S-A-R-S

Single Antenna / Radar System

An actual single antenna SARS plot, using one antenna only,

connected to self with mobile LR near South Pole

What is SARS?

  SARS is a new single antenna  mode of Lightning Radar using only one antenna to find the lightning strikes.  Running two copies of LR you can connect to your own antenna as well as others.  Other stations can still use your transponder side of the pair of programs.

  A good understanding of the normal LR method of detection is required to understand this mode as its the same in all but one respect.  Please take a read on this page of the original LR page if you need to better understand how it all works.

How It Works

 The diagram on the right shows how to configure a SARS system.  Two computers are used in a Transponder / Mobile LR station configuration.

Each LR program receives the same target information. Since the Mobile LR is off set to a different location, triangulation can occur between the two locations.  This has never been done before in this fashion as far as I can determine. 

  Transponder LR Side

CPU 1 shown at right >

  The transponder LR program works in a normal fashion to allow other net stations to connect and use your antenna system as normal. Port 4711 /4712 should be open.

The other thing it does is show up on your Mobile LR Map as a regular station that YOU can connect to.   So you can now connect to your own antenna.  On my site the green is normally where you see the white square.  Down in South America the round white circle is where I sent my LR Mobile for this session. (using lon /lat settings)  I then connected to my San Antonio white station, thus giving the connected indicator on the Transponder LR.

 This allows single antenna operation, at the same time allowing other stations to use your transponder function along with you.   That's ALL this side of the system should be used for, as the Mobile LR is where you will connect to your own antenna and upload your results from it.

Mobile LR Side  >

  Shown at the right is the Mobile LR Main program to use for all  normal strike detection.  

As you can see the Mobile LR is connected to San Antonio, which is my own antenna.  On this test the station in Maine was also connected in a normal fashion.  So on the plot there will be two sets of strikes going on.  Your antenna will be supplying strikes, and the other station will be supplying strikes.  If your antenna can see strikes the other station cant see, you will still get the strike off yours!  In fact connecting only to your antenna alone, will give you all the strikes your antenna can sense.  This makes a great system tuning tool! You can watch your own system as your tuning your settings for best results.  Totally independent of any other stations results or settings.

FTP your results to the net off the Mobile side, not the transponder side.. Its just there to supply connections and sense the RF off the antenna..

Going Mobile--

In order to give the Mobile side triangulation angle, its necessary to move it off your stations Lat / Lon.. If your using LR version 8622  changes will take place immediately up on typing them in.  Later versions you must type in the lat and lon then kill and restart the program to have it take effect.  You will get no results if both the mobile and transponder have the same location!

Note:  Different versions of LR can act different.  I've found the best results with versions 8622 and 959,968 series.  Also of note is the map projection is different on ones past version 8622.  The Globe maps perform correctly with 8622 but strikes and stations go out into space with the later versions of LR.  Not a big deal if your not using them..

Also you will find that 8622 is a lot more sensitive and faster acting on sync.  Copy the right window time into the left and sync will come very soon compared to later versions.  

In the single antenna mode with version 8622 , strikes may become so fast that you will need to slow them down with the filters, TOA,200ms, or non checked RT clock.  If you get so many strikes it just fogs the map, turn the display time down to the 3 min or less area.  This can happen when propagation is real good.  Use the strike area correcting feature of Focus to collect the strikes near each other  into a group.  Experiment for the best display.

  Mo

Note:

This is a new mode, one of two recent experimental discoveries brought about by the need for a way to get away from EMI.  This particular mode accomplishes nothing for that need, but has so much to offer, it was finally configured to work.  The real mode for escaping EMI is the SPSM mode for which you need a generator yet to be developed..(*)  It has been done to prove the concept but generator limitations limit its ability to move everywhere its needed.  With it, you can park your mobile unit next to say South Africa and see storms right across from you that you cant see any other way.. Its really an exciting mode to be researching...

Good luck to any one wanting to experiment with these new modes.  I look forward to seeing other stations testing their own antennas and improving reception that way.   

Gerry Gore  WB5TXA, San Antonio USA

* UPDATE:  A SPSM Generator has been developed.

WAfter initial testing it will have pages of its own to explain things.

t  Here is a storm off NZ I just happened to catch while experimenting. Mobile in Pacific.