Protecting Remote Parking Area

[jeff_connors]

It's been a long time since I have looked at CCTV and I need some current information. I have a parking area (at my house) that dark and secluded. I recently had my cars vandalized. From my house on a hill, the parking area is about 350' away and down a 80-90' hill. Line of sight PIR's won't reach wirelessly. So I could hardwire one but it will be a pain. My question is how to configure a cctv system. I'm not sure what they can do these days. Ideally, I would want to mount an IR cam covering the vehicles to detect faces and plate numbers. It may be enough to mount it at the top of the hill just to see the area so when the PIR alerts, I can view the area and call the cops. The downside is that when we are not here, the video (if recorded) won't capture specific information. I have attached an outline of the area. Thanks a lot.


Jeff

[CameraMan]

No, you're screwed. You're gonna need to trench that puppy. Fortunately, you can connect the camera to a DVR that will email you or send you a text message when it detects activity.

[SecTrainer]

Just digging a trench and mounting a camera really isn't going to solve your problem. Besides, 350 feet is a lot of trenching with the potential for subsequent problems, and you have to be sure you avoid underground services which sometimes means a call to different utilities. (I never met a trench I couldn't till up one fine day :D)

I'd look at a wireless repeater as an alternative to see if that would give you the necessary range for a totally wireless install. There are huge properties that don't have an inch of trench dug for their systems. Remember, too, that you might not even need a repeater. The antenna system, proper orientation of the antennas, receiver sensitivity and the choice of frequencies will have the most impact on system range - even more so than transmitter power, dollar for dollar. For this distance, I don't think line-of-sight has to be a limiting factor, though, even with the hill. A site visit by a local vendor-specialist would be best to answer that question.

If you have cell service available, one possibility is a system that incorporates cell phone notification on detection of motion or other sensor activation. It probably seems counterintuitive to have a system that close to your house call you up on the phone, but it's really just a variant of the repeater idea, letting the wireless phone system provide the "repeater". Plus, it could be configured to call you while you're away, as well. Systems incorporating cell phone capability are commonly used at remote construction sites.

You don't mention what your power situation is at the remote site, which makes advice a little more difficult, but I'm assuming that this isn't a problem and if it's not you'll want to consider the role of lighting, especially motion-controlled lighting that is set up to be impervious to small animal movements. This could also be equipped with a siren or alarm. Statistically, most car prowls are committed by juvenile amateurs and they are not likely to hang around when the lights and siren activate.

Looking at the map you provide, it appears that this is a single-access private road, which to me strongly suggests installing an appropriate gate if the property is fenced, or one of several possible sensor types covering the entrance to the drive and the area around it if the property isn't fenced. In other words, I'd want to know the minute someone comes on the property rather than wait until they're up by the cars fooling around. Taking pictures of people while they're committing crimes, hoping to catch them after the fact, is really a secondary strategy. In addition, it provides protection for the house and not just the cars in the drive for you to know when someone comes onto the property.

Another idea, if the property is not fenced now, would be to fence off a secure parking area and protect just that small area by one of the other means mentioned here. A security fencing company could give you something for a very reasonable price depending on how much space you would need. Your diagram seems to indicate that you have a fairly small number of vehicles to protect but I don't want to read too much into it. I'd do 8' minimum with a barbed wire topper unless there are really strong aesthetic considerations. I wouldn't protect the fence itself (with fence sensors) in rural Ohio (due to false alarms from to animals and wind) unless you can spend some big money for an intelligent system. Interior space protection and lighting will do fine, using good strong signage on the fence perhaps. Aesthetics can be addressed a number of ways, most cheaply with landscaping shrubbery (which is even better if it is of the evergreen thorny variety).

The real advantage to this idea is that you also must protect the lighting/sensor/camera/etc system itself (people will vandalize and/or steal them), which would be placed within the fence perimeter for that purpose. From within the fence, if adjacent to the road, you could also have motion sensors, cameras, etc. covering the road itself leading to the house to gain that advantage. In fact, reading over my own notes here, this would probably be the configuration I would recommend - a small secure parking area with appropriate sensing and notification that is protected within the fence itself, and covers the adjacent road as well for the sake of protecting the house.

Finally, there are car alarm systems that will notify you via cell phone also, and of course the advantage of these is that they protect the vehicle wherever it may be, not just at home. If the vehicles are your exclusive concern, this would be my second choice. Here's a link to such a system, the RAM V2 (http://www.hometechnologyclub.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=20&zenid=n2t2dio6rb77uton994mfhuc70) costing $450, but it has a lot of capabilities (two-way text-message communication with your car, remote immobilization, window smash, motion/shock sensor, etc.). This is a GSM system using a SIM card so you'd need to use it with Cingular (AT&T) or T-mobile and there's obviously a monthly cost for that, but you can use a cheap plan since it's strictly SMS text-messaging.

