Ireland's second Lightning Detector

Danno

Back online now! Master game of Hurling in Portlaoise, congrats to the Dubs, 0-18 to 1-12 win for them in the end - Dubs will go along way in the championship.

Back on topic... Got the syncom running... what do I do next to configure WASP2 and FTP?

Danno

Found the "readme" file...

Snowbie

The WASP2 will allow you to see all of Europe's triangulated lightning in real time with also a regional view on your centred position over Durrow.(Did you max the value range to 300km?)

The FTP uploads to your website, just put a new link on your site.

Danno

I have syncom and nexstorm running. In NexStorm under the Options menu, I selected
"FlashGate IPC" and enabled the Strike option.

Nexstorm is already outputting to http://durrow.athost.net/lightning - is there still a step or piece of software I'm missing?

Snowbie

Have you got the wasp2 zip in an email from Relko?

Danno

Nope, just got syncom.

I will email him again. Does this mean that trinagulation is not currently happening then?

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

Nope, just got syncom.

I will email him again. Does this mean that triangulation is not currently happening then?

Yes you are but the WASP(wide area storm probe) is a separate program that lets you view your data in real time(every second) aswell as real time lightning from the rest of europe.My regional view is live on my site but every minute for a visitor to the site you will also see a similar map for your regional display but centred over your location.The real time lightning for Europe(full display) is only accessible to WASP participants and cant be linked or uploaded to your site for visitors to your/mine websites.

You are triangulating however not in real time on the strikestarEU site but every minute

http://www.strikestareu.com/

I got the syncom first from him and a few hours later after he constructed the map, he sent it to me.
Just send him another email.

Danno

That makes sense. Emailled him there now. Hopefully something tomorrow in email. I also contacted NW-UK again.

Does syncom perform auto ranging/calibrating within Nexstorm?

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

I also contacted NW-UK again.

Go onto NW site and search for Paul the site developer and PM him directly from there.

Does syncom perform auto ranging/calibrating within Nexstorm?

No, syncom sync's your uploaded data from nexstorm to the servers hosting the strikestar triangulation.

I currently use 3 syncoms.

StrikestarUK
StrikestarEU
Netweather Strikestar

Danno

Whoaa! Thats alot of syncoms! You must have a dedicated Broadband connection just for all the weather thingys!

My Digiweb connection (1024/128 fixed wireless) is feeling the strain from VOIP Line, Weatherlink, Nexstorm, Syncon, PC for general browsing and herself doing online data input on a laptop.

So, WASP2 and NW-Syncom will need to be added to the shed PC then. Poor PC - 1000Mhz AMD, 128 RAM, 10gb HDD and WinXP Pro - I can hear it creak already!!!

Oh and not to forget I use "LogMeIn" software to view the shed PC from work over the net also!!!

I wonder would a weather web-cam be a straw too far? :eek:

Danno

So, how exactly does triangulation work between our two detectors? (Automatic - if any)

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

So, how exactly does triangulation work between our two detectors? (Automatic - if any)

To put in laymans terms, if you, i and a ceratin detector in the UK record a strike in the Irish sea for example the closer two of the strikes indicate the near position or close proximity of the strike.All you need to have is the antanna heading spot on and triangulation does the rest. Again the more the merrier for accuracy but that is a simplified way on how it works. Also the closer the strike to the detector the greater the accuracy nearly to the metre.

2/3 of strikes will be picked up in Ireland with our detectors triangulating. Basically a line from you, north to south and east of that is covered by us two and morecomb in UK. The west of that line for Ireland will be least favourite as morecomb is out of range for there and the west will be covered by us two only counting a decent % but not all for triangulating.

It is ran on autopilot through syncom via nexstorm and vica versa, uploads to Relko's server and the program(strikestar/WASP2) does the rest.You can tell from the strikestareu map where the detectors are and best triangulation.

Also configure the config file in syncom to autostart by placing 1 and delaystart to 60 incase of the likes of this morning if your pc reboots. This will auto start syncom and also do the same for nexstorm in the nexstorm tab menu.

Danno

Savage stuff. So I take it that the Syncom/WASP2 will, over time, eradicate ranging and calibrating for anything east of me?

Will configure the file tomorrow evening.

Hopefully there will be some decent storms over the next few days to give all this software a right good test.

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

Savage stuff. So I take it that the Syncom/WASP2 will, over time, eradicate ranging and calibrating for anything east of me?

