DIY Target Camera

[new2mud]

When you do test at your 600 yard range, would you mind also backing away further to test how far you can get a good picture/signal?

I'd love to know if this will still reach out to line-of-sight to 1700 yards.

 

[Ranger Rick]

I thought the range video systems were also too pricy. So you rigged up a good DIY system.
If a range isn't crowded, I've had great HD results with my DJI drone. Set at fixed hover and forward cant on the camera.
My go to set up is my spotting scope with angled eyepiece on a small tripod on the bench.
When spotting for a shooter, I like using 10x Binoculars on a tripod.

 

[P7M13]

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the hardest, how would you rate this build?

Please help and if possible use KISS principle.

I'm with you guys . please explain at a first grade level .

Have Confidence: If you guys reload, you have accomplished what is much harder to figure out and master than putting together a long range video system. All the hard work : electronics, antenna and video, have already been done by teams of engineers. This is equivalent to buying yourself a Christmas gift with some thinking and assembly required.
I'm not at all dismissing or diminishing what @Lethal_Chica has done here, she is thinking outside the box and showing the way.
The two hardest things here --

1. Exercising your Google Fu to find all the available kits and, if you're piecing it together, the ones that match specs. Amazon, because they want to sell you stuff, has done a lot of this for you.
2. Getting the application to work on your phone / laptop. This was the hardest part many years ago, and has improved much in the past five years.

With the advancement of drone toys, there's a lot of kits available to put a camera on your drone and watch video over your phone. Yep, you can check on your neighbor and see what he's grilling!
There are dozens of articles on this, too.

The bare minimum you must have in a kit:
Target End:

• Camera
• Transmitter
• Antenna
• Power Supply (battery)

Bench End

• Receiver
• Antenna
• Device that converts video signal to something you can see
• Device you can look at the picture
• Software that will show the picture on your device
• Power Supply

Because of drones, there are a lot of kits now that you can really just plug together and be watching on your phone right away.
Due to FCC regs, transmission can happen on only a few frequency spectrums. Most typical ones are 5.8 and 2.4 gigahertz. Whatever the frequency, both ends must match.
Transmission distance has improved dramatically over the years.
Having set up WiFi industrial systems, I can tell you, using standard antennas, 2.4 GHz will go much farther than 5.8 GHz. Rain or 98% humidity can really mess with 2.4GHz.
Some systems will have the transmission wattage in their specs. As a general rule, more wattage means farther distance, but that also heavily depends on your antenna selection on both ends. For example, a high power signal out of an omnidirectional antenna (all directions) which hits a reflector nearby will actually hash the RF signal. Lesson, directional antennas if it's mounted on a metal building....
Remember, what it claims (1 mile!) is largely BS. One mile, in a vacuum, with absolutely nothing else, even radio signals, around. YMMV, but my rule of thumb has been take the claimed distance and cut it in half for a reasonable performance expectation. Good antennas make a world of difference.
The simplest solution in hardware and setup to go would be
camera --> WiFi transmitter --> WiFi receiver --> Bluetooth --> Phone
HTH

 

[Mc Fraser]

 

[C gent]

Why not just use the wife's phone and set up facetime.. seams free and easy.. on the other hand now that I think about it. This is probably easier

 

[Mc Fraser]

Where i shoot there is no cell reception

 

[Pro2A]

I wanted to try a camera solution for viewing targets are long range, and the price of the commercial versions seemed a little pricey. Maybe I will just invest in a high-end spotting scope, but for now I put this together for $105.00.

I tried it today from 130 yards using a previously shot target - Pic below. The range on the transmitter says 2 miles. I know, I doubt 2 miles as well. My shooting range is 600 yards, if I can get that I would be super happy.

The camera is 720p. I tried to find another higher resolution option, but that is what I came up with for now. If I end up not using it for shooting because it doesn't work as intended, I will just use it to prank my kid nephew

I bought everything on Amazon. I hope to try it at the range tomorrow at some distance. Probably mount the camera on a stake or maybe a cheap tripod I have.

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Don't forget to protect your camera system from bullet impact downrange. Hide the rear of the camera with an AR500 plate angled downward into a catch pit. Separate the transmitter as far away as possible from the bullet flight path. Protect camera front from bullet/target fragmentation....maybe with a sheet of high impact Lexan. The further you shoot, the greater the possibility for errant bullet flight.

 

[Pro2A]

Why not just use the wife's phone and set up facetime.. seams free and easy.. on the other hand now that I think about it. This is probably easier

Having the wifey holding her phone in front of the target, I'm guessing???

 

[Lethal_Chica]

Sorry Guys I did not test it today... I promise I will tomorrow and I will post results of the cameras ability. I got too excited for shooting. Today was my best day yet!

 

[G. Neely]

Tag

 

[Rflamm250]

Why not just use the wife's phone and set up facetime.. seams free and easy.. on the other hand now that I think about it. This is probably easier

Yup. We shoot 1K regularly and just face time from phone to tablet. We made a Phone holder that mounts to a tripod with a steel plate to block the phone. Works great.

 

[Bob Wright]

I have been using my Go Pro protected by my AR500 plate to record 300+ yard ladder tests just to check order of bullet strikes on blank brown masking paper. None of it is "real-time" as I have to go home and load the data into my lap top. I set the camera up from my phone for 60 sec between photos, as opposed to video.
The order of the shots are then numbered on the paper, then speed from the Labradar and powder weight are penciled in for record. I can toggle back and forth on the laptop to verify which shot went where, using the timed still photos about 60 seconds apart. It's valuable info to me during load workup.
The "real time" aspect is great info I don't have however.

 

[Lethal_Chica]

Yup. We shoot 1K regularly and just face time from phone to tablet. We made a Phone holder that mounts to a tripod with a steel plate to block the phone. Works great.

Can you share a photo of that with me, please.. Way cool!

 

[GLTaylor]

Chica
CONGRATULATIONS on an excellent group! Good job!