Security Camera System

The security camera system at WICC has been installed for a month or so. The greatest feature of this system is the Blue Iris monitoring software. Two weeks ago while I was out there, we calibrated the motion detection on all four cameras. The results are astounding; there are at least two red foxes and six to seven white-tailed deer, and on the weekends, the place is busier than Grand Central station.

The nighttime images are interesting, people with flashlights walking down the beach at 1 am and a naked guy causally strolling by the front gate at midnight.  I will never go to this site at night without the police.  Never, so don’t even ask.   This is a video of a fence hopper with a can of spray paint in his hand:

Likely he intended some site beautification.  His friend is out of the frame to the left when the cameras are spotted. A few seconds later both can be seen running away on the North facing camera. I find that rather funny. This is a still picture:

Blue Iris screen shot
Blue Iris screenshot

On the right-hand side of the screen, one can see all of the triggered events from all the cameras.  The Blue Iris software is great, it can handle up to 64 IP cameras and has all sorts of neat features; color coding cameras, recording on motion, night time sensitivity settings, ability to NAT the camera interface to the public network, etc.  The Blue Iris also has an iPhone and Android client which will allow remote access to the Blue Iris server and the server can be set up to push events to the mobile device.  At $9.99, the app is a little pricey, but for high-security situations, it might be just the ticket.

We must also get some signage warning about trespassing and video surveillance and post them on the fences and buildings.

End of the day, time to go home

I took a few shots during the boat ride back from the WICC transmitter site today.  This has to be one of the more unique transmitter sites to access in the country.  Most of the time, the boat ride takes about five to ten minutes, depending on other vessels in the channel.  The dock at the island is in rough shape due to last month’s storm, but it is generally passable.

We are still working on repairing the damage from Sandy.  Today was patching up the roof and troubleshooting the tower lights.  The tower light wiring, junction boxes, and splices were all soaked by seawater, and there are several issues with malfunctioning side markers and beacon lights.  We will be rewiring everything next week.

Departing Pleasure Beach Island, Bridgeport, CT
Departing Pleasure Beach Island, Bridgeport, CT

Shot over the stern looking at the two 1926 vintage Miliken towers. The square, self-supporting towers are nearly ninety years old, most of which was spent in a salt air environment, as such these towers are in excellent shape. They knew how to make things back then.

The Port Jefferson Ferry, Bridgeport Harbor, CT
The Port Jefferson Ferry, Bridgeport Harbor, CT

The Ferry runs between Port Jefferson, NY (Long Island) and Bridgeport, CT carrying cars and pedestrians. There are no cars on this particular boat, so it must be out of service.

The pilot house on the Harbor Master boat
The pilot house on the Harbor Master boat

Looking into the pilot house of the Harbor Master boat. Looks a little crowded in there, I’ll just stay out on deck and enjoy the ride.  Sometimes it is the small things.

A day in Pictures

The aftermath:

Long beach
Long Beach, used to be an isthmus, now it is a sand bar
A set of old stairs
A set of old stairs on the beach where the cottages used to be located.
Surf
Surf
100 lb propane tanks
Found the reason why the generator is not running
Propane tanks adrift
Propane tanks adrift from storm surge. There was a strong propane smell around these tanks, I secured all the valves.
WICC propane tank pad
Where the propane tanks should be
debris washed ashore during storm surge
Debris washed ashore during storm surge around the north tower, including a section of dock
Second high tide after Hurricane Sandy, noon on Tuesday
Second high tide after Hurricane Sandy, noon on Tuesday, flooding the ground system
three phase power line down
Three phase power line down due to wind
Three phase power line down
More wind-damaged power lines
Telco wires taken down by trees
Telco wires were taken down by trees
Generator room water level, as seen on the side of the battery
Generator room water level, as seen on the side of the battery

More work here tomorrow.

Update: Took longer than anticipated, but the station is back on the air with generator power as of 8:15 am, Thursday (11/1).  Commercial power restoration is not expected until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest.

Update: Commercial power restored on Thursday, 11/8 for a total outage of 10 days.  One good thing about incidents like this, I now have a fresh set of contacts for all the important people connected to servicing this site.

Graffiti

I wonder about such things. I wonder who would walk a couple of miles, and climb over a chain link fence with some spray paint cans just to do this:

Spray Painted Graffiti, WICC transmitter building
Spray Painted Graffiti, WICC transmitter building

Why are they not doing something else?

Graffiti WICC transmitter site, Bridgeport, CT
Graffiti WICC transmitter site, Bridgeport, CT

Can’t even read what it says, what does it say?

E135D?  I've got my eye on you
E135D? I’ve got my eye on you

On the roll-up door. What does that mean?

On an unrelated note, I wonder what Hurricane Irene thought of the Piping Plover nesting areas? Last year we were able to drive down the temporary road on the sandbar and deliver fuel, a new generator and remove stuff.  This was an issue because the Piping Plovers nest on the ground in the sand dunes.  Before we could use the road we were given a briefing by Connecticut Fish and Wildlife where we were told that destroying a nest would result in a $75,000 fine.

Long Beach, Connecticut
Long Beach, Connecticut

As this area was completely washed over by the Long Island sound, the answer is “Not much.”