HI guys,
just to let you know that there is a guy in Europe that has projected and realized an excellent lightning detector …let me say…comparable to the best BOLTEK one…I’m going to buy it from him…
Here is the link…have a look who might be interested in
http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/Tracker/LightningRadarSystemV18.pdf
http://users.edpnet.be/DanielV37/Detecteur3/Antenna/Antenna.htm#Hardware
He is available for each more info…
I am liking the 1st one
I wonder what the cost is for the full setup including software?
It’s a very interesting project, and it’s come a long way but it’s not quite a Boltek yet. Without using the web triangulation with other stations the directional info has a 180 degree uncertainty. For instance it will show a strike to the NE of you at NE, and also at SW.
Thats a shame, so in effect it has to be used in conjunction with other setups of the
same hardware?
Hi Niko
youre right - here is what they write in the documentation:
The lightning strikes are received using a frame antenna set at 10 kHz. At this frequency range the lightning
sends impulses over a range of several thousand kilometers. The antenna consists of a frame, around which
wire is wound in multiple windings. The antenna measures the magnetic part of a wave and has the advantage
that it is less sensitive to interfering electrical fields. With a single antenna, the lightning strike can be detected
but the direction cannot be measured. For this reason a second identical antenna is mounted at 90 degrees to the
first antenna. The direction can be calculated from the two signals measured. It is still not possible to say for
certain that the lightning strike occurred at one direction, exactly opposite direction could also have been
possible (+180 degrees). This is also due to the fact that we do not know if the lightning strike had a positive or
negative charge. If you are working with a single station, a third antenna is therefore necessary to detect the
charge and therefore the correct direction of the strike. A single station cannot be used to determine the exact
position / distance of the strike. This can only be estimated from the strength of the signal, since not all
lightning strikes have the same energy. Lightning Radar works in a group of a number of stations and can
therefore calculate the correct direction and the position / distance using only 2 antennas.
Best regards,
Henrik
All true, but for the small cost of the parts and ease of construction (especially for the original wire-wound-on-a-wooden-frame antenna) it is still a very interesting and worthwhile project. These guys have done a great job. The problem is that true direction needs signals from three antennas, but the reason the cost is so low is that it uses the PC sound “card” to process the signals and that only has two signal inputs 
Here is the link if you want to build your own
http://members.home.nl/fkooiman/lightning/
and get the software for free.
I think Spectrum Lab’s radio direction finder can resolve the 180 degree ambiguity still using only a two-channel soundcard if the two H-field loop antennas are combined in a single channel with a “90 degree combiner”, and then the E-field antenna is connected to the second channel. The details on the webpage
Colour Direction Finder (scroll to the top to see the whole article)
are limited, and to be honest I don’t actually know what the circuit for a “90 degree combiner” looks like, or even if they are available off the shelf. I expect many of you are using Spectrum Lab, it is really an outstanding piece of software that very fortunately also happens to be freeware.
Aha, that’s very interesting…
Hello,
I have been building one of these for the last year… just finished the antenna and installed it on the roof. Still have away to go… with a few ‘adjustments’
John
Hi John
Could you take some pictures and share with us?
Best regards,
Henrik
hi everybody
this looks like a interesting project
I think I will give it a try and build one
mick 
I’ll what I can do… it’s bit Heath Robinson
hi everybody
I just finished building my antenna for the lightning radar
circuit board and components should arrive in a couple of weeks
here is a picture of the antenna I have built to the specifications in instructions
mick
Ok I’m using the same system for over a year now and been very good, it’s not a plug and play system and needs a bit of work before you get it going. Here are some photos, 1st a test antenna and 2nd the antenna I use now. You can see my web page for the output.
Peter
Is it under lightning? I get a nice snick snick sound but no page
Hi Niko,
Yes it’s under “lightning” “Europe” you just have to press the lightning and see the sub menu to the left, it’s just a flash menu that I have to fix up at some stage.
Peter
Well, here are the picys of my setup… You will see the old housing, which I used a Cat6 cable to carry the power and the signals, this idea I got from the chap ‘Daniel’ who originally designed the PCB, however this is did not work out, as I found quite a bit for cross talk between the various wires. I then moved the signal wires to their own individually screened cable, bingo… problem gone… however the pre amp housing is miles too small, and a bit of a cludge. So I have started on a new housing, much bigger, which will allow for the cables to come in via their own glands. and also allow room for any expansion that Daniel is thinking about. I have just started looking for parts for the permanent antenna. which will be a lot more resistant to the weather.
Here is a picy on the current way I have mounted the antenna. Due to the fact it’s on a flat roof, I can not just drill into the roof, nor can I fit it off the edge on a poll similar to the anemometer… So whilst walking around a diy store at Christmas, I saw a Christmas tree holder… ideal 
The is only one problem with it… too light… so addition of some old tool steel scraps, lead… this made it heavy enough, but the four chunks of plastic allowed it antenna to move around… so half a bucket of plaster later… done… I’m not sure what will happen to it in the winter, with the frost, but it only has to last a couple of years for me to get the other antenna built. Being that it has already taken a year to get this far… :lol:
I thought the idea was to put it inside the roof (actic), so then it does not get exposed to the wind/rain etc ?
