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Are you tired of wasting time?

Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jrassy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">just had to say,great idea,i have a lot of this stuff laying around,the mad tinkerer in me is working overtime,thanks for posting. </div></div>

Thanks - I just put a different twist on what's already available. I didn't have a game camera and I wanted to be able to store my targets digitally.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

XShot, the set-up is nice!!! How much do you have in it?

I've been looking at the 2.4ghz transmitters and receivers, and I've learned a couple things:
-technically, to transmit at .5 watt or more, it appears your supposed to have a amateur radio license.
-Also, I question the quality of just about every transmitter/ receiver, especially the cheap ones. One two watt 2.4ghz transmitter says it has a range of 300m, and .7 watt that says its good for 500-2000 meters.

Can you run down exactly which transmitter/receiver combo you bought? And anyone else who is confident in a transmitter/receiver combo, could you tell me exactly which one to get? And if I need a 15 db antenna, which one I need?

Thanks!
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: uhcoog1</div><div class="ubbcode-body">XShot, the set-up is nice!!! How much do you have in it?

I've been looking at the 2.4ghz transmitters and receivers, and I've learned a couple things:
-technically, to transmit at .5 watt or more, it appears your supposed to have a amateur radio license.
-Also, I question the quality of just about every transmitter/ receiver, especially the cheap ones. One two watt 2.4ghz transmitter says it has a range of 300m, and .7 watt that says its good for 500-2000 meters.

Can you run down exactly which transmitter/receiver combo you bought? And anyone else who is confident in a transmitter/receiver combo, could you tell me exactly which one to get? And if I need a 15 db antenna, which one I need?

Thanks! </div></div>

Unfortunately the transmitter and receiver do not have any information about manufacturer or model. I bought mine off ebay on a clearance special. I've seen what appears to be very similar units on ebay offered by quite a few different sellers for between $70 - 140.00. I'm using the fixed omni-directional antennas, attached to the units, with no problem. I picked up the 7" LCD TV at a garage sale for $20.00. It was new and unused, but missing its AC power supply. I had an extra HD camera from my security system, but I did by a Varifocal lens for $50.00 I also purchased the little IR camera for $40.00. The case cost me $9.00 from a local AG supply store. The batteries I'm using are spares from other equipment I have. I figure around $225 - 250.00 total.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jmorris</div><div class="ubbcode-body">$69 camera RX/TX and $49 booster antenna works over 1000 yards. The receiver has 4 channels so you can switch from one camera to another with the push of a button. Extra cameras are around $50.

You’ll also have to abscond with the kids DVD player, borrow the 12V battery from the deer feeder and find a good box to carry it all for you.
[url="http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/target/DSC02138.jpg"]http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/target/DSC02138.jpg[/url] </div></div>

my exact thoughts
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

Necessity - the mother of all invention. Very impressive - thanks for sharing it all.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

I talked to the owner of boostervision, and he said he had not achieved 1000 yard range on his mile high combo. That's the option I was most interested in after reading this thread. Ended up a ways down the rabbit hole after that...
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

There are endless possibilities to a set up like this. Nice to see good old fashioned tinkering work out.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

There's been a lot of activity on this topic over the past few weeks. Several members have sent me PM's with question about components and wireless video in general. It's all good stuff.

The renewed interest motivated me to get take my home brewed unit out and do some longer range testing. Up to this point I hadn't used it past 600 yards. The other day we had a warming trend, so I put my based unit (receiver and monitor) in the bed of my truck and drove down the road away from my transmitter and camera. I would stop along the way to record distances with my newly acquired LRF.

I found that I can get a quality image/picture out to 1000 yards. A clear and stable image is what I used to determine a quality picture. I also confirmed that beyond 1000 yards the quality of the image begin to deteriorate with the added distance and undulation of the terrain. This is not surprising, because I'm using the omnidirectional antennas that came with the units. I think the unit will go to 1500 yards, providing conditions are perfect. Meaning a very flat terrain and a direct line of site with a wide corridor less obstructions.

I'm planning on using some high gain directional antennas in the near future.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

id say yer going the wrong direction looking at the range trips as lost time. i believe one should incorporate some alternate training to and fro such as switching to carbine or pistol and hit targets from a 4 wheeler or mount a 1919a4 on a dune buggy and mow down jugs on the way. its circuit training.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

Forgive my ignorance, but if I wanted to do the home grown version (and will be going to Radio Shack tomorrow) if I have a portable DVD player and a good digital video camera, how would one go about doing this?

Is it as simple as hooking up a transmitter to the camera and a receiver to the DVD player?

Thanks,

Rich
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: marduk185</div><div class="ubbcode-body">id say yer going the wrong direction looking at the range trips as lost time. i believe one should incorporate some alternate training to and fro such as switching to carbine or pistol and hit targets from a 4 wheeler or mount a 1919a4 on a dune buggy and mow down jugs on the way. its circuit training. </div></div>

Damn... never thought of that, but I'll work on it!
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

Yes. But, you'll need power for your transmitter which is typically a 12v battery but could be a 9v depending on your transmitter. I would be surprised if a 9v transmitter was 1000yds capable. You'll also need a power supply for your receiver but this could be run from your vehicle cigarette lighter or another 12v source (battery). Once you've got your power sorted out, just feed the video from your camera into your transmitter. And then from your receiver, feed the video out to your kids DVD player.

