On the behalf of my good friend, I am posting a number of his project write-ups for the electronics hobbyist community. In what I hope will the first of many more, learn how to:

BUILD A VIDEO SURVEILLANCE STORAGE RECORDER

Len Long, W1ZTL

 

INTRODUCTION

This article describes how to build and configure a simple video acquisition system which includes inexpensive wifi cameras, a tiny Windows based computer, a fan, required interfaces and power modules.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with detailed information on an easy to build video surveillance storage recorder.

SCOPE

The scope of this article is aimed at people who enjoy building, have a need for a video surveillance system, and who know how to operate a Windows 10 computer.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

This system utilizes an Intel Stick computer which was designed to bring Internet and other inputs to a television set with an HDMI input. Free ContaCam software allows one to provide all of the functions of a professionally marketed system. Assembly is easy. You take the Intel Stick and plug in the USB to Ethernet adapter into one of the Stick’s USB ports and plug in the LAN into your switch or router. An option would be to use the WiFi capability of the stick but I chose to plug it in because of the limited range of the Stick. At the fan’s input you want to protect the Stick from spikes so place series diodes and a 1 microfarad and 10 microfarad capacitor in parallel with the series diodes in the circuit. Load the Stick with TightVNC as well as your LAN connected computer and you have a remote desktop that you can use for adjusting the software, viewing the output of your cameras, and playing back any part of the video that is stored. Plug in the 5 volt wall wart and you are in business.

The following figure is what you see on your remote, LAN connected computer

Initial setting up the Intel Stick includes plugging on the HDMI input of a display and placing a mouse into one of the USB ports. Download and excute TightVNC and the rest can be done remotely.

Load ContaCam and Move Mouse software and adjust MoveMouse to synthesize mouse movements every minute. Then setup the ContCam software as in the figures.

HARDWARE

The system goes together very easily and quickly. You can plug in a USB camera or several with a powered hub or use inexpensive Foscam WiFi cameras. With a USB camera plugged into my system, the system failed periodically so I just use the Wi-Fi cameras.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006DAOJTY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The following figure shows the system mounted on a wall of a fire and security cabinet. The wire coming from the top of the box is a USB port which can be used for the input of a USB camera.

The next photo shows the back of the system box. The blue wire is an Ethernet connection which goes to a switch, hub or router. Note the Velcro which is used to mount the system on the fire alarm cabinet.

The next photo shows all of the components of the system including the intel Stick, the USB to Ethernet adapter, the Ethernet blue cable, the cooling fan and the filter components for the fan.

The next photo shows the system components out of the box.

The next photo shows the detail of the fan mount and its filter components.

SOFTWARE

Using the free ContaCam software you can configure the system to watch a certain area for movement, record continuously and have a several camera display (like a quad display).

The next illustrations are screen shots of the proper adjustments of ContaCam in my system.

Insert a large capacity SD card into the Intel Stick. This is your hard drive. Create a file folder for each camera on the SD card.

I set up ContaCam on another system as follows:

Usage: Click Movement detection and 24h continuous recording box.

Name: Enter name of camera

Storage: MP4, Keep files forever, Maximum camera folder size 250GB, Send e-mail on malfunction – enter e-mail address

Cameras are set up to display 6 cameras. No zone detection is set up

Motion detection not set up on this system

Set up snapshots to facilitate reviewing video

General:Start with Windows, Tray Icon, Run as Service, Always on top.

The service will automatically run when you start your system.

Autostart

Framerate: 4frames/sec

Uncheck Open file when done

 

Snapshot every 1 second

You can remotely control this system using another free software application, TightVNC. You can also configure it so you can poke a hole in your router’s firewall in order to view the video anywhere on earth that there is internet.

In order to prevent the computer going to sleep you can use Move Mouse that can input artificial mouse movement at a predetermined interval, like every minute. The next illustration shows screen shots of the Move Mouse application.

The cameras which I used were inexpensive FOSCAM pan and tilt units. The following shows how to set them up. Find the cameras using the free IP Camera Tool, open a browser and insert the IP of the desired camera in the URL line and then follow the camera setup instructions which follow.

FOSCAM CAMERA SETUP

Click the Server Push mode. This screen shows what the camera is seeing. Click on the device management control pan and tilt with arrows in the circle above.

Enter the name of the camera here on the Alias setting. Chose the right time zone here and click the bottom boxes. Choose 60 minutes when a dropbox appears below the bottom box. The enter the username and passwords.

Enter the IP adderess of the camera – I used 192.168.1.X where X identifies the camera. The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and the gateway as well as the DNS server is 192.168.1.1. Enter in the port chosen for the camera. The default is 80.

Choose the router from the list. The Share Key should be on the back of it. Make sure that the rest of the boxes are as illustrated.

