The cam is mounted to the building! Phew, the hard part is over. Thanks to some much needed help, the install was flawless for a change and it was a beautiful day to block traffic in downtown Blue Ridge. Now I just need to hook it to the router and it's good-to-go. The owners were in ATL today, so hopefully I'll have it live before Monday.

Mucho gracias to Larry the fire chief, Tony the TDS guy, and Randy the guy that gets it done!




I think the above is a good illustration of the difficulty of this installation: no roof access (couldn't mount higher anyway or you would see wire close-ups in pans/zooms), awning & light pole in the way for ladder access, boom in the busy street, pedestrians, overhead wires, had to go almost to roof level to push the wire into the bldg at the proper spot.







Nice reflection on the dome plexi, a good sign I'd say...






(photos courtesy of Randy Bean)

Congrats on getting the cam up,can't wait to check it out.
I'm going to head over to tripadvisor and let the good folks know you should have it up and running soon.

Thanks Cabinfever98! I can't wait to see what the pans are like. After walking around and scoping it out from the depot, down E Main, the gazebo, etc. & still seeing that little bulb, I don't think there's a better spot for it unless I could build my own tower in the middle of the park.

With regard to getting a good shot up-&-down E Main, it's at the top of the hill, if you will, which is what this cam needs (it likes to look down). Fingers crossed but you never know what it's going to look like w/ zoom, night vision, etc. until those first images...

Thank you Mr. Draper for all your time, funds and effort in restoring the downtown cam for all of us to enjoy. ccc

IT LIVES!

Thanks CC! And thanks to everyone for their understanding & patience, even the not-so-patient ones. Pretty cool it went live with some snow blowing. Another cool thing that Shawn pointed out is that the Aska cam will get the starting line of the Mountain Adventure Race and the downtown cam should catch the finish line.

I still need to tweak the pans for better shots (was in a hurry) and get the video going. I'll also be adding more pans; this camera will do up to 20 presets and I'm only utilizing 5 or so now. It also appears as though I got my wires crossed on the enclosure heater/blower as it shouldn't take as long for the ice/fog to clear out. Should be running smoothly early next week. Stop in and see the hosts at Gatewood Hall and give them a "thanks" for hosting the webcam!

PS: looking forward to the first night vision shots tonight. Hope I set that up properly...nope, missed a few settings, should be less splotchy...

I arrived in Blue Ridge this morning and rode by the cam just to look at it.I didn't know you would have it up and running this soon.I'm sitting in my hotel room at the Comfort Inn & Suites right now looking at the cam and you're right it does look a little splotchy.I'm sure you will get that fixed though.Atleast you got it up and running.

Hi Kip,
Love the downtown web, I hope this will stop critics.
see ya soon
carver

Thanks Campbell0212, it's mostly about fun, right? Please look me up. Glad you like it CARVER. I can't really fault the critics. It did take me forever, and I think they must have had something to do with this being the most popular thread on the board. Over 7000 page views now; wow, that dwarfs all others. Nonetheless, it wasn't intentional nor worth that XXL monkey on my back for so long, and I will attempt to hold-off on the premature posts in the future.

BTW, streaming video should be working now, and I'm working on the presets & nightvision when I can. It's slow-going from a remote location, and you naturally have to wait until dark, which is later now . What you essentially want are presets for daylight hours, then different ones at night with the IR cut filter off. Takes awhile to get it all dialed-in remotely; most of the cams pan pretty slowly on the Internet. However, I'd have to spend the night in the store for days to enjoy the fast (joystick) connection for pans/zooms, plus attempt to capture all of the different light cycles.

This is great but I am really disappointed that it is not located in the next block over where all the action is regarding stores,train station,parades, etc.. I have been going to Blue Ridge on a regular basis since 1975 and this location gives me no sense of downtown activity whatsoever. Couldn't the town or railroad help subsidize a better placement of the cam?