| Subject: Re: Bald Mountain gate camera |
| From: obviouslydelusional |
| Date: 17/11/2009, 15:22 |
| Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.area51 |
On Nov 16, 10:42 pm, "m...@sushi.com" <m...@sushi.com> wrote:
http://www.lazygranch.com/images/bald/bald_gate_camera1.jpghttp://www.lazygranch.com/images/bald/bald_gate_camera2.jpg
OK, I think I'm losing it. At one time this camera was a pan tilt
zoom. I know so because it tracked us when we had a large group out
there. Now I'm looking at the photographs, and it is not a PTZ. Even
more puzzling, there are no solar cells or wiring.
Now there are two antennas on this setup. One microwave dish, and one
VHF or UHF yagi. Is it possible they blast the camera with microwaves,
convert that power, then beam back the video on the yagi?
The writing on the camera is Cohu, which is the brand of camera. Very
typical around the range.
Cohus are indeed 24 VDC (also available in 120 VAC) and their current
requirements, while not huge, are significant. The current can be
pretty large if the housing is one that has a heater in it. I think
it's highly unlikely you could meet the required current by microwave
transmission of power, at least with the size of the dish shown. One
way to tell is hold some popcorn in your hand near the camera and if
it pops, they are using microwaves to transmit power.
The large "cables" appear to be weathertight conduit.
I see only two possibilities:
1. It's a dummy camera. (Maybe there's a real camera hidden behind
you while you're focussed on the dummy!)
2. There's a large battery box buried in the ground with the power
cables the run down to it hidden in a tripod leg, and the camera is
triggered remotely via one of the two antennas. If that's the case
I'd guess the yagi would be the trigger antenna as the bandwidth
required for a video signal would be considerably greater than that of
a simple trigger signal, hence the bandwidth offered by a higher freq
signal. The trigger signal could be sent from security HQ in response
to some sensor alarm they receive. Probably require battery
changeouts every 4 to 6 months, depending on size and frequency of
use.
I'd lean to number 1.