Yes most defo

Hopefully there will be some decent storms over the next few days to give all this software a right good test.

This Friday looks warm and humid with more weather ingredients. Me thinks its a good day for storms.

Danno

Hopefully WASP2 will be in the email inbox tomorrow night. (c.11pm) Goodbye for now.

Danno

Using "LogMeIn" to check email. Nothing from Relko yet. Looks like potential showers building around here today - even though it's still dry. Very muggy out.

Danno

Speak of the Divil:

Relko wrote:

You are already contributing your data via the Syncom client software.
WASP2 is on the receiving end, meaning you can use it to view network
data in real-time on a map (e.g. triangulated lightning data).

To get WASP2 please complete the form on this link:
http://www.astrogenic.com/wmof.jsp

So I have that form filled in and sent in... the waiting game continues :rolleyes:

Danno

NW-UK are moving servers at the moment and will add me thereafter. Thank God I logged on today!

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

Speak of the Divil:



So I have that form filled in and sent in... the waiting game continues :rolleyes:

You did use the max 300km for the regional range?

You should have that by tonight, and i will go through a few things with you when you get it installed.

Danno

Nothing in the email yet. Yup, I put 300km on the form. RTE tonight are forecasting an interesting weekend for storms. Tormorrow and Monday look the best.

Danno

Got the WASP2 up and running. Will post the map on http://durrow.athost.net later on this evening.

Snowbie

Good, now familiarise yourself with the Error Tolerance in the readme file later on.

Danno

Snowbie, where do I find the WASP2 data on the PC to FTP on to the site? Nearly there with this. Can you post instructions?

Snowbie

Firstly(forget about FTP for the mo), Can you view WASP2 on PC now?

Hit Windows Start button and it should be there?

Danno

Yes, it's on my screen (Using LogMeIn) It appears to be running grand. I can see european strikes live.

Snowbie

Didn't realise you where accessing remotely.

It is the same FTP setting you use for nexstorm but create a folder where you can upload the screencaps too and name it exactly the same as in the FTP source dir.Make sure your screencap file(wasp2.png) is appearing in your html folder in the files of your host site.

The page should read http://durrow.athost.net/wasp2.png and then put a link to it in your website.

Danno

I saved the map images to My Pictures on the local PC. I pointed WASP2 to these images in the map config screen. Does WASP2 write the data on to these images (in My Pictures) OR does it generate new *.png images somewhere else on the Hard Disk? I searched the C:\Progra~1\Astrogenic\WASP2 Folder, but nothing there...

I am thinking at this stage that I need to be FTP the My Pictures files to the Web. Logging in remotely is likes using a 14.4kbps connection! Setting up the WASP remotely this morning took nearly 1 hour!

I might leave it till this evening to sort out the WASP FTP. But the program is working fine locally. I presume my data is going in there.

I will try and setup http://durrow.athost.net/wasp/wasp2.png for now - keep an eye out for it over the next few minutes.

Danno

Scratch the above - found the file - have it uploading to http://durrow.athost.net/wasp/wasp2.png - I will create a page around this tonight. I will set it up to upload every 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Snowbie

Danno if you can adjust your plot scale in nexstorm 0.7 or less.
The storm over N Kerry your picking it up too far out in the Atlantic. This will not triangulate on WASP as your error tolerance will exceed 45km.

Danno

Have it set to 0.675. Hope it does the trick.

Interesting showers forming out there across the south and west now... Cheers Snowbie.

Snowbie

Atm its not triangulating, my theory on west of your position is correct so far unfortunately. Though just to your south we both should have it spot on but the UK detectors are not picking it up. We need a third detector in Ireland. Our east should be fine.

Danno

I see the echo in the S/SE are being shown on the WASP2. Something is working

Danno

The following page is now live: http://durrow.athost.net/wasp/

Is there anything else to be done Snowbie, can you think of anything?

Snowbie

That link i Pm'd you last night gives you good advice on calibrating the detector. I suggest you read it through and go step by step. He is in an area similar to you.
Although you need a good storm to calibrate it, 5 strikes p/min is alright, preferably 10 p/min is best.

It takes time and alot of patience. 1 strike is not enough to do it. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will have a decent bearing and distance to storms on the triangulation.We will get there eventually.

Regarding WASP2, read the pdf file in the readme. Error tolerance has to be understood fully.

Snowbie

Danno the triangulation is working fine with the intense storms, they are plotting perfectly

Danno

Back online now. 2000+ Strikes today!

