For those with an interest in Thunderstorms and their potential effect on the RB and other electronic equipment......
The thunderstorm tracking facility at Newport (IoW) is currently showing 2 T-storms ( both SE of Newport 41 and 39 miles)....both appear to be moving North towards the Thorney Island/W Sussex area- one is moderate intensity - one is weak - both weakening.
The website with all the info and graphics ....
http://www.isleofwightweather.co.uk/live_storm_data.htm
Always been very interested in thunderstorms. I run a Boltek lightning detector here in France with my weather station and RadarBox . It's very interesting to watch weather avoidance on the RB in conjunction with the lightning detector map.
DC
I will be unplugging my RB antenna as the thunderstorms approach - and I'll be switching off my PC and disconnecting it from the mains if the storms come overhead!
I can't remember when we last had a thunderstorm up here. Wonder why - we used to get thunderstorms all the time when we lived in Bournemouth.
Heavy thunderstorms all around us at the moment. I've got the Airnav antenna kit with pre-amp, DC-block, etc mounted in the loft. Is my Radarbox safe?
Who knows you can only do your best and keep fingers crossed, that is unless you hit the shutdown button!
Quote from: tarbat on July 02, 2009, 02:06:51 PM
Heavy thunderstorms all around us at the moment. I've got the Airnav antenna kit with pre-amp, DC-block, etc mounted in the loft. Is my Radarbox safe?
You are just as likely to receive a hit via a phone line connected to your PC.
A few years ago lightning struck the house next door but I just ended up having to reboot my PC after it locked :-)
I'm hoping that because we're in a bungalow (no chimney) surround by houses (with chimneys), that one of the houses would take the hit for us!!!
Glad I kept all my antenna in the loft. It's so rare for us to get thunderstorms, these are the first we've had since moving north 5 years ago.
I does not really work like that, a charge can build up from a flat location, mostly its all down to luck ;-)
I expect future storms to be much more frequent than we have had in the past.
I remember a Radio ham disconnecting his antenna and putting the lead in a glass jam jar because he believed it would prevent a strike.
The lightning still struck his antenna came down the cable and instead fo going via the equipment to earth jumped across the room and took the TV out!
Does having the antenna in the loft make it a lot safer? I've got 3 TV aerials, my RB antenna, an airband antenna, Sony HF antenna, and my discone all mounted inside the loft, so hope they're safer there.
Just like the roof does not fully insulate against radio reception it also does not insulate against lightning strikes it just depends how close it is.
If you feel statically charged and you hair stands on end during a storm, then a strike is imminent ;-)
It's going mad up here with this thunderstorm. Flybe aircraft (BEE325V) just reported a lightning strike.
Quote from: tarbat on July 02, 2009, 03:17:49 PM
It's going mad up here with this thunderstorm. Flybe aircraft (BEE325V) just reported a lightning strike.
Thats the excitement, if you switched your box off you would miss all the action.
Although sometimes you don't have a choice!! Just lost electric, followed a fraction later by the loudest crack of thunder I've ever heard. Suspect it hit something nearby. Radarbox still working fine :)
Listening to the controllers at Tain and Inverness, it's obvious that they're not used to thunderstorms up here either. Damn climate change! It's just like being back on the south coast.
Red Arrows display in an hours time is looking unlikely :(
It looks like you are having an interesting time up there!
Yep, interesting weather. Wildest and loudest thunderstrorm I've ever seen, but it cleared as quickly as it appeared. Red Arrows managed to display at Tain on schedule in bright sunshine. They've just landed back at EGPE.
And throughout my Radarbox and UBC800XLT worked great.
Quote from: tarbat on July 02, 2009, 05:36:41 PM
And throughout my Radarbox and UBC800XLT worked great.
I would have kept mine active in the same situation, ATC do not shutdown during a storm.
hi tarbet
based at lossie for a number of years and we regularly had lightning risk 1 decared on the base during summer months even had a fw called buring heavy winter snow storms
cheers paul
ps bro in law had his house struck when he lived in wick
It's 02:55 GMT here in Suffolk and the Thunderstorms from France have just arrived. It's so humid I can't sleep. It's just started raining and Thunder is rumbling around.