Boltek LD-350 - Manual (Page 17)

O P E R A T I O N
12
Noise
Noise signals can be either a signal that did not appear to be lightning, or a signal for which the
LD-350 could not determine a distance or direction.
Operation noise can come from noisy overhead power lines, or noisy electronic devices.
Receiver Range
LD-350 has a range of about three hundred miles. Occasionally, strong storms farther than 300
miles away may be detected.
The receiver’s maximum range will be affected by antenna height. While you can receive storms
with the antenna at virtually any height, you will have maximum range with antenna mounted at
least 25 feet above ground.
Other factors that could affect range are metal objects located near the antenna. Metal objects
can block the radio waves from getting to the antenna, reducing the range. A large steel shed or
other metal object nearby could block lightning signals, resulting in reduced range in that
direction. Try to mount the antenna as far as possible from large metal objects, preferably
above the object.
LTS-3 Timestamp Card (optional)
The LTS-3 Timestamp Card is an optional board that plugs directly into your LD-350 to
capture the exact time the LD-350 receives the lightning radio signals. Using a high accuracy
timing GPS receiver the data is timestamped with an accuracy of hundreds of nanoseconds
(billionths of a second).
The LD-350/LTS-3 has the advantage of not requiring a host PC for operation as a lightning
network detector. Once configured for the URL or IP address of up to two central servers the
LD-350 will automatically maintain the data connection using its built-in Ethernet.
In the usual configuration, data from multiple distributed lightning detectors is sent over the
internet to a central server for processing. Once the exact strike location is calculated the data is
both stored in a database on the server and sent back over the internet to live display clients.
Static and animated lightning maps can also be created for display on a web site.