StormScope
© Brooke Clarke 2020  |
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Description
WX-110 StormScope Ground Lightening System
Photos
Pin Out
NY-163 Antenna
Connector
WX-110 Indoor Console
Connector
Other Versions of Storm Scope
Patents
Related
References
Links
Background
Insight Aviation Strike Finder 1976 very first storm detector.
YouTube:Stormscope teardown and power on - 1991 data code on ICs,
The first generation WX-7 StormScope was invented by Dr. Ryan. 3M bought the Ryan line of StormScopes. B.F. Goodrich bought out 3M. The current owner of them is L3 Communications.
Description
WX-110 StormScope Ground Lightening System
On the front panel it's called the WX-110, but the label on the rear panel says WX-110/220 Ground System. What's the difference? Let me know.
Photos
Fig 1
Fig 2 See patent 4023408
Connectors:
Console: DB-25 male
Cable: DB-25f
Fig 3 The power supply board at front
supplies 19.5 Volts DC to the StormScope.
Fig 4
Fig 5WX-900 Antenna StormScope Series II
See patent 4383260
Fig 6 Connectors
Antenna: 851-02E12-10P 50-A7
Cable: KPSE08P12-10S
Fig 7 Display with power off
Fig 8 Display with power on - no connection to antenna
Not sure if this is a problem caused by no antenna or
What Goes Wrong.
No beeps were heard at power up.
Fig 9 There are many many mechanical joints that
may have oxidized, as described in What Goes Wrong.
Now to figure out how to disassemble it.
Fig 10 Connectors for Antenna & WX-110
WX-110 mating cable:
DB-25s + back shell
NY-163 mating cable:
MS3116F12-10S + KPT00F-12 cable clamp
from: William Perry (email)
Pin Out
WX-110 information from Don at Valentine Aviation (Storm Scopes) allowed making this table. He sells antenna cable by the foot.
WX-110 Antenna Cable Pin Out
WX-110
DB25F
Wire
Color
Antenna
Function
1
Red
B
E-Field Sense Paired
2
Black
H
Antenna Test 3
White
C
X-Loop Paired 4
Black
D
+12 Volts 5
Green
G
Y-Loop Paired 6
Black
F
-12 Volts 7
A
Antenna Common
J
Antenna Test
K
?
E
Air frame Gnd
8 to 25
not used
2020 Nov 25: Need to check DB-24 voltage between pin 4 and pin 6.
NY-163 Antenna
There seem to be at least two StormScope antennas. The early one with a 10-pin connector is refereed to as the NY-163. The later one has many more pins.
Connector
On antenna: 851-02E12-10P 50-A7
On mating cable: KPSE08P12-10S?
Pin Out Table
Pin
Function
Wire
Color
WX-500
P2/J2
A
Antenna Common
drain
1
B
E-Field Sense
Brown
17
C
X-Loop
Orange
3
D
+12 Volts
Red
16
E
Air frame Gnd
na
na
F
-12 Volts
Yellow
15
G
Y-Loop
Green
4
H
Antenna Test
Blue
14
J
Antenna Reference
Black
2
Note the voltage to the NY-163 should be within 5% of 12 Volts, so there's a problem with the WX-110 box in that it seems to be able to supply either 19 or 5 volts? May not be the case. Need to fully check out the voltages on the DB-25 connector.
WX-110 Indoor Console
The front panel mounts that display which has four buttons.
The rear panel has an AC line cord, On/Off switch and DB-25m connector.
Inside there's an AC to 19 VDC power supply that can be set for 110 or 220 VAC input, this one is set for 110 VAC and has an American line cord.
There is also a stack of three printed circuit boards that are about 3" x 7" and the stack is less than 2" tall, i.e. they would all fit behind the display. Their function is both the "processor" and the display electronics.
Other Versions of StormScope
Ryan Stormscope WX-7A
3M WX-8
Display has PCB for connector with 10 contacts (maybe 20 if both sides)
YouTube:WX8 Stormscope Operation & HowTo Simulate Lightning - waving a hand held vacuum cleaner near the antenna lights up the display. STORMSCOPE WX-8 - Ryan Wx-PT, test box Range: Off, 20, 40, 100, 200: Fast or Slow; Azimuth: 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 270, 30, 33
YouTube:
120 degree forward sector.
3M WX-9
3M WX-10
US Patent 4023408
Display has PCB for connector with 10 contacts (maybe 20 if both sides)
WX-11
Manual -
BFG WX-500
Ant Conn 10 male pins, 3 lug.
