Beacon

[JosephH]

Been spec'ing out a wind/solar powered wifi cam for Big Ledge the last couple of years so that you could roll up to the boat launch and check out the live video with a laptop. Some issues around a directional antenna, battery drainage, solar panel/wind turbine placement, etc., but probably all doable and the tech/price is about there now for under $500 or so. Have broached the idea with David and Erik - maybe next year. Would make monitoring a shitload easier.

[pink]

Been spec'ing out a wind/solar powered wifi cam for Big Ledge the last couple of years so that you could roll up to the boat launch and check out the live video with a laptop. Some issues around a directional antenna, battery drainage, solar panel/wind turbine placement, etc., but probably all doable and the tech/price is about there now for under $500 or so. Have broached the idea with David and Erik - maybe next year. Would make monitoring a shitload easier.

 

that is if the boat launch isn't closed next year....

[kevbone]

Why dont you put a camera on the trail that way the lazy rangers can monitor if someone is going somewhere they are not supposed too.

[LostCamKenny]

Been spec'ing out a wind/solar powered wifi cam for Big Ledge the last couple of years so that you could roll up to the boat launch and check out the live video with a laptop. Some issues around a directional antenna, battery drainage, solar panel/wind turbine placement, etc., but probably all doable and the tech/price is about there now for under $500 or so. Have broached the idea with David and Erik - maybe next year. Would make monitoring a shitload easier.

 

joe, how big and/or invasive will this camera be? if it is going to spook the birds in any way then it seems better to just stick to the binoculars. i've seen some small cameras before but as i recall they were more than 500 bucks. also, who is going to foot the bill for it?

[billcoe]

There's falcon cams all over the place typically on man made structures. They don't move and so are non-threatening to the birds. I would think that the difficult part would be the various technical aspects and mounting difficulties of an outside installation. Typically (always?) these things are mounted in and on structures so that they can be weather proofed by putting it under a roof or building something to protect the cam, plus they have full time power to the cam. The weather in the gorge, with near world class wind speeds, can be something none of these building cams ever see.

[LostCamKenny]

The weather in the gorge, with near world class wind speeds, can be something none of these building cams ever see.

... thus my questioning its effectiveness. if it would require maintenance because the wind blew it around then if would seem to cause more problems than it would solve.

[ivan]

The weather in the gorge, with near world class wind speeds, can be something none of these building cams ever see.

there's a big old crack right behind the scrap (the upper part of dod's jam that NO ONE ever does (and for good reason) - i'm sure a motivated person could get a camera in/up there and it would be quite weatherproof

[billcoe]

The weather in the gorge, with near world class wind speeds, can be something none of these building cams ever see.

... thus my questioning its effectiveness. if it would require maintenance because the wind blew it around then if would seem to cause more problems than it would solve.

 

It's possible that it could be an expensive waste of money. I notice that the building cameras are often down and inoperable, in fact, I was going to link the Penn state one and it's down now. Like, LOTS. I wonder what happens to them or if folks just don't monitor them. And this, despite the fact that they are really easy to access to fix and generally out of the weather, and do not have the challenges this would have.

[Plaidman]

Been spec'ing out a wind/solar powered wifi cam for Big Ledge the last couple of years so that you could roll up to the boat launch and check out the live video with a laptop. Some issues around a directional antenna, battery drainage, solar panel/wind turbine placement, etc., but probably all doable and the tech/price is about there now for under $500 or so. Have broached the idea with David and Erik - maybe next year. Would make monitoring a shitload easier.

 

that is if the boat launch isn't closed next year....

LOL!!!!!!

That's a good one.

 

Plaidman

 

[kevbone]

Jh. If you are going to spend money on a camera to watch the birds....how about spending money on a 3 foot wooden owl to bolt to Bid Ledge. It would be alot cheaper anyway you slice it. The birds would relocate to a different part of the Beacon or the Gorge and we would get year round climbing back. No harm, no fowl.

[JosephH]

...how about spending money on a 3 foot wooden owl to bolt to Bid Ledge. It would be alot cheaper anyway you slice it. The birds would relocate to a different part of the Beacon or the Gorge and we would get year round climbing back. No harm, no fowl.

As you know it was already tried by climbers as part of their overall "we don't want the Peregrines to nest at Beacon" campaign to fuck themselves.

[JosephH]

The weather in the gorge, with near world class wind speeds, can be something none of these building cams ever see.

there's a big old crack right behind the scrap (the upper part of dod's jam that NO ONE ever does (and for good reason) - i'm sure a motivated person could get a camera in/up there and it would be quite weatherproof

Exactly, the crack behind the scrape would make the camera invisible and protect it from the weather. The cameras - even wifi ones - are quite small these days. The challenge is more how to power it, how to charge whatever battery, and how to deal with the distance to the boat launch. It may be possible to manage it with a pretty straightforward system with three pieces on the rock and a yagi directional wifi antenna with the laptop in the car. If the system were in any way intrusive it wouldn't happen. Reliability? Should work fine, but you never know.

[ivan]

Jh. If you are going to spend money on a camera to watch the birds....how about spending money on a 3 foot wooden owl to bolt to Bid Ledge. It would be alot cheaper anyway you slice it. The birds would relocate to a different part of the Beacon or the Gorge and we would get year round climbing back. No harm, no fowl.

'cuz the Man would get pissed about it beatard?

