CCTV Target Monitoring

mysticplayer said:
With spring here, I thought this might need a bump as shooters get some new gear.

Any new rigs or tech to discuss?

Jerry
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As far as a new display option, there is the iPad which was released a week ago in the US:

http://www.apple.com/ca/ipad/specs/
dimensions_20100127.jpg


There is a USB camera connector dongle available.

Potential use:
Spotting scope --> digicam on a spotting scope adaptor --> USB cable to the ipad.

Glance at the large screen and see your target with realtime updated holes instead of shifting position and squinting through a spotting scope. Save jpegs or annotatable pdfs for future reference.

One nice thing about the iPad is 10+ hour battery life. Not available in Canada yet but apple.ca says "late April".

Another potential use:
Since the iPad is a wifi enabled computer, a remote wifi equipped camera would be trivial to connect over an ad hoc network. Result is as above with a clearer target picture at the expense of more hassle with battery packs and cameras down range.
 
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scottm said:
As far as a new display option, there is the iPad which was released a week ago in the US:

There is a USB camera connector dongle available.

Potential use:
Spotting scope --> digicam on a spotting scope adaptor --> USB cable to the ipad.

Glance at the large screen and see your target with realtime updated holes instead of shifting position and squinting through a spotting scope. Save jpegs or annotatable pdfs for future reference.

One nice thing about the iPad is 10+ hour battery life. Not available in Canada yet but apple.ca says "late April".
Click to expand...

wont work very well as the ipad is overpriced underfeatured hardware.

the camera connection kit and software only allows you to download pictures off the camera it doesn't allow for real time video nor will it allow you to make the digital camera take a picture.


if you wanted to do that you could get a 23" screen ( $179 ), rca to vga box ( $27.51 ) then run the mini-rca cord from the camera to the converter and then to the lcd.

or if you happen to have a canon that you can load with CHDK firmware you could plug the camera directly into any netbook like an aspire one d250 ( $280 ) and stream the video live from the camera over usb
 
How about someone put together a list of things for this purpose!!

Hi to all

I have been reading this thread with great interest as i am just getting into long range shooting. So yes i am a newbie when it comes to this but i still see the utility of this type of set up... and have been seriously thinking about putting something like this together... but i dont know where to start.. I am not a computer newb.. as i have built my own pc and set up a wireless system in my house.. but for this purpose i dont even know where to start..

The components listed by the OP are now expired so i cant even look at them..

Would be great if someone in the know..would put together a list of things that should work for this purpose with links or pics etc...

For the sake of being complete a list of all components including the antenna and displays, either computer or Iphone would be great...

What i dont want to do is to buy something and then find out that it wont work.. Maybe the OP could take the pics from his ebay purchases and post them..

Thanks alot. I am sure alot of LR shooters would appreciate a post like this..

RDG
 
Hey Jerry, lemme know when you get this figured out. id be more then happy to come down and give you a hand with it all. Plus do some lr plinking. i cant seem to find anywhere around here more then 1000yards.
 
ive tried reading this thread, and all the techno-geek talk is really confusing me! (i mean im 22, and IM confused!!!). so here's my simplified idea:

take a laptop with a webcam (not one built into the screen, but one of the USB ones). the software included usually lets u set it up so it can stream through a website online.

Have a one of those USB rocket-sticks (for internet), or an iphone tethered to the laptop so that the webcam feed can be posted online. (some cameras have settings where you can take a photo by pushing a button on the website you've created, so instead of streaming the video feed, you can take target pics when you want).

you'll then have another laptop up at your position with wireless internet access (via wifi, internet stick, etc..) where you can access the site and have a dedicated, on-demand feed of the target.

it may be a tad more expensive (depending on how much u wanna drop on the "target" laptop...oh and this can be thrown in a pelican or protective case with the webcam outside). its just an idea where you dont have to worry bout all these radio waves, signal strength, all that jazz.

just my $.02
 
chrisward3 said:
ive tried reading this thread, and all the techno-geek talk is really confusing me! (i mean im 22, and IM confused!!!). so here's my simplified idea:

take a laptop with a webcam (not one built into the screen, but one of the USB ones). the software included usually lets u set it up so it can stream through a website online.

