Color Camera "In the Cab"

[mcouvillion]

Has anyone installed the new color pinhole video camera from RF-System Lab in an engine yet? (see it at www.ghz-link.com, ignore the request to download the Japanese stuff) I have and the effect is unbelievable! How have you addressed the occassional signal loss / interference? What is your minimum track voltage? What does your railroad look like "from the cab"? This has the potential to change the way operating sessions are run.

[cacole]

I don't have this particular camera, but if it sends the video signal through the rails or gets its power from the rails, clean track is an absolute must. The old Lionel black-and-white camera of a few years ago sent the picture through the rail, and there were continual glitches in the picture because of dirty track or wheels. Track cleaning was an absolute must before using it. A friend of mine has a miniature color camera that transmits its picture wirelessly, so dirty track doesn't effect it. It does have problems with signal reception, though, because of the high frequency involved. Distance between the transmitter and receiver, or any type of electrical device that generates interference, such as fluorescent lighting, can have an effect on the picture.

[mcouvillion]

I had cleaned (polished) the wheels and hard-wired the power pickup to the camera and decoder to insure a good connection. When it was first run, the picture was exceptional, but we did locate dirty sections of track. We have since re-cleaned the wheels, and at least some of the track. It is interesting to see that in certain areas, the picture and reception is clear as a bell, in other areas, not so good. The camera transmits at (I believe) 2.4 GHz, so all I need is good power and the antenna located in a good spot. Right now, it is high on one side of the room. We will try positioning it in the center of the room from the ceiling for "line of sight".
My question was really toward on-board power backup. The camera comes with a 1.2V battery pack, but my experience shows that at 1.2V, the image goes to black and white and it doesn't last long. At greater than about 10 volts, the color is very good and the picture is clear from anywhere on the layout. This tends to indicate DCC is the only reasonable way to go. I have talked to a friend about using a capacitor to store the necessary charge, but haven't tried it yet. I really don't want a battery on the engine, and I don't think I could squeeze one on it anyway.
From an operations perspective, its just like sitting in the cab!!!!! You only see what the engineer would see - you can't see around the bend. The very first thing that strikes the user is that we operate our trains way too fast. From the perspective of the engineer, you might as well be riding the TGV, 'cause you're haulin'. Running at the speed that looks correct from the cab view has the train running fairly slow. The other thing is the scenery. Even minimal scenery looks real - the buildings, cars, people, track ballast. Yes, you can see the "land of the giants" in the background, but the foreground is fascinating and you tend to ignore the background. Everyone who has seen the picture is amazed.
My intent was to try to operate from this perspective for at least one engineer per operating session. It would require a crew of two, with the brakeman walking with the train and communicating by radio to the engineer. The brakeman would tell the engineer how many carlengths to back up, when to move forward, he would throw the switches, etc. The engineer would have to operate based on the local "rules", signals or train orders, and communicate with the dispatcher and brakeman regularly. I operated several hours with it earlier this week and passing other trains, watching the block signals, going through tunnels and bridges, is all very realistic. Even a small railroad seems much larger from this view.

[DonaldAgne]

Mark,

My layout is N-scale, and I mounted the RF-System Lab camera on a passenger car base plate and push it around with a locomotive that runs well really slowly. You're right when you say we run our trains too fast! You're also right that under a certain track voltage (I think it's 3v), the picture will go black. What I did was disconnect the rechargeable battery and hardwire in a 9v battery. Of course, I can disconnect the power when the camera is not on the layout. It's kind of tight in N-scale, but it has enough clearance all around the layout. Should be no problem in HO. You have to be careful going around curves, of course, because the weight of the battery makes the whole thing want to tip over.

Have you tried connecting the receiver directly to a video recorder? It works really well, and you can bore your non-model railroader friends to death! I finally got revenge on my father for making me watch his videos of waves on Lake Superior for two hours.

[lupo]

Don,
do you plan putting some of the movies you made on your website?

[mcouvillion]

Don,
Yes, I plan to videotape the layout. I would like to have the performance a little more consistent before doing that. However, I think anyone who has not seen a layout from that angle would be pleased with the first impression anyway.

[DonaldAgne]

Hi, Lupo. I've been wanting to put the video on my website, but I don't know how. One of my coworkers has the Sony system for converting VHS tapes to CD. I guess that would be the first step. After that, I don't have a clue. Any ideas?

Mark, I was just kidding about boring people to death. Actually, it only puts them to sleep. But, really, it is impressive to see the layout from the engineer's perspective. Another good thing about hardwiring a 9v battery to the camera is that you can make "helicopter" flights over your layout and zoom in to show details that are otherwise hard to see.

[lupo]

Don,
I did not realise the system was analog,
If you have a VHS tape converted to CD you could use a video editing program or MicroSoft Moviemaker, wich comes free with WIN XP or can be downloaded from their site, to edit or change the resolution into an acceptable size for internet distribution.

Do you have a weblink to the camera supplier?

thanks,

LUPO

[Anonymous]

Mark brought the camera to our Tuesday night group. Before long all of us are in the other room watching the TV and seeing the scenery from a "new" angle. We were controlling the train with a Digitrax radio control throttle. It showed that the ground slopes next to the rail that looked very good are really very steep when viewed from the "cab". It was just like standing in the vestabule of a passenger car and watching the loco two cars forward.

It is a very nice experience

Bob

[Anonymous]

How about mounting one from the perspective of someone in a cupola caboose. When I made a cupola view for Microsoft Train Simulator, the perspective from there was amazing, looking out over the tops of the cars, watching them snake through curves. Reeeeaally cool stuff.

[mcouvillion]

troub,

I hadn't thought about the camera in the cupola of the caboose. So far, the focus has been on trying to get the operator's view. I have two cameras, both on channel 16. One camera is in an engine, behind the lower headlight. The second camera is loose, but destined to go in the cab of an AC4400-9W. Until then, it usually gets mounted temporarily on the corner of a gondola with the batteries in the gon. We talked about putting one in the dome of a passenger car, but I don't think I'll do that. So far, I've run the gon about 2 or 3 cars back in the train, so that the valve gear on the steam engine is visible on curves. Passing trains are very realistic. Recently, I've been trying to get the absolute best possible reception, color, and clarity. Now it is time to videotape the layout and, hopefully, post the results for all to see.

Mark C.