Patent: 4383260
L3 WX-500 maybe feeds modern MultiFunction Displays "Glass Cockpit".
YouTube: WX-500 StormScope Ghosts - maybe a com problem with Narco radio?
BFG WX-900
The display looks like a CRT. Connector: DB-25m.
Patent: 4023408
Connector Pod eBay 273948178136
Antenna cable with 10-socket 3-lug connector, DC power cable Red & black Banana plugs.
This matches neither the pin numbers nor voltages in the WX-500 manual (Ref 1).
Pin
Function
WX-110
1
Sense
2
Test
3
X-Loop
4
+12 VDC
+5.2
5
Y-Loop
6
-12 VDC
-5.2
7
Reference
8
Ground
9
+Battery
+19V
10
-Battery
-19V
11
JMP2
12
JMP1
13
Ground
14
Softkey: Range
15
Softkey: Menu
16
Softkey: Blank
17
Softkey: Clear
18
nc
19
nc
20
nc
21
nc
22
nc
23
JMP2
24
JMP1
25
Inhibit
YouTube:
Stormscope WX900 - Ryan Wx-PT, test box Range: Off, 20, 40, 100, 200: Fast or Slow; Azimuth: 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 270, 30, 33
WX-900 Stormscope com display Novo. -
STORMSCOPE Modelo: WX-900 - Teste após ter sido reparado pelo Técnico Felismar 55 37 99122-3720 - (Test after having been repaired by Technician Felismar, NOTE: WE SELL THIS SYSTEM FOR 14 AND 28 VOLT AIRCRAFT,)
BFG WX-950
Connector: DB-25m
Sheet metal box mates with back, similar to mounting tray, but just the box.
Patents: 5295072, 5303152, 5305210, 5325299, others.
3M WX-1000
Disp Connector J101: DB-25m.
Ant Conn: 19? male pins, 3-Lugs
Processor: J301 & J302 both DB-50m
BFG WX-1000
Connector: DB-25m
YouTube: Stormscope WX-1000 - Ryan Wx-PT - STORMSCOPE MODELO: WX-1000 -
Patents
1919215 Thunderstorm or electric field and potential indicator, Gunn Ross (Wiki), 1933-07-25, - Field Mill (Wiki)
2449068 Electric field or potential indicator, Gunn Ross, App: 1944-08-28, W.W.II, Pub: 1948-09-14, -
3715660 Determining distance to lightning strokes from a single station, L Ruhnke, NASA, 1973-02-06, 324/72; 73/170.24 - two loops + E-filed probe. Why did NASA want/need this capability in 1973? Let me know.
Insight Aviation strike Finder
The product name is Strike Finder. Storm Monitor only shows up on patents.
5245274 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1993-09-14, 324/72; 324/202 - Coils at 45 deg to get better angle precision straight ahead.
Came before the Ryan StormScope. Strike Finder Still being sold.
5408175 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1995-04-18, 324/72; 324/202 - Problem with classical E-field antenna, a holdover from RDF receivers.
5500586 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1996-03-19, 324/72; 324/202 -
5500602 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1996-03-19, 324/72; 324/202 -
5502371 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1996-03-26, 324/72; 324/202 -
5504421 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1996-04-02, 324/72; 324/202; 343/701 -
5545975 Storm monitor, John S. Youngquist, Priority: 1991-05-31, Pub: 1996-08-13, 324/72; 324/202 -
These are aircraft mounted and use two loop antennas and an E-field probe as inputs, either a CRT or LCD graphic display.
4023408 Stormscope, Paul A. Ryan, Nicholas Spitzer, Dytronics Inc, 1977-05-17, 73/170.24; 324/72 - analog & digital ICs, not uC. This is the father of all the Storm Scope type units.
4383260 Low profile electric field sensor, Paul A. Ryan, 3M, Priority: 1979-05-24, Pub: 1983-05-10, 343/701; 343/829; 73/170.24 - E-field antenna, Charge Amplifier (Op Amp w/capacitive feedback, probe to (-) input.
