Sferic detection-the first line of defense

Building a simple lightning detector can be accomplished in a few hours and will provide years of useful information; like what are the characteristics of this storm and when to unplug. It is also an excellent way of getting children interested in science. Electromagnetic pulses called Sferics (from atmospherics) can easily be detected out to a few hundred miles with just a short 12-in antenna. Sferics radiate broadband energy and can be discovered by simultaneously monitoring multiple frequencies around the 430-kHz, 2-MHz, and 5-MHz bands and computing the ratio of detections between them.