Danno

Snowbie, I noticed that I also have over 2000 noises today. Is there a problem with the detector or is it normal when such a close t'horm occurs???

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

Snowbie, I noticed that I also have over 2000 noises today. Is there a problem with the detector or is it normal when such a close t'horm occurs???

Sorry Danno, only saw this. Yep that is normal. When A TS is close by within 25miles they give off a lot of noise.If the Ts was further than 100miles and the noise count was that high then there be a problem.
Have you got the noise ranging assist on Full?
Also have you got the noise level set to default?


There is a TS over Leitrim/Cavan border atm, you are ranging it over Donegal, use the segmented ranging to bring this in a couple of increments.

Danno

I will pull the total ranging in from 0.6750 to say 0.5000 as the Kerry/Limerick storms appear off the coast.

Yes, Noise ranging is full and level is default. BTW Have you Windows Live Messenger?

Danno

I have done -2 incremented ranging from 270 degrees to 360 degrees in the 61 miles plus range.

Snowbie

Danno wrote: »

BTW Have you Windows Live Messenger?

Yep Pm sent. But with regrads to this thread, it be worthwhile for someone to look up this thread for future reference if they also get a detector so we should post as much info as possible here

Danno

True. I'll continue to post here. Windows live would be handy for calibrating on the fly tho.

CIDK

Well Lads,

Been thinking of getting a detector for some time now and and pretty sure i should probably get one after reading up a good bit about them and reading through various threads here......

Will order as soon as i get back to work after the christmas(so I can have a reliabel delivery address).

Mine will be based in Midleton Co. Cork (sorry not going to move up west just yet) I expect to be online by the end of Jan 09 at the latest. I'll provide the data netweather aswell as making it directly availably via NexStorm.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some help off you guys while I'm setting up.

John

Danno

Well done CIDK, a third station would be brilliant and in an ideal location in the south also. Any help required just ask either myself or Snowbie.

By the way, do you have a weather station also?

CIDK

Thanks for that Danno,
I do have a weather station bought a few years ago, but to be honest it’s a cheap piece of crap that has no abailty to communicate with a data logger or has any automated online ability. I've been using you guys for fairly reliable data online in that regard for the last year or two. Since my main interest is in the convective stuff and am mad about lightning, I think a Boltek would be more appropriate at this time for me. We defo need another few this side of the pond anyway.
Something decent like a Davis will next on the card once this little project is over.
I think you might be meeting up with the Netweather USA 2009 Stormchase group down in Cork so will be looking forward to meeting you down there unless there is another Danno from Laois on Netweather??

Danno

Nope, only 1 Danno on NW-TV. Hopefully the Sunday will not clash with a work day. Will know for sure closer to the time.

Snowbie

Good stuff mate, that bethe 4th detector on this island now. The third one Danno is in Clougfern(also a member of the IWN) in Newtownabbey NI here

Are you getting the Boltek PCI stormtracker or the LD-250 unit?

CIDK

Still not sure on which one I'm going to buy Snowbie. Was thinking initially the LD 250 given that is its relatively mobile with a bit of effort. Was then thinking I might be able to use it in the US but in fairness but since we’ve got Barron, so the chances anything are your driving into has major lightning anyway so I don’t think having a mobile unit will be of any help to me or the lads.
Then there’s the cost, gonna be a good $200 more after shipping VS the PCI with the same detector.
Probably going with the PCI since it’s pretty much the same device and costs a good few quid less . Which one are you guys using??

Snowbie

I have both myself.
The ld-250 i did use out on the chase with a compatible NMEA GPS unit and laptop. It gave me good direction but have found the Spark.clk (on nexstorm site) uploads to my mobile phone all from my desktop PCI detector and should eliminate the need for ld-250(but wheres the fun in that) The ld-250 detects strikes but cannot distinguish the polarity of that strike. There is an ld-350 in the making but when thats released??? will capture all polarities of the strikes eg -CC CG and +CC CG

I use the PCI stromtracker (no problem in detecting polarities) used on the desktop here and find it very useful but takes along time to calibrate. The Nexstrom 2 software should be out sometime in 2009 eliminating the many years of calibrating that can be required.

Danno

I have the PCI one. It is in an old PC box - 1ghz, 128ram, 10gb hdd, XP Pro sp2. Needless to say, my next investment will be a newer PC box as the current one is soooo slow that any calibrating that needs to be done would be a torture.

I am on the look out for a DELL Optiplex. Very quiet machine.