Week 37 - A neat project

A couple of weeks back I was sitting outside chatting to my friend Colin. There was some thunderstorm activity around, and suddenly the siren on the golf course started sounding - A warning to golfers to make haste, and not to stand under the trees!

Now, one of my hobbies is amateur radio. ("Ham radio"). And this means that I have a couple of antennas high above the house. When lightning is around it is sensible to stop operating, and either unplug everything, or make sure it is properly earthed. We live in an area of very high lightning activity, and I don't want to put myself at risk any more than necessary!

So, we discussed how to build a simple lightning detector. I found some information on the internet, and looked through my workshop for all the components. I had most of what was required, and started on a thursday afternoon, and by saturday I had it complete. Here are a couple of pictures of the completed project.

It looks like a little radio, and in fact that's exactly what it is! But it does not pick up any stations, only the static of thunderstorms. Each time it picks up a lightning strike, the little LED flashes briefly, and there is a click from the small loudspeaker. On the righthand side is a standard DB9 serial connector - This provides an output from the detector which can be linked into a computer, so we can record all the strikes in future.

Here is a view of the innards, showing the little piece of circuit board and components, and the battery holder.

If anyone is interested in more information, send me an email at zs6phd@mweb.co.za.

If there are any hams out there who would like to chat I am accessible on IRLP node 8661 - Johannesburg (Sandton). My callsign is ZS6PHD, also ZS9P in the contests.