The virtual part

For those with insatiable curiosity - they know who they are - who just have to be up to date on “progress” the Internet route is the solution.

WebCams

To start there was the experiment with a webcam. Aimed at the beautiful Okanagan scenery, across Kalamalka Lake and capturing any of the sparse rail traffic on the other shore. The brilliant sunshine - we really get a lot of that - was a real challenge, the solution was a filter fashioned from a cheap set of sunglasses.

Different makes of webcams have different characteristics including the price, but Can$40 was the top limit for any one of them. Of the ones found more suitable than others two are placed in the workshop (WebCam2 und WebCam3). Unlike the Kalamalka Lake cam these are only active when “important things” are happening in the workshop.

IP-Cams

After some more research and contemplation the next project: IP- Cams. Each of the cameras has a built in server which should be available to most of the browsers on the Internet - with some restrictions. So far three cameras are wired to a secondary router and the signal from that is transmitted over the house current wiring to the main router.

An additional wired cam is planned.

To get mobility there are two more cameras which work on the W-LAN. Those are attached to a housing that contains a hefty 6V battery, a voltage regulator and an on-off switch.

To make it really versatile a tent peg was modified for quick-connect operation. This allows placement of the rig even in steep and sometimes rocky terrain.

The results look like this...

For those interested, check it out

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