Ship Based Remote CCTV

What would be your maximum range requirement? To get enough range using RF would require a broadcast license I think....Then you have your microwave transmitters...

http://www.rf-video.com/transmitter/5800.html#8

http://www.rf-video.com/links/portable.html

http://www.rf-video.com/tvbroadcast.html

WOW!!!

Thanks so much for the links. I guess I now know what the path is and range the major consideration (not to mention cost). Now if only they had a UAV huh?

Thanks Solar Guru!

How big is your ship and how far from the mainland does it travel?

Over 100 to 300 Feet. Distances yet unknown but MANY kilometers is not far fetched as they are ocean going vessels

Is this for simple on-board CCTV transmissions or ship to shore transmissions?

You can use directional radio, but the range is generally limited to a few km up to line of sight due to curvature of earth.

What's the application and what distances are you after?

Ship to shore. Yes, range is everything and the biggest obstacle, but it becomes a question of having some versus none?

Application is general... Security, Piracy, Theft, Monitoring, etc. Only costly satellite defies or overcomes the distance issue but if they won't spend for that... what more for an array of antennas?

Much I need to research but at least I now have options to table.

Thanks all!

Wireless video transmission is only going to happen at or near microwave frequencies. Microwaves do not bend but rather, travel in a straight line. Therefore your maximum achievable range will be to the horizon. The lower frequency and longer ranging band of radio signals will not support the bandwidth required for live video transmission. That spectrum is preciously narrow, suffers from atmospheric fade, and is cram packed with all sorts of international users. Microwave uplinks to a satellite is your only option, unless of course your ship is rigged for laying undersea cable wherever she goes.

Thank you sir,

That's very useful information to note. Some of which I've never even heard of till now (Atmospheric Fade!). While the question I most want to ask is how far can we reach, I realize that the reply will depend on many things and there would probably be no simple answer (and a gazillion questions before I get one, most of which I probably would not be able to answer just now), so lets leave that for now!

Guys, what about Ham radio frequency and its ability to bounce off the, is it ionosphere? Can video ride on this wave length?

Cheers and Thanks,

Ton

Standard TV signals (NOT HD) require a bandwidth of 4.5 MHz, so the carrier frequency must be MUCH higher.

It is possible to send slow-scan video images over lower frequencies, but such things as bouncing off the ionosphere are very dependent on the time of day or night.

If you want reliable real-time live video ship-to-shore or vice-versa, your ONLY real solution is via satellite.

TonCab, you seem overly surprised at some of the input from other posters here for somebody charged with finding this elusive "cheap" workaround.

What's your technical background so that a response tailored to your experience can be properly offered.

Hi Wal,

I am basically an electronic security guy who studied Agri Business in University so I am self taught. Have been doing this for the past 13 years so I've learned a lot but in no way an expert of any kind.

Communications is strange turf for me but I dabble with PC's, WiFi, RF as some fields of my industry use these mediums. I also have experience with Ubiquity and have built long range WiFi with repeaters so I've got some knowledge but dangerously little!

The other surprise was the links provided by Solar Eagle as those devices and I have never before crossed paths and I was surprised they even exist. Capt. Quirk also brings new revelations that I would otherwise, have never known.

Touche on cheap work around but that's sorta my trade mark (although I prefer "cost effective" over cheap). So finding alternatives is what people run to me for and in the process I grow and learn new stuff.

I must however thank the brilliant minds here for all the inputs. Much time is saved by the contributions and things get put into perspective. More power to you all and I hope you never tire of helping struggling "wanna be" engineers like me!

Kudos guys

Ships are rough environments. There is a reason things are done the way they are, and its not just stodginess or last generation engineering. Innovations are rarely welcomed among sailors who have seen innovative technology fail when most needed. Nobody is more conservative than sailors, and good thing too! Lives often depend upon reliability, and reliabiliy is almost never is synomymous with cheap.

Before seeing if your cell phone will do the job, make sure you have a tower within reach!

I would have welcomed an Internet connection back in the day when about the only thing you every got out there was the BBC. Did love the way they would report the soccer scores though. There must have been a dozen ways for them to say zero(0), naught, aught, zip, nothing and so on. Don't think they used Nadda back then.

Here's an interesting tie in to your comment:

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/24/us-tech-cybersecurity-shipping-idINKBN0DA03020140424

Good Answer