If you need a transmitter receiver system I suggest you look at the 900Mhz versions on this website http://www.dpcav.com/xcart/home.php?
Hope this helps.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

If you need a transmitter receiver system I suggest you look at the 900Mhz versions on this website http://www.dpcav.com/xcart/home.php?
Hope this helps. [/quote]

Jumper,

I looked at these and they have a footnote stating "will require an amateur/HAM radio license". I've stayed away from 900MHz for this reason. I also found that 1.2GHz operation has way too many restrictions too. Frequencies in the 2.4 & 5.8GHz range don't require a license, but due have transmitter power restrictions.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

Finally the junk came in from Hong Kong.
I got this and with no wiring diagram:

IMGP9682.jpg


Its componants are labeled A,B,C and D. I don't want to use the CMOS camera board (C) that came with it. I want to set up my system like this:

1-1.jpg


In this picture, the wiring harness and adaptors comes from the video camera as a 4-way stereo/video mini plug to video/stero at the DVD player. As you can see in the video camera LCD screen and the DVD player, the image of the directional antenna is crystal clear. This should be a fine set up.
I need some help. All I am unclear about is how to wire into the transmitter from the video camera 4-way mini plug with the camera output and a power source for the transmitter. Can somebody bail out a simple mind?
Thanks.
BTW, I'll post the results in a few days.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mohave-Tec</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Finally the junk came in from Hong Kong.
I got this and with no wiring diagram:

IMGP9682.jpg


Its componants are labeled A,B,C and D. I don't want to use the CMOS camera board (C) that came with it. I want to set up my system like this:

1-1.jpg


In this picture, the wiring harness and adaptors comes from the video camera as a 4-way stereo/video mini plug to video/stero at the DVD player. As you can see in the video camera LCD screen and the DVD player, the image of the directional antenna is crystal clear. This should be a fine set up.
I need some help. All I am unclear about is how to wire into the transmitter from the video camera 4-way mini plug with the camera output and a power source for the transmitter. Can somebody bail out a simple mind?
Thanks.
BTW, I'll post the results in a few days. </div></div>

The CMOS camera configuration works. I can put together the target camera from what I have right now and do everything we need to do to see our hits as we fire at distance. But the CMOS camera lens is about 1/8th inch across and my guess is this camera is work about $5. The image quality in no way matches the image quality of my Canon video camera. All I have to do is figure out how the couple the wiring harness from my Canon camera to the wiring harness of my transmitter and this will be a top notch outfit. Are there no wiring guys out there? This has got to be a very simple fix.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

I'll make this easier. How do I get from A to B?
The transmitter will only carry one audio channel so the red RCA cable from the camera is not used. On the transmitter, the red and black go to power. The yellow is +video and the white is +mono audio. What I don't know is what part of the RCA is (+) and how do I ground the RCAs? I assume solder/link black to whatever part is(-)on both RCA cables AND the power black?

A-to-B.jpg
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

The cleanest way would be to buy a small project box and 3 RCA female jacks - Radio Shack has both. Drill the appropriate sized holes in the metal lid of the box and install the jacks (yellow, red and white). Solder the pigtails from video kit to the center conduct of each jack. Solder a ground wire to the shield tab on each RCA bridging them together. Make your transmitter battery connections inside the box also (use a power jack setup). Solder a wire from the negative side (ground) of the battery to the bridged RCA jacks.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

That sounds like a clean install. I'll make it look nice and keep all the wires tucked away. I just came back here tonight to left folks know I got it going and with the good camera too. Absolutely clean picture now. I'm going to Radio Shack and a battery store tomorrow and I'll have this thing out at a 100 yard range for testing Sunday morning.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

I wouldn't make the red RCA connection unless you want to take a chance in burning up your camera. The white and yellow are all that is used for video and audio transmission. I assume, since you say you have it working, that you made a pigtail with yellow wire going to center of yellow RCA and white wire to center of white RCA and black connected to shield/grounds. Black connected to 12v(-) and red connected to 12v(+).

I've got the same transmitter/receiver pair on its way.

Make sure you keep the antenna connected when you power up the transmitter. Without it most transmitters will fry themselves.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

As I mentioned above, the red is not used. I had to cut up a RCA cable to see how it was constructed before I could work this out but it's not like I don't have 40 old RCA cables.
I'm still not sure if the two shields(-) also connect to the battery black or if they just close the loup on the RCA cables.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

I would connect them all to the black battery wire, so that all are referenced to the same point. Should help with noise that could be generated by the transmitter.

