Nearby Power Lines

[W3DRM]

Just to chime-in here with a comment...

One of the first things new station owners seem to strive for is "max" distance of strike detections. As Mike has already said, it's not the distance that is important. It is the quality of the signals captured and sent to the network servers. If I look at my own statistics with my station being the only active station in Nevada, I will see my ratings on the lists rising and falling all the time. When storms are closer to me, my effectivity ratings rise and then drop when the storms are further away.

When I first came on-line about a year ago, I was disappointed that my effectivity numbers were so low. After some adjustments and getting to know how the system works, I soon realized that I really shouldn't care so much about the numbers but to be satisfied to know that, as a member of the overall network, I was contributing to the success of the system. Again, it's all about the collaboration of the signals coming in from everyone that makes this the great lightning detection system it is.

So, don't get hung-up on distance of strike detections. Instead, learn how to properly "adjust" your system so it contributes "quality" signals to the network.