> Hi All,
>
> We're looking at installing a stormscope also. It will require a ground
> plane to operate. No dimensions known yet. We've found the goodrich doesn't
> want much to do with homebuilts and composites. We're working with a dealer
> who has some experience installing them in Bellancia Vikings. He says it can
> be done but will require some experimenting. Says will require skin mapping
> althou Aviation Consumer report says stormscpe will skin map itself. Still
> early in our project so no real answers for quite a while.
>
> Jim & Heather A185
I have the Boltek LD-250 Lightning Detector (boltek.com), and it works
amazingly well at home. For aircraft use, you'd have to plug it into
a laptop (PDA even?), or use its RS-232 output, with a little
programming, to display on a cheap graphical LCD. Anyway, the concern
for other than playtoy or showoff use like this may wind up is these
things cannot distinguish between a nearby weak strike or a monster
far away. They therefore make software assumptions to move the
"strike" to where it makes sense. For metal aircraft use, this is no
problem, as the odds are very high that a weak strike to the airframe
will be harmless. The idea is to steer clear of the collection of
dots, the location of the actual storms. However, a strike to a
composite A/C is likely disastrous, so that any indication of activity
at even say 50 miles calls for landing the bird, I would argue. On
that basis, there are inexpensive devices for like golfers and boaters
that won't tell you azimuth, but activity and approximate distance.
Indeed the ground plane issue is real, as the documentation with the
Boltek suggests it's sensitive to distance of the low frequency
antenna above earth ground. The "fake" ground plane needed for a
composite A/C may then also critically affect its accuracy in distance
and may need to be just so.
Best,
Fred F.
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