The seismograph used by Quake Trackers has been designed by Tony Haver and Michelle Robertson, using hardware and software components developed by Larry Cochrane, who is a member of the Public Seismic Network (PSN).

At the PSN site you can find lots of information about amateur seismology including a description of some of the hardware and the data aquisition and processing software used by Quake Trackers.

Block diagram of system
GPS antenna
seismometer installation

Seismograph Instruction Sheets

The following MS Word documents are written for schools with Quake Trackers seismographs.

Operating your seismograph

Basic DOS commands that are needed for running the seismograph.

Seismic Data Recorder (SDR) manual

Sending data to the Quake Trackers database


The Quake Trackers seismographs use a seismometer that is sensitive to small to medium-sized nearby earthquakes and large earthquakes throughout NZ. If you would like to record earthquakes from around the world, you can build a seismometer that will do just that. An example of such a seismometer is described at the PSN site. It can be recorded by the same PC as the Quake Trackers seismometer.

Some of our sites have also been built by Dave Nelson in Dunedin. He also coordinates the NZ public seismic network.

updated on 05/12/02