Patent Citations (4)Cited By (19)
4422037 Storm warning method and apparatus, Ernest W. Coleman, Ernco Ind,1983-12-20, 324/72; 324/76.15; 324/76.17; 324/76.24; 324/77.11 - uP
4506211 Storm warning method and apparatus, Ernest W. Coleman, 1985-03-19, 324/72; 324/76.12; 324/76.15; 324/76.24 -
4672305 Storm warning method and apparatus, Ernest W. Coleman, Ernco Ind, 1987-06-09, 324/72; 324/76.12; 702/4 -
4803421 Multi input lightning detection system, Kenneth A. Ostrander, 3M, 1989-02-07, 324/72; 340/600; 340/601; 73/170.24 - uP 68000
4873483 Multi input lightning detection system, Kenneth A. Ostrander, Foster Airdata Sys (3M), 1989-10-10, 324/72; 73/170.24 - 68000
5295071 Sampled data lightning strike detection and mapping system capable of generating frequency spectrum of input signal waveforms and displaying such on the mapping display, Joseph G. Kuzma, Billie M. Stevens, Jr., BF Goodrich Flight Systems,1994-03-15, 702/4; 342/460 - LCD, module pin outs, WX-900
5295072 Sampled data lightning strike detection and mapping system capable of recovering a pre threshold sample history for detection and mapping processing, Billie M. Stevens, Jr., Joseph G. Kuzma, BF Goodrich Flight Systems, 1994-03-15, 702/4; 342/460 - LCD, module pin outs, WX-900
5303152 Lightning strike detection system capable of quickly determining an invalid correlation of strike signaling, Randolph L. Moses, Joseph G. Kuzma, Kenneth A. Ostrander, BF Goodrich Flight Systems, 1994-04-12, 702/4; 342/460 - WX-900
5305210 Sampled data lightning strike detection and mapping system capable of early detection of an invalid strike from sampled data and quick resumption of monitoring an incoming signal, Joseph G. Kuzma, Kenneth Ostrander, Randolph L. Moses, Billie M. Stevens, Jr., BF Goodrich Flight Systems, 1994-04-19, 702/4; 342/460 -
5325299 System for classifying lightning strikes to enhance location estimation thereof, Randolph L. Moses, Joseph G. Kuzma, Kenneth A. Ostrander, William J. White, Billie M. Stevens, Jr., BF Goodrich Flight Systems, 1994-06-28, 702/4; 342/460 - 50 pages of figures including connector pin outs for everything
5528494 Statistically based thunderstorm cell detection and mapping system, Randolph L. Moses, BF Goodrich Flight Systems,1996-06-18, 702/4; 702/5 - discussion of a number of prior art patents.
5537318 Lightning strike detection and mapping system, Randolph L. Moses, Joseph G. Kuzma, Kenneth A. Ostrander, Billie M. Stevens, Jr., BF Goodrich Flight Systems, 1996-07-16, 702/4; 324/76.21; 702/66 - pays a lot of attention to the time domain E-field to characterize strikes
5610813 Thunderstorm cell detection and mapping system for identifying and ranging thunderstorm cells by clustering single strike lightning observations, John H. Greenewald, Randolph L. Moses, BF Goodrich Flight Systems,1997-03-11, 702/5 - LCD, flow charts,
Related lightning strike systems
3603951 Storm warning system, Pat O Bracken, George H Lane, Montech Inc, 1971-09-07, 340/539.28; 340/538.17; 702/3; 340/601; 340/870.11; 340/870.09; 73/170.15; 73/170.24; 73/170.16; 340/311.2; 340/7.46 - more a reporting system than a storm sensor
4115732 Detection System for Lightning, E.P Krider, R.C. Noggle, M.A. Uman, UofA, 1978-9-19, 324/72; 324/76.12; 324/77.11 -
4198599 Gated lightning detection system, Edmund P. Krider, Ralph C. Noggle, UofA, 324/72; 324/76.12; 324/76.15; 324/76.24 - two loops + E-filed probe, CRT
20100212925 Lightning directing system, John S. Canham, Northrop Grumman, 2011-03-29, - a dreopsonde
Also see the Sky Scan patents.
Related
An Instantaneous Direct-reading Radiogoniometer by Robert Watson-Watt, 1926
SkyScan Severe Thunderstorm Detector - displays rough range to lightening
Weather
References
Ref 1: StormScope Series II Weather Mapping Systems, WX-500 Installation Manual, 23 September 2003, L-3 Communications.
Ref 2: TM 1-1520-253-10 UH-60 Helicopter Operator's Manual; 3/20 (page 3-85) Storm Scope WX-1000 Weather Mapping System.
Links
PRC68, Alphanumeric Index of Web pages, Contact, Products for Sale
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