Edited February 5, 2010 by ivan

[ivan]

The weather in the gorge, with near world class wind speeds, can be something none of these building cams ever see.

there's a big old crack right behind the scrap (the upper part of dod's jam that NO ONE ever does (and for good reason) - i'm sure a motivated person could get a camera in/up there and it would be quite weatherproof

Exactly, the crack behind the scrape would make the camera invisible and protect it from the weather.

i'm sure nasa has a multi-billion dollar solution if you're inthe market

 

[kevbone]

...how about spending money on a 3 foot wooden owl to bolt to Bid Ledge. It would be alot cheaper anyway you slice it. The birds would relocate to a different part of the Beacon or the Gorge and we would get year round climbing back. No harm, no fowl.

As you know it was already tried by climbers as part of their overall "we don't want the Peregrines to nest at Beacon" campaign to fuck themselves.

 

How does the birds not nesting at Beacon fuck ourselves? Please explain.

[JosephH]

How does the birds not nesting at Beacon fuck ourselves? Please explain.

By making that your stated goal, then doing various stupid things like trashing the nest, Owl decoys, breaking the closure, etc. It fucks you just to have that as starting point in dealing with the issue. It's ignorantly self-centered and self-serving in the extreme and that's not lost on anyone involved trying to rationally deal with the issue.

[ivan]

i sense that even you are not this dense kev

 

we climbers fuck ourselves if we allow ourselves to be seen as acting to harm the birds b/c the Man (who's dick we must gently caress if we are to have the pleasure of clmbing in His Park at all) actually likes them

 

should we say it slower w/ some charts n' diagrams to illustrate the bigger words?

 

[pink]

How does the birds not nesting at Beacon fuck ourselves? Please explain.

By making that your stated goal, then doing various stupid things like trashing the nest, Owl decoys, breaking the closure, etc. It fucks you just to have that as starting point in dealing with the issue. It's ignorantly self-centered and self-serving in the extreme and that's not lost on anyone involved trying to rationally deal with the issue.

 

we are all ignorantly self centered just by living and breathing on this planet, u don't gt a special merit badge for acting like u care about a few birds that live on a hill you frequent. if you really cared you'd join the "peoples temple" and go TAKE THE HIGH VOLTAGE KOOLAIDE ACID TEST... and leave the A N I M A L S to their devices. go walk granny across the street and quit acting like you're something you are not . speaking of ignorantly self centred arent you the elitist prick who just wants it all to yourself like back when you used to top rope roofs with helen keller that blind little feller.

Edited February 6, 2010 by pink

[kevbone]

i sense that even you are not this dense kev

 

we climbers fuck ourselves if we allow ourselves to be seen as acting to harm the birds b/c the Man (who's dick we must gently caress if we are to have the pleasure of clmbing in His Park at all) actually likes them

 

I dont want to harm the birds. Who said that? I just dont want them at Beacon anymore. Placing a giant owl on the ledge would not harm the birds in ANYWAY. BTW JH, to my knowledge this has never been tried before at Beacon. Talked about....but never tried.

[kevbone]

 

we are all ignorantly self centered just by living and breathing on this planet, u don't gt a special merit badge for acting like u care about a few birds that live on a hill you frequent. if you really cared you'd join the "peoples temple" and go TAKE THE HIGH VOLTAGE KOOLAIDE ACID TEST... and leave the A N I M A L S to their devices. go walk granny across the street and quit acting like you're something you are not . speaking of ignorantly self centred arent you the elitist prick who just wants it all to yourself like back when you used to top rope roofs with helen keller that blind little feller.

 

Post of the week.

[JosephH]

How does the birds not nesting at Beacon fuck ourselves? Please explain.

By making that your stated goal, then doing various stupid things like trashing the nest, Owl decoys, breaking the closure, etc. It fucks you just to have that as starting point in dealing with the issue. It's ignorantly self-centered and self-serving in the extreme and that's not lost on anyone involved trying to rationally deal with the issue.

 

we are all ignorantly self centered just by living and breathing on this planet, u don't gt a special merit badge for acting like u care about a few birds that live on a hill you frequent. if you really cared you'd join the "peoples temple" and go TAKE THE HIGH VOLTAGE KOOLAIDE ACID TEST... and leave the A N I M A L S to their devices. go walk granny across the street and quit acting like you're something you are not . speaking of ignorantly self centred arent you the elitist prick who just wants it all to yourself like back when you used to top rope roofs with helen keller that blind little feller.

Yep, I'd much prefer to have it all to myself people-wise. Elitist? I wouldn't want to give elitists a bad name and I don't care for them either.

 

L E A V I N G T H E A N I M A L S T O T H E I R D E V I C E S is exactly what this is all about and something Kevin isn't really remotely interested in.

[ivan]

 

I dont want to harm the birds. Who said that? I just dont want them at Beacon anymore. Placing a giant owl on the ledge would not harm the birds in ANYWAY.

 

good luck explaining that to the Man - masterful powers of persuasion like yours just might be up to the challenge!

[JosephH]

I dont want to harm the birds. Who said that? I just dont want them at Beacon anymore. Placing a giant owl on the ledge would not harm the birds in ANYWAY.

I can only assume Maggie married you for comic relief after working hard days as a lawyer.

[pink]

yeh, i giant owl proly wouldn't werk anyway... now a giant plastic Joseph might do the trick.

[kevbone]

If one were to purswade the birds to leave peacefully. How could the "man" justify in being upset? Because they would not have their sweet little government job anymore??