{"id":151,"date":"2012-04-25T01:43:12","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T01:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/?page_id=151"},"modified":"2012-06-27T01:57:39","modified_gmt":"2012-06-27T01:57:39","slug":"volksmeter-ii-seismometer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/?page_id=151","title":{"rendered":"Volksmeter II Seismometer"},"content":{"rendered":"

For my third seismometer, I wanted something sensitive and a step up from the usual amateur fair, as I already had two – the Lehman and my AS-1 copy.<\/p>\n

I had heard about a newcomer to the scene – the Volksmeter II – which employed a different type of sensor. After waiting months for the company to start production, I ordered one.<\/p>\n

It came in a rather large box, but was very well packaged.<\/p>\n

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Above you can see the instruction manual, multi-tool for adjustments, USB cable (I actually am running it via RS-232), power adapter and GPS location and time reference (in the orange bubble wrap).<\/p>\n

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Above is the Volksmeter II still wrapped and on it’s side. The bottom is on the left.<\/p>\n

Setup was somewhat time-consuming, but easy. It consisted of aligning the sensor plates and then VERY carefully adjusting the leveling screws. Remember, this sensor is, in addition to being a seismometer, also a tiltmeter. Believe me, it really is sensitive enough to measure the tilt of a human hair under a football field.<\/p>\n

Currently, it is silently performing it’s duties in my crawl space. If you see the graphs and wonder why there may not be a tracing for one or both of the “raw” channels, it is because the sensor has tilted too much one way or another. This is especially severe for the north-south sensor. I have on multiple occasions re-leveled the sensor. But, it would seem that I don’t have a lot of concrete in the crawl-space slab, and everything from seasonal heating to barometric pressure causes it to tilt. Maybe someday I’ll get in there and pour an isolated pier.<\/p>\n

You may also notice that on the tracings that they are sometimes smooth, and sometimes they are really rough. That is due to weather. When a front comes through, things really get active. Again, this is likely from my lack of a pier. Oh, to have a pier on bedrock!<\/p>\n

I will eventually try to get a picture of the sensor in the crawl-space. I would also hope to build a styrofome shell to limit thermal noise.<\/p>\n

The Volksmeter II can be purchased from\u00a0RLL Instruments<\/a>. They are very friendly and have been of great assistance with setting up the instrument.<\/p>\n

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For my third seismometer, I wanted something sensitive and a step up from the usual amateur fair, as I already had two – the Lehman and my AS-1 copy. I had heard about a newcomer to the scene – the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nf3v.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}