ContaCam has a feature where you can instantly review video from any time. It’s screen looks like this:

A handy tool to find your camera on your local area network is the IP Camera Tool. Run the free IP Camera Tool and all cameras within range of the wireless LAN system will be listed as below:

PARTS LIST

HARDWARE

1. Intel Compute Stick with Windows 10 Intel Atom x5 Processor (BOXSTK1AW32SC).

1. 5VDC Wall Wart included with the Intel Stick
2. AmazonBasics USB to 10/100/1000 gigabit Ethernet Internet adapter

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M77HMU0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1. 128GB SD card

1. 6” x 8” x1” plastic electrical box
2. 1” Wathai 30x30x10mm 30mm 5v brushless dc cooling exhaust fan

1. 2 – 1n4005 diodes
2. 1 microfarad capacitor
3. 10 microfarad capacitor
4. Foscam Wi-fi F18910W pan and tilt cameras or equivalent

SOFTWARE

1. Move Mouse
2. Windows 10
3. ContaCam- free video software https://www.contaware.com/download.html
4. TightVNC

– TightVNC remote desktop software-32 bit

https://www.tightvnc.com/download.html

– 6″x8″x1″ plastic case –

(I used a plastic box I has on hand)

– 1″ fan with steering diode and capacitive filter

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PDK1MJ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Equipment Manuals

Library Level Router

http://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/userguide/1224699372213/MAN_EA6900_8220_01617A00_Userguide_EN.pdf

Netgear N300 WiFi Range Extender WN2000RPT

http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WN2000RPT/WN2000RPT_UM_8Dec10.pdf

Foscam FI8910W Wireless Camera

http://foscam.us/downloads/FI8910W%20User%20Manual.pdf

 

I dug back through the AudioKarma archives to get this gem. The radio is now with my parents. My niece loves turning the knobs to make the radio do ‘funny’ things. If all goes well we’ll be listening to ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ during Thanksgiving dinner this year.

This is a very incomplete write-up, from before I cared to write these things and just wanted to get on with it. If you have any questions, please ask.

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I got this at the Westford MA Radio Fair this year. And I paid too much for it, as usual. After a couple hours of use, one of the knobs cracked off; a poor repair job by the former owner failed. So disappointed.

By summer, I got fed up with the polyurethane somebody slathered on. I wanted this radio to be just like the one I remember from my favorite old book store, with a resident cat patrolling the stacks and classical music from this Cambridge-made gem. So, I stripped it back to the veneer. I applied a Walnut Danish Oil to lightly stain back from the slight bleaching of the stripping process, then Tung Oil to finish, polishing with 0000 steel wool, then a couple applications of finishing wax. I’m happy.

The original and grungy plastic grill cloth had shrunken over the years. I could clean it but a noticeable gap would always be there. It looked ugly. I ripped the cloth off the Masonite front panel, and replaced with an open monks-cloth from JoAnne Fabrics. It was expensive, $10/yd.

Of course, you have to accept some things to use the stuff; It ain’t the original cloth; and cloth is a loose term for the original material. The threads in the original was a white PVC-like monofilament, woven in the same fashion of monks cloth, but with the occasional wide noodle-like white thread and yellow thin thread. Perhaps it went: white noodle – yellow – white – white – yellow – white noodle…

Anyway, I accepted the ramifications of this less acoustically transparent fabric material in exchange for the VERY nice look of it. I put down a single thin coating of spray-on contact adhesive (not Super 77, too thick and gummy) to attach. To protect it from being so easily stained and warped, I sprayed it with a clear uv/resistant varnish. I dabbed woodworking glue around the edges of the Masonite panel to reinforce the cut edges; a little glue in the hole edges made cutting them out worry-free.

The cloth I used gives slightly more resistance to airflow than the original PVC cloth, and while I’m not sure how much this will impact speaker frequency response, I cannot say it won’t. It is also all cotton, and if you leave it unprotected and touch it with dirty hands, you’ve now got an essentially permanent stain. (ed. – Three nieces and seven years later, no stains yet…) The overspray of varnish helps to stiffen and set the cloth and help protect the surface.

With all of that said, don’t it look pretty?

Because I’d like to use the radio 24/7 (music for the bird room), I recapped it completely and replaced the rectifier diodes.

In this original write-up, I left out MANY details. Here they are:

I completely left out how annoying working on this was is; KLH equipment always seemed to exchange serviceability for look and size. Look at the PCB, IF strip and tuner section. Each one needed to be removed to get proper access to it. The boxes were soldered shut, and PCBs mounted in the most inconvenient way. The main filter can replacement and the alignment was easy however. This is still nothing compared to how bad restoring the KLH 18 FM tuner is.

