4c8f4503   
   From: lumpy@digitalcartography.com   
      
   miso@sushi.com wrote:   
   > They can't just turn on this camera when they think someone is   
   > snooping. I'm guessing one of the road sensors is used to either turn   
   > it on and start recording, or to alert security, which can then turn   
   > on the camera.   
      
   Still, the question of "how is it turned on?" bugs me.   
   If it's a road sensor, how does that local sensor transmitter   
   trigger the tripod camera?   
      
   There doesn't appear to be any long distance means of   
   controlling it, as the yagi coax is cut, as RV58 notes. If this   
   tripod is where I'm assuming it is, the dish (if that's what it is)   
   doesn't have any kind of clear line of sight to the base. Perhaps it   
   has a clear shot at some other dish, up on Bald.   
      
   But -   
      
   That's a pretty small round item to contain the dish,   
   and associated transmit/receive/convert/LNA circuitry.   
   Not impossible, but it looks like if it did contain the   
   parabola, it wouldn't have room for the other circuitry.   
   The cable coming out of the round item is obviously not   
   a waveguide. It's either coax or power (or both). So the   
   round thing has to contain all of the RF circuitry. It does,   
   however, appear to point in the same direction as the Yagi,   
   suggesting that it indeed is some kind of dish. It also   
   appears to be the typical, generic color of lots of   
   simple link dish radomes.   
      
   The Cohu camera appears to be an older model. The newer   
   models output an RS-422 type data signal. That's a really   
   thick cable in the pic, just to handle a simple data signal.   
   Maybe the older models are video output. In either case, some   
   kind of modem, or other convert mechanism, would have to   
   modulate the signal into RF to be transmitted anywhere.   
      
   The rectangular NMEA looking box is barely big enough to   
   hold a typical 6v gel cell. Plus it would still have to   
   have room for the termination of the two cables. Hard to   
   imagine it would contain modem circuitry, plus the   
   exciter radio circuitry, plus the receive/decode/control   
   circuitry and still have room for a battery and cable   
   connections.   
      
   Look at the zoomed in version of the photo. I think I can   
   see a piece of RG-58 sized cable coming out of the bottom   
   of the rectangular box. I can't tell if it's the cut piece   
   that used to join with the Yagi or maybe it runs under the   
   tripod legs to the ground (and then to some other circuitry,   
   battery, sensors etc).   
      
   Perhaps the "dish" is a photo sensor, crossing the path   
   of the "gate". Seems at a strange angle, though, compared   
   to the camera. But then, of course, the question is   
   "Where does the video signal output from the camera go?".   
      
   It's almost as if they cobbled together a bunch of parts,   
   not necessarily related, to make it look like a camera.   
      
   Do you have any pics of the other tripod cams, like the   
   one(s) above campfire hill area? Or how about the new   
   tower south of the main gate? Let's compare what they   
   have for "accessories" to this frankencamera.   
      
      
   Craig 'Lumpy' Lemke   
      
   www.n0eq.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)