Whatever you decide to do, though, test it well to get the sensor coverages and sensitivities right or you'll be cussing the system more than the vandals.

[CameraMan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are those trees in your drawing? Because if there are trees in the way, even a good transmitter will not get a line of site signal.

[SecTrainer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are those trees in your drawing? Because if there are trees in the way, even a good transmitter will not get a line of site signal.

Not necessarily. Tree-Penetrating Wireless Link System (http://www.wirelessnetworkproducts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1118) This is different from one I installed, but it's fairly similar (even longer range) and it worked fine. We had about 600 yards to cover that crossed a single row of pine trees planted fairly close together as a wind-break.

[CameraMan]

Oh, that is cool.

[jeff_connors]

Thanks for the help. To answer your questions, having more of a LE background than security, I want to catch the bastards! I do realize that deterrence is a better strategy. The area is remote, dark (street light about 200' away), and without power. Running 120 there is a trenching job (I thought about a security light but then one BB or .22 would take that out) but it may deter 99% of them. The MS Paint Spray is the hill which I labeled but it was not as clear as it could have been. From the house to edge of the hill is flat and clear of obstructions. The hill has trees on it but if a wireless would work without the trees, I would chainsaw it. I have thought about a repeater and figured they would make one. The property is not fenced so a gate would not do much good. Fencing is more cost than I want to get into. Covering the road with a motion sensor is what I have done up top but moving it close to the road provides as much warning as possible and would help detect car vandals. So that is mandatory and my wireless detector (Optek 1000) I don't believe has a hard wire output. And the wireless does not work that far away. So I have to figure that out. Trees are not a factor during the test since the leaves are not out yet. Seems I'm going to be trenching one way or the other. I may start out by putting a wireless cam on top of the hill to observe the area (some trees will have to be taken out). It will be dark so even with a 0 Lux, I will probably only see headlights. Not the greatest but still better than I have now. Theft of the camera at the bottom of the hill concerns me. The IR cameras are not meant to be covert from the looks of them. A bullet cam may be good if it would connect wirelessly. It may be good to have someone take a look at it. I need to make the road as passable as possible but in the winter, they will be days when we can't make it up. With no power at the bottom, any other ideas?

[davis002]

I might have a couple of ideas, but what kind of budget are you looking at?

[SecTrainer]

Thanks for the help. To answer your questions, having more of a LE background than security, I want to catch the bastards! I do realize that deterrence is a better strategy. The area is remote, dark (street light about 200' away), and without power. Running 120 there is a trenching job (I thought about a security light but then one BB or .22 would take that out) but it may deter 99% of them. The MS Paint Spray is the hill which I labeled but it was not as clear as it could have been. From the house to edge of the hill is flat and clear of obstructions. The hill has trees on it but if a wireless would work without the trees, I would chainsaw it. I have thought about a repeater and figured they would make one. The property is not fenced so a gate would not do much good. Fencing is more cost than I want to get into. Covering the road with a motion sensor is what I have done up top but moving it close to the road provides as much warning as possible and would help detect car vandals. So that is mandatory and my wireless detector (Optek 1000) I don't believe has a hard wire output. And the wireless does not work that far away. So I have to figure that out. Trees are not a factor during the test since the leaves are not out yet. Seems I'm going to be trenching one way or the other. I may start out by putting a wireless cam on top of the hill to observe the area (some trees will have to be taken out). It will be dark so even with a 0 Lux, I will probably only see headlights. Not the greatest but still better than I have now. Theft of the camera at the bottom of the hill concerns me. The IR cameras are not meant to be covert from the looks of them. A bullet cam may be good if it would connect wirelessly. It may be good to have someone take a look at it. I need to make the road as passable as possible but in the winter, they will be days when we can't make it up. With no power at the bottom, any other ideas?

Given the situation you describe with respect to power, I'd go with an in-vehicle self-contained remote notification system - something like the RAM V2 I mentioned earlier or the one linked below, installed in one or more of your vehicles. Then, you could still also just fence off a very small parking area with a locking gate and no additional sensing technology other than the in-vehicle systems themselves. It is not necessary for every layer of protection to be "high-tech", although we sometimes get trapped into thinking that way. The purpose of a fence is deterrence and delay; at 3 a.m., you need time for the system to notify you, and then for you to lurch out of bed, throw on your wife's bathrobe with your shoes on the wrong feet, trip over the cat and stagger down the hill.

