ROS Pictures

The electronics for the Remote Observation Station (ROS) are enclosed in an aluminum box made by Rolec. The coiled cord attached is the Dallas DS1820 temperature sensor, which measures the station's battery temperature during charging. The three main components of the ROS: PVCC control board, ATV video transmitter, and CCD Camera. The enclosure is a Rolec water tight powder coated aluminum box with stainless steel hardware. The ROS after it has been reworked to include a CdS photo cell to sense night and day better. The blue rework jumpers on the control board where added to support the Low Voltage Disconnect (LVD) feature. The CCD camera was replaced with an external Sony handycam with 10x zoom. My first test station was set up in my Father-in-laws bear stand. The antenna is a Quagi design by N6NB. They can be made for less than twenty dollars. The solar panel shown in here is little 21 watt unit made by UniSolar. Not shown, is a larger 65 watt Shell solar panel that was added later. The small CCD camera originally mounted in the Rolec case was removed and replace with this unit. I found it on Ebay for about $60. The tape mechinism is broken but the optics and video signal output work fine. It provides much higher image performance, but uses about 3 times the power. The receiving Station, located about 1.5 miles from the Observation Station has an identical 14dbd Quaqi antenna. These high gain antenna are needed because the signal's path has a lot of foliage which tends to attenuate the signal.