: 1:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m. (local time)
Location: 30.0085451, -99.3703236

This would mean more to our family—particularly to my daughter’s healing—than I can adequately express.

Thank you for taking a moment to read this.]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4220 Wed, 22 Apr 2026 07:11:42 +0000 aker]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4220
I'm Adrien Revel, technical director at AKER. I'm writing on behalf of artist Marie-Luce Nadal to request access to Blitzortung's historical lightning data for a non-commercial sound art installation.

The project is called "Skin Of the Sky" and premieres June 6, 2026 at the Église Saint-Laurent in Paris during Nuit Blanche. The concept: members of the public call a phone number and confide a wish to the sky. Their voice messages are then spatialized inside the church, triggered and positioned by real lightning strike coordinates. Using an azimuthal equidistant projection centered on the church, each strike maps to a physical direction in the nave. Storms over Sweden send voices from the north, storms over Brazil from the south-west, and so on.

What we find beautiful is the kinship between our projects: Blitzortung is built by a worldwide community of volunteers mapping the electrical activity of the sky; Skin Of the Sky collects anonymous voice messages, the emotional activity of people looking up. Both are participatory, open, and built on collective contribution.

What we need: access to a few days of global archived strike data for offline playback. We do not need real-time access.

Regarding the external project criteria:

• Non-commercial: public artwork, free admission, co-produced with the City of Paris
  
• Original use: lightning data drives spatial sound, not a map or weather tool
  
• Freely accessible to the public
  
• Blitzortung.org credited as data partner in all signage and communications
  
• No redistribution of raw data, used only within the physical installation
  
  

We'd be glad to share documentation and footage with the community afterward.

And if anyone here would like to participate, the phone line is open now: call +33 1 59 58 00 99 and confide a wish to the sky. Your voice could end up traveling through the church, carried by one of the lightning strikes you helped detect.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the remarkable network you've all built together.

Adrien Revel]]>
I'm Adrien Revel, technical director at AKER. I'm writing on behalf of artist Marie-Luce Nadal to request access to Blitzortung's historical lightning data for a non-commercial sound art installation.

The project is called "Skin Of the Sky" and premieres June 6, 2026 at the Église Saint-Laurent in Paris during Nuit Blanche. The concept: members of the public call a phone number and confide a wish to the sky. Their voice messages are then spatialized inside the church, triggered and positioned by real lightning strike coordinates. Using an azimuthal equidistant projection centered on the church, each strike maps to a physical direction in the nave. Storms over Sweden send voices from the north, storms over Brazil from the south-west, and so on.

What we find beautiful is the kinship between our projects: Blitzortung is built by a worldwide community of volunteers mapping the electrical activity of the sky; Skin Of the Sky collects anonymous voice messages, the emotional activity of people looking up. Both are participatory, open, and built on collective contribution.

What we need: access to a few days of global archived strike data for offline playback. We do not need real-time access.

Regarding the external project criteria:

• Non-commercial: public artwork, free admission, co-produced with the City of Paris
  
• Original use: lightning data drives spatial sound, not a map or weather tool
  
• Freely accessible to the public
  
• Blitzortung.org credited as data partner in all signage and communications
  
• No redistribution of raw data, used only within the physical installation
  
  

We'd be glad to share documentation and footage with the community afterward.

And if anyone here would like to participate, the phone line is open now: call +33 1 59 58 00 99 and confide a wish to the sky. Your voice could end up traveling through the church, carried by one of the lightning strikes you helped detect.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the remarkable network you've all built together.

Adrien Revel]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4213 Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:49:50 +0000 canonicalized]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4213 I'm a Tableau enthusiast interested in building a lightning map/dashboard.
I admire the Blitzortung project and would like to ask whether there is any approved way to access lightning strike data for a non-commercial visualization project. My intention is to use it to practice geospatial storytelling and data visualization.
If allowed, I can share the finished visualization on my Tableau Public profile, with full credit: public.tableau.com/app/profile/dorian.barosan
Please let me know whether this type of use is permitted and what the correct process would be.
Thank you!]]> I'm a Tableau enthusiast interested in building a lightning map/dashboard.
I admire the Blitzortung project and would like to ask whether there is any approved way to access lightning strike data for a non-commercial visualization project. My intention is to use it to practice geospatial storytelling and data visualization.
If allowed, I can share the finished visualization on my Tableau Public profile, with full credit: public.tableau.com/app/profile/dorian.barosan
Please let me know whether this type of use is permitted and what the correct process would be.
Thank you!]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4209 Sat, 21 Mar 2026 16:40:07 +0000 gmiller43]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4209
Can someone point me in the direction of:

• Where (geographically) would you expect the greatest improvement of accuracy (closer to the new detector)?
  
• Is there an explicit measure of error that would be expected to improve and where in the dataset would I find that?
  

Thanks.]]>
Can someone point me in the direction of:

• Where (geographically) would you expect the greatest improvement of accuracy (closer to the new detector)?
  
• Is there an explicit measure of error that would be expected to improve and where in the dataset would I find that?
  

Thanks.]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4206 Sun, 15 Mar 2026 21:22:14 +0000 Buckethead]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4206 I am a new user, and I messaged a forum member asking for information about a unit they have for sale.  They are receiving my messages, but I cannot see how to view messages to me.  I don't see any messages in my control panel.  So how do I view messages to me?

Thanks!]]> I am a new user, and I messaged a forum member asking for information about a unit they have for sale.  They are receiving my messages, but I cannot see how to view messages to me.  I don't see any messages in my control panel.  So how do I view messages to me?

Thanks!]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4205 Sat, 14 Mar 2026 20:03:34 +0000 gmiller43]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4205 https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4203 Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:43:53 +0000 PetrosKa]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4203
I do have some interference from a solar inverter during the day, but the station was working ok.

Station 18, green pcb 6.8
Thank you.

  tr.jpg (Size: 37.98 KB / Downloads: 5) ]]>
I do have some interference from a solar inverter during the day, but the station was working ok.

Station 18, green pcb 6.8
Thank you.

  tr.jpg (Size: 37.98 KB / Downloads: 5) ]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4201 Sat, 07 Mar 2026 09:36:51 +0000 Gorzzz]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4201
Looks like my p/s for my system blue is starting to die as it's only putting out 4v. I was going to get another powerstream one (https://www.powerstream.com/AC-1898.htm), but I'm not going to pay $70US (!) for postage to Australia.
So, can any Aussies on here point me to some alternatives??

Thanks,

John (Gorzzz)]]>
Looks like my p/s for my system blue is starting to die as it's only putting out 4v. I was going to get another powerstream one (https://www.powerstream.com/AC-1898.htm), but I'm not going to pay $70US (!) for postage to Australia.
So, can any Aussies on here point me to some alternatives??

Thanks,

John (Gorzzz)]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4198 Thu, 26 Feb 2026 01:42:29 +0000 steerage250]]> https://forum.blitzortung.org/showthread.php?tid=4198
Refreshing the screen just repeats the situation.

Edge displays the map correctly.

Blitzortung cookies are present. If I delete them, they get re-created when I open the page again - but unlike other PCs (where the maps display correctly), I am not asked to accept cookies.]]>
Refreshing the screen just repeats the situation.

Edge displays the map correctly.

Blitzortung cookies are present. If I delete them, they get re-created when I open the page again - but unlike other PCs (where the maps display correctly), I am not asked to accept cookies.]]>