Here's another in-vehicle system (http://www.commandocaralarms.com/itemdetails.asp?ProductID=1194) that will page you up to a half-mile away, non line-of-sight, which should be well within range.

I guess the real problem is how to test any solution you (or we) might think is acceptable without buying it first. Perhaps the best thing is a careful contact with the vendor and a prior agreement that if you purchase something they recommend (knowing the situation) and it doesn't work, you can return it.

[Eric]

I can understand you want to catch these people, however it does appear to be difficult for using technolgy with that purpose in mind.

Vehicle alarms could help deter, and if neighbours are nearby perhaps you can use them or thier power sources. I would also get the neighbours involved to help anyway!

Consider a dog, and CPTED landscaping / driveway improvements.

[Mr. Security]

I don't know if it's too late for this question, but was it random or do you think you were targeted because of your LE occupation?

[psdiraq]

All you need to do is light the area and find a clear line of sight at the top of your house-hill-area.

New CC's can zoom into a mile and thats a digital signal that you route to your computer. Using your mouse you can zoom in or out, make it more any direction you want......... total cool and not a budget buster. I use them and I LOVE them.

Happy hunting!

[jeff_connors]

All you need to do is light the area and find a clear line of sight at the top of your house-hill-area.

New CC's can zoom into a mile and thats a digital signal that you route to your computer. Using your mouse you can zoom in or out, make it more any direction you want......... total cool and not a budget buster. I use them and I LOVE them.

Happy hunting!

I have looked at supercircuits.com and all the cams there. They don't provide enough information for the novice to decide what to get. Without seeing their capability or knowing their capability, it's just a shot in the dark. When you say "new CC", do you mean the new digital cameras? What would be your recommendation?

From what I understand, analog cameras won't provide license plates but will show movement. That may be all I would need. I would like to have a PIR on the driveway and then a camera to show the area. Recording the image would be nice for when I'm not there but not mandatory. I do have a dedicated computer that I can use. Also, I have trenched to the area and plan on have power for a security light. I also plan to install a signal wire if not interfered with by the power wire. Thanks for the help!

[SecTrainer]

All you need to do is light the area and find a clear line of sight at the top of your house-hill-area.

New CC's can zoom into a mile and thats a digital signal that you route to your computer. Using your mouse you can zoom in or out, make it more any direction you want......... total cool and not a budget buster. I use them and I LOVE them.

Happy hunting!

He means "CCD", not "CC", Jeff. Stands for "charge-coupled device".

If you're going to have to light the area anyway for this "zoom surveillance" idea, you're running power. As a general rule, zoom or no zoom, you want cameras as close to the action as possible, transmitting the video signal to cover the distance to the receiver, rather than relying on using optical or digital zoom with cameras placed far from the target. Zoom reduces both depth of field and width of the view angle.

Therefore, you'd be better off positioning the camera near the cars so you can get the best (and widest-angle) image, covering the distance back to the house with a wireless video signal instead of mounting the camera near the house and covering the distance to the cars with camera zoom.
If you use something like this camera (http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/videocomm-zx-520sr100.html), which has 100' IR as well, and position it near (within 100 feet of) the cars, you would also have the option of NOT lighting up the area and giving yourself some covert options. In other words, this might give you the chance to catch these scumbags instead of just recording their actions.

This camera can transmit the video signal up to 1000' (depending on antenna you select), which would likely be more than enough based on your sketch. I'm betting that this range is line-of-sight, but you've got so much less than that distance to cover that the slope issue might not be a problem. The people at Brick House would be a good place to start a little research on that question.

Incidentally, there are cameras that can use the power line you're running to transmit the video signal also. I don't know if any have the IR feature, though, so ask them about that as well.

In short, my advice would be NOT to position the camera far away from your target relying on zoom to cover the distance to the target unless that is absolutely your only option. You will not get optimal angle of view, depth of field or quality of image that way. Instead, position the camera near the target (the lighted area) and beam the signal back to the house. Again, this assumes that you're running power to the area in question as you would have to do for lights anyway. "Zoom surveillance" is definitively a secondary tactic, in my opinion.

[Minneapolis Security]

Build a garage and alarm it.

[Blade Runner]

Forget about the cameras, just get one of these......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc

[SecTrainer]

Forget about the cameras, just get one of these......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxBa5bQfTGc

I'm going to...just as soon as it's fitted with a Browning M2 .50-caliber machine gun firing Mk-211 armor-piercing incendiary rounds and I wish they'd hurry up...my mother-in-law is coming for a visit soon. She's not nearly as nippy on her feet as this guy, either. "Oops, honey, did you forget to tell your mother not to wander around in the back yard?" :D