CCTV targetting camera completed.

Colin said:
I think using stills would reduce your costs considerable, not to mention it's far less data to transmit. Unless you are doing very quick follow up shots, then a video or live feed is not required. Take the shot, trigger a photo, review photo, take another shot, repeat as required. A still version for out to 200m would be nice for us of greying eyes.
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There would be no real cost savings as you still need all the transmission equipment. You would be replacing the $100 video camera with a $200 plus digital camera.
 
Jordan Smith said:
I'm more in $200-300 mode, which seems to be what these guys are spending on their systems. Any turnkey solutions in that price range?
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well there is ebay stuff. you could get a $16 camera and a cheep transmitter/receiver off ebay. A old car battery, a 12v-120v converter for the old "15 tube tv sitting in your basement. It would be harder to setup, the video quality and transmission would be spotty but it could be done. I would not sell anything like this because it would probably have some reliability issues.
 
What kind of antennas/transmitters/receivers would a guy need to go to a mile and beyond (clear line of sight)?

I've already got an older camcorder that I can use and I'm sure I can rig something for the screen at home base.
 
savage440 said:
well there is ebay stuff. you could get a $16 camera and a cheep transmitter/receiver off ebay. A old car battery, a 12v-120v converter for the old "15 tube tv sitting in your basement. It would be harder to setup, the video quality and transmission would be spotty but it could be done. I would not sell anything like this because it would probably have some reliability issues.
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What's the low end of the price range you'd be interested in selling products at? I'm just thinking that there's gotta be some options in the middle. It can't be $100, $1000, or bust...
 
If you where to use one antenna on the transmitter and another antenna on the receiver could the effective range be increased and the interference be reduce?
 
wheels said:
What kind of antennas/transmitters/receivers would a guy need to go to a mile and beyond (clear line of sight)?

I've already got an older camcorder that I can use and I'm sure I can rig something for the screen at home base.
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I use a couple of cheap, flat square, antennas, about 6" square, for a wireless bridge between a couple of buildings. With a minimum power setup, about 100mw, range is in the hundreds of metres, I haven't tried any farther.

I also have a couple of 12" square, high gain antenna panels, with a minimum power setup, they should be good for a kilometer or more. With a 700mW amplifier, they will be good for MILES.....

The flat panels are much more convienient than the yagi antennas.
 
The antenna that the OP found looks pretty good. As long as you can get a connector that works.


http://cgi.ebay.com/2-4GHz-25dbi-Yag...item230f4a7178

Dish antennas will be less common, more expensive and more difficult to align. Same with patch or array antennas.

To get the best performance you should but one on the transmitter and receiver, but you could start with one.

GC


Mystic Precision said:
NO, right now I am just using the factory stock antennae that is like 7 " long

IMG_3085.jpg


LCD from a car audio system. Batts are LIPO cells from RC planes.

Works just fine but I would like to reach out further. Any links to suitable antennae/dishes would be appreciated.

I will look at getting one of those Yagi antennae but the wiring isn't the same as what I have and not sure how these things wire up.

Jerry
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DrXenon said:
Can you pull the antennas off to reveal jacks? I am looking at that same ebay tx/rx pair but I can't get a straight answer (language barrier) from the guy as to whether I can put my own antennas on.
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No jacks. Inside a plastic housing that goes into the chassis. The plastic antennae will rotate. the inside is a coiled wire and a circuit board with just some curvy 'lines' on it. No elec components.

I am sure this is just a soldered on board to help make the antennae 'longer'.

Inside the case, there is a shiny braided cable that goes from the antennae to the 'brain'.

Looks like there is no 'pos/neg' so putting a plug or connector will be easy enough.

Can only assume that the connector on the YAGI antennae is just a single pole cable.

I am sure any automotive male female plug will work as connectors.

Now to figure out some receiving antennae or dishes and we could extend the range quite a bit me thinks.

These units are supposed to be 2 watts - who knows.

with going to a mile, just be careful not to get so powerful you become a transmitter under CRTC regs. I think you will run into license/broadcasting issues????

Interesting...

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
No jacks. Inside a plastic housing that goes into the chassis. The plastic antennae will rotate. the inside is a coiled wire and a circuit board with just some curvy 'lines' on it. No elec components.

I am sure this is just a soldered on board to help make the antennae 'longer'.

Inside the case, there is a shiny braided cable that goes from the antennae to the 'brain'.

Looks like there is no 'pos/neg' so putting a plug or connector will be easy enough.

Can only assume that the connector on the YAGI antennae is just a single pole cable.

I am sure any automotive male female plug will work as connectors.

Now to figure out some receiving antennae or dishes and we could extend the range quite a bit me thinks.

These units are supposed to be 2 watts - who knows.

with going to a mile, just be careful not to get so powerful you become a transmitter under CRTC regs. I think you will run into license/broadcasting issues????

Interesting...

Jerry
Click to expand...

If you are using a 2.4GHZ receiver/transmitter you can use an adapter called a U.FL Mini to SMA adapter witch should plug into your transmitter or receiver and will allow you to use a any 2.4ghz antenna you want.
 
Mystic Precision said:
No jacks. Inside a plastic housing that goes into the chassis. The plastic antennae will rotate. the inside is a coiled wire and a circuit board with just some curvy 'lines' on it. No elec components.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The curvy lines are a microwave structure that matches the impedance of the antenna to the impedance of the LNA input or power amplifier output. It sounds like these units are hackable. I'm going to order up a set and see what I can do.

2 Watts is an insanely high amount of power! If it's true, that thing will go 1000m, no problemo.
 
I am not sure how easy it will be to connect the antenna. I am pretty sure some kind of impedance matching circuit will be needed.

GC
 
Knew there was more then just splicing in a connector and a big a$$ antennae.

These units work max 750yds perfect line of sight. So maybe the 2W's is under ideal conditions...

That is why I am thinking antennae to make use of whatever output is happening.
Jerry
 
My transmitter has a regular looking coax type fitting where the antenna attaches except it's about 2/3 the size of TV coax fitting. THis is the same fitting on my hi gain antenna so I just attach it to the transmitter side. THe reciever side has a normal coax fitting for the antenna. I'm heading to the hills sunday to do some range limit testing so I'll post results. I'm using a CCTV camera and transmitting live feed with no issues, including sound.
 
Here is a pic of the back of my 750 mW transmitter. There is nice SMA Co-Ax connecter on the back that can be adapted to variety of antennas.

Might be easier to just upgrade the transmitter. If you are lucky you might be able to use the same reciever.

I really like the idea of a camera with zoom. I can imagine the topography of the target butt may limit where you can put the camera, and the zoom would help frame the image of the target just right.

Rover2.jpg


GC
 
Well I gave her a field trial today. I didn't go to my usual shooting spot as there is still too much snow. Tried it along a dead end well site road at 1km. the yagi antenna didn't work worth a crap but the little 8" antennas that came with it worked great. After 1000m I went down a little hill and lost signal. I'm sure I'll be good to 1400 if I have line of sight. The sun was shining right into the camera and the monitor si it was a little hard to see the 223 holes in the paper. May try and make a sun shade for the camera from a bleach bottle, and one for the monitor from Cardboard. Initial tests are promising. For steel it will kick ass for sure. Still a little fine tuning to do. Not bad for $200.00 though!
 
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