Saturday, July 24, 2021

Lightning detected on the 28 MHz band - 23rd July 2021

 


Friday 23rd July 2021: During the afternoon of the 23rd, I noticed what sounded like a continuous stream of static crashes on the 28 MHz band. I checked the Irish weather website Met Éireann and sure enough, there was a huge thunder storm crossing Ireland about 130-150kms to the north of me.

I have heard static crashes from lightning before but never on this scale. It's usually a static crash every 10-20 seconds but this one was almost continuous.

I was wondering at first if it was some local noise source but I could hear the number of static crashes reduce as the storm moved west.

Even though I am using just a basic CB type half-wave vertical on 28 MHz, I do have a good view to the north. If some of these strikes were from cloud to cloud at a km or two above the ground then I was probably line of sight to some of them.

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