The knobs? They were all cracked and nearly falling off. I wonder if the combination of UV exposure, chemical composition of the plastic and the compression clip retention design makes the knob susceptable to this failure mode. Anyway, I went on eBay to buy a parts unit from a similar KLH FM/Turntable unit for the replacement knobs.

I also left out the process of refreshing the rubber on the rubber-coated fabric surround on the speaker with Permatex Black Rubber sealant. I also replaced the foam gasketing along the front and pack panels. Because the case acts like a traditional acoustic suspension enclosure for the single speaker, some degree of air sealing is needed for best effect from the speaker.

Since those replacement knobs are still so fragile, I held off from pushing them on until I was completely  done working on the radio. Alignment was completed with no issues. I did such a nice job, my girlfriend thought it was way too nice to abandon in the bird room. So, it shall be a gift to my parents for the formal living room.

Would you like see a master’s work on this radio? See Phil Nelson’s KLH 21 here. Enjoy!

I have been solely a single paddle key guy, and was taken with the look of the Autronic after looking to upgrade from my current key. But with the positive reviews, they now can go for quite a bit. I searched around – and found this small heritage vegetable seed company selling one of these keys, with the nice looking conical lock nuts. BUT – it was missing one of the contact posts entirely, as well as both of the springs. Eh, I think I can find somebody to help.

Here is what we are starting with.

But why is a seed company selling a key? The seller said this:

The history of the key is it was my Grandfather’s.  He served in the Navy many years ago.  He passed away in 1982.  My parents inherited the estate and this was part of all the stuff.  I just recently was given a bunch of items from moving my parents to a new location and the items I didn’t have a need for or sentimental attachment to , I put online.  So the missing parts, sorry to say, are long gone after all these years and moves.  I sure with your skills you will get back in top notch shape!

The package finally arrived, and after clearing off dinner from the table, took my new key to pieces and looked at what we had to work with.

We are missing parts these parts: contact post, contact screw, 2x plastic washers, 2x springs. Everything else looks nice; the plastic paddle finger pieces are in good shape, as is the paint on the cast aluminum base. Even the rubber feet are still sticky enough to keep from sliding around my stainless steel table. The bones here are good but some work is needed.

My original idea was to buy some similar parts and adapt them as needed. I would have the plastic washers 3D printed. While looking for those parts, I found the website of 2BRadioParts.com (Donnie WA9TGT). Since his original work supporting the Drake radios, he has moved onto the fabrication of MANY replacement parts for bugs and keys, including replacement finger pieces for the Autronic. So, I wrote him an email.

To my surprise, Donnie offered to perform a restoration. He had a similar Autronic to compare to.

His plan was to:

1. Fabricate TWO new contact posts and conical lock nut from 6061 aluminum
2. Fabricate a new pair of plastic washers. The two original ones would be placed ‘top side’ and these new ones below.
3. Convert a stainless steel screw into a replacement contact screw
4. Find similar springs and modify into replacements of the correct length and end tapers, modelled from his own key

Surprisingly, he was already mostly done in just two days!

My key on the left, his on the right. You can see the conical lock nut in progress in the center. The springs and contact posts are new. In a couple more days, it is all done and ready to ship.

The replacement contact screw is machined from a 6-40 stainless screw, with the same flat notch that all of the other screws.

And here it is, all done…

What do the 2 adjusters that stick out from AUTRONIC labelled part do? They do different things. Its an interesting mechanism, using a center paddle arm and asymmetric yoke to produce the required self-centering without limiting the adjustability for dit and dah motions. Besides what you can see in the image, the top left side adjuster is a centering adjustment and the top right side is the dit spring force.

The patent and drawing may help: https://www.google.com/patents/US3098898

Here is a quick video of the key’s unique adjustment mechanism.

What remains to be done is to add a cable that will match how nice this looks. What would be really nice is some super-flexible stuff that will lay flat on the desk and matches the grey of the cast base. Maybe something like EcoFlex, or a fabric braided cable used for audio. I have some digging around to do. So, more to come.

Update Sept. 2017: I found a braided-jacket 1/8″ TRS audio cable from my local electronics store, with a grey tone that matches the wrinkle paint.

 

This was my first project working as ‘project manager’ – I did some stuff but when it comes to the details, finding the right person with the skills, experience and tooling made all the difference.  This was made possible by the fantastic work of WA9TGT. Donnie is the man! At least from his website, restoration isn’t main business – he usually make up parts and replacement finger pieces for many keys – but when he does it, it is done VERY well. Be sure to check him out.

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Thanks to Charlie WA2ONH, here are some related links:

Autronic Paddle

Later Autronic Ad for “Perfect Code”

N2FQ Autronic Cleaning Video