Storm Damage in Sydney: How Severe Was It?

[davenn]

Hi all

has a particularly nasty storm over the Sydney city area last nite
trees down, building damaged, this morning still many homes without power

a couple of lightning shots from home ...

cheers
Dave

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Wow really nice action! Have you ever taken videos?

 

[davenn]

Wow really nice action! Have you ever taken videos?

Thanks :)
yes, I did some of that from down at the local wharf till the storm hit, then headed home to continue photo'ing from the relative safety of home

With all the new cameras and their HD capabilities, its frustrating that I ( and others) cannot produce great HD lightning video
With the CMOS sensor, that is almost the only available these days, they cannot handle the bright lightning flashes with the "rolling stutter" system they use
they produce dark and light banding across the frameFor video, I am still using a 9 year old Fuji S9500 that uses a CCD sensor, they used a on/off shutter mechanism. ( the signal from the sensor was switched on and off for each of the 25 - 30 fps frame rate) This resulted in clean lightning video but poorer quality because of the age of the technology and they are only around 640 x 480

I will still often pull individual frames out of the .avi video. Not overly sharp, but still good to look at

an example ...

cheers
Dave

 

[Astronuc]

Those cameras need a filter like those used on welding masks that darken according to the intensity of the arc, and clear up as the intensity diminishes.

 

[berkeman]

a couple of lightning shots from home ...

How many antennas do you have on that mast in the first pic? Did you leave the feed lines connected during the storm?

 

[davenn]

Hi Mike

the top antenna is a Diamond X7000 tri-band vertical co-linear

• 144/430/1200MHz (2m/70cm/23cm)
• Gain:8.3dB (144MHz), 11.7dB (430MHz), 13.7dB (1200MHz)
• Max. power rating:100W (144/430MHz), 60W (1200MHz)
• Impedance: 50ohms
• VSWR: Less than 1.5:1
• Length: 5.0m
• Radial length: approx. 52cm
• Weight: 2.2kg
• Rated wind velocity: 40m/sec.
• Mast diameter accepted: 30mm to 62mm
• Connector: N series female
  Type: 3 x 5/8wave C-Load (144MHz), 8 x 5/8wave C-Load (430MHz), 14 x 5/8wave C-Load (1200MHz), FRP outer shell

the yagi is 7 ele on 144 for SSB DX

There's a looped nylon cord that I use to pull up and down a 40m inverted V

Yes I make a habit of disconnecting the radio from the antenna
its a Kenwood TS2000X ( HF - 23cm) shack in a box haha

I'm in a rental property so cannot get too carried away with radio antennas

cheers
Dave

 

[davenn]

Those cameras need a filter like those used on welding masks that darken according to the intensity of the arc, and clear up as he intensity diminishes.

That would be sweet ... haven't seen anything like that for a camera. I miss a few strikes because they are just so close and bright that the image is just totally overexposed

Dave

 

[davenn]

here's a couple of examples of the cursed rolling shutter effect
it really destroys the images ...

cheers
Dave