Have a one of those USB rocket-sticks (for internet), or an iphone tethered to the laptop so that the webcam feed can be posted online. (some cameras have settings where you can take a photo by pushing a button on the website you've created, so instead of streaming the video feed, you can take target pics when you want).

you'll then have another laptop up at your position with wireless internet access (via wifi, internet stick, etc..) where you can access the site and have a dedicated, on-demand feed of the target.

it may be a tad more expensive (depending on how much u wanna drop on the "target" laptop...oh and this can be thrown in a pelican or protective case with the webcam outside). its just an idea where you dont have to worry bout all these radio waves, signal strength, all that jazz.

just my $.02
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where most of us are shooting is WAY outside of cell coverage and most consumer 802.11 (wifi ) gear has very limited range with out a good antenna and amp. plus the video transmitters we posted in this thread are 2 or 3 watts and designed to be used with directional antennas where a commercial wifi router is usually less than 250 mw with a weak omni antenna.

so to get wifi to work you would need a good wifi card like 1 watt alfa with a wide spread directional antenna ( say 6-9dbi ) and a decent router like a wrt610n with custom firmware (ddwrt) with a high gain directional ( 15dbi or so )
 
Well I'm going to bump this thread to the present. After talking to Jerry a bit I'm trying my own system. I've ordered a CCTV wired outdoor surveillance camera 10m of connector cords and a long range video/audio transmitter (they claim 750-1000m). I have an LCD monitor from a portable DVD player setup we used in the car when the kids were younger. I'm going to run the camera and transmitter from a small portable 12v battery booster setup. The reciever end plugs directly to the monitor and is also run off 12V. My plan is to put the camera on a tripod down at the target, then move the transmitter away from the target with the 10m of cable. I hope it will be as simple as it sounds. Now just gotta wait for the packages in the mail!
 
Let us know how it works for you. As I showed you, my stuff is supposed to send out at 2W and it doesn't go past 750yds line of sight. A better antennae on the receiver would likely help.

Be interesting to see how far you get with yours.

The biggest downside to that camera may be the wide angle view. You might need to get that camera really close to see the target which might put it in harms way. Only one way to find out.

Dirt cheap at any rate..

Jerry
 
That's what I thought Jerry, $13.00!
I thought I'd put it to the side on the upwind side. I checked out those links posted earlier for homemade antenna's. I may have to make one for the RX side. Also with the 10m cable I can put the transmitter up off the ground a couuple meters to give good line of site back to my reciever. We'll see!
 
I mount my Tx/Rx on tall tripods to get them as high as possible. When they say line of sight they are not kidding. A few blades of grass and it doesn't work.

Lots of this stuff around now. Hope it all works out for you.

Let us know...

Jerry
 
You will get much more performance from a high gain antenna than boosting the power. I have been toying with idea as well but havnt got around to putting it all together.

Here is the Swann Yagi antenna I got at London Drugs for 60ish bucks.

http://w w w.swann.com/s/products/view/?product=362

There are plenty of others around on Ebay.

GC
 
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I would be interest in more then 50m :)

But I understand what you are trying to do. Does this unit have a power source to make it work better?

I assume there are receiving antenae to catch the signals better too?

I have heard of parabolic dishes but unsure what to get.

Jerry
 
I may try and build one of those high gain Antennae's. Both the Tx and RX have an easilly removeable antenna with what looks like a fairly standard coupling. If I add a few meters of cable to the antenna I can put it up in tha air, and leave th transmitter safely hidden on the ground.
We'll see when it gets here. I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas these days. I've got so much stuff ordered that I'm waiting for, I'm running to the mail box twice a day!
1 scope being upgraded with turrets
1 new scope ordered
1 barrel ordered
1 stock ordered
1 base ordered
1 follower ordered.
1 camera ordered
1 transmitter/reciever setup ordered


damn I can't wait for it all to get here!!!
 
Mystic Precision said:
I would be interest in more then 50m :)

But I understand what you are trying to do. Does this unit have a power source to make it work better?

I assume there are receiving antenae to catch the signals better too?

I have heard of parabolic dishes but unsure what to get.

Jerry
Click to expand...

The 50m spec if for the Swan wireless cameras that have a 100mW transmitter. In the brochure the gain is 9 dBi so it should focus alot more power(6x the power it think....dBi might even be more...antenna theory was along time ago). Its just an antenna, no boosting power source.

The higher the gain, the more difficult it will be to align the send and recieve antennas which could be a factor.
 
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