Does the camera on the PCB board have a CS mount lens? If it does you could add a 6-60mm vari-focal lens and then mount it in an enclosure and might be a pretty good camera.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

The camera that came with the transmitter/receiver has a lens that looks like a plastic BB. The image it creates is a milky, fish eye looking picture. The quality is very low. I'm using a camcorder. That way I can move back 40 or 50 feet, zoom in and still get vastly superior image quality. It works great.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

My DVD player will spin a disc and run the monitor for 7 hours. I imagine the batteries will last long if I'm only using the monitor and not spinning the disc. I'm waiting for the stores to open so I can pick up a couple 8 AH sealed lead acid batteries and 6 hour battery for my camcorder. This system will be completely self contained, fit in a tool box, weigh about 10 pounds and have top notch image quality.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: xr650rRider</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I wouldn't make the red RCA connection unless you want to take a chance in burning up your camera. The white and yellow are all that is used for video and audio transmission. I assume, since you say you have it working, that you made a pigtail with yellow wire going to center of yellow RCA and white wire to center of white RCA and black connected to shield/grounds. Black connected to 12v(-) and red connected to 12v(+).

I've got the same transmitter/receiver pair on its way.

Make sure you keep the antenna connected when you power up the transmitter. Without it most transmitters will fry themselves. </div></div>

x650rRider is correct. Red is your power (+) connection. I forgot yours is mono audio only and cited typical A/V connections.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

It's assembled. It looks like a rats nest. I wanted to make sure it was functional today so I can do basic testing tomorrow morning so I used whatever I had laying around the house. If it proves to be worthy for our cause, then I'll clean up the entire assembly.
I'm onlt testing to 100 yards in case I have to run back and forth to work out some bugs. If it does at 100 yards what it did in this living room I'll clean it up right away then take it out to 500+ yards. It really looked terrific today. Its taken 2 months to gather the parts. I'm ready to give it a whirl. Pics forthcoming.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

XShot, this thread just woke up again. I hadn't realized you were the one to originate it.
I have a 1W 2.4ghz TX/Rx set up and a 1.5W swt up on the way. I am using the suplied omnidirectional antenna at the transmitter and a directional fishbone type at the receiver. I bought two 12V 7.5AH lead acid batteries today. One for transmit and one for receive. How long can I expect the transmission to continue with the 7.5AH battery at 1W? The camera and the monitor have separate power suplies.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

I'm not XShot but since you have the battery and transmitter, the real way to see how long it will last is to test it and see. You should get at least 5 hours but you never know with this Chinese stuff. I doubt seriously if the 1 watt transmitters actually put out 1 watt. If you own a hall effect current sensor you could measure the current draw but since your asking the question, I doubt you do. Anything else is just a guess.

As far as power levels go, I have used a 0.1 Watt 2.4Gz transmitter on a wireless network setup and gotten over 10 miles line of sight. One antenna was 96' high and the other was 24' this was bi-directional 56 Kbps.

You should also put your directional antenna on the transmitter not the receiver.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

I think I'm going to buy another tripod for my still camera and leave this tripod outfited with the transmitter set up. With that, I'll buy another anntena. Do you know where I can buy one in the U.S.?
Airmail from China flys at exactly 7.4 mph.
We my best calculations, my entire system should operate self contained at 5 to 7 hours. That's good range time. I'll be at the range at sunup. about an hour.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

No pictures of wireless video, I haven't received my transmitter/receiver yet. The 10 mile network setup is for rural internet service. I used an antenna similiar to this one 2.4 GHz grid array antenna. I no longer have that service, since I changed to DSL, so I'm going to use the antenna at my transmitter for target camera. I have a Yagi antenna that I can use on a different transmitter for another camera. You should be ok with the small omni-directional antenna at the receiver. I use radio modems at work for reading remote sub-stations that are 2.4 GHz and they use the yagi's pointing back to small omni-directional antenna and they've been transmitting data for > 15 years. It's just 19,200 bps but they are supposed to work for 21 miles line of sight. They work over 2000 yards I know for a fact.

I've got 120 vac at the bench, so I'm going to use a 15" flat panel monitor and composite video to vga converter box. I also have an old camcorder with zoom, I'll use temporarily but will buy a box style security camera with a 6-60mm vari-focal lens. Should be able to set it 50 ft. from target and see bullet holes on 4'x8' backboard.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

xr650rRider,

Great info, thanks for sharing.

I too am planning on using a spare LCD monitor I have laying around, but I'm afraid of which RCA to VGA converter to buy. any recommendations from experience?
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

Got the VGA converter today and it works well. Does 800x600 60Hz, 800x600 75Hz and 1024x768 60Hz. Image from video camera fills the screen. Should be great for viewing targets.
 
Re: Are you tired of wasting time?

Finally my transmitter/receiver came in today! Luckily the transmitter came with the proper connections to hook straight into the camera, so trial hook-up was super easy. Everything seems to be in working order, now it's time to package the whole deal and get a directional antenna.....

Initial impressions are good. Kind of wish I got a different camera because a lot of detail and color are washed away. I think this is because of the night LEDs? I wonder if there is a way to switch these on/off? Either way, picking up 30 cal holes from 15 yards will be super easy, especially with the zoom feature. Plus it's nice that it's waterproof.

A couple of quick pics of the set-up. Thank u all for your help!

b1d7c0b4.jpg


50845590.jpg
 
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