Groom Lake Back (North) Gate May 2011

Some slight alterations were done to the back gate (north gate) area. This is the gate that you reach taking the road just south of Rachel. A new building was added, a second crossing arm added, and a camera was changed.









The camera appears to be a Cohu 4860 low light model. I suspect they don't use remote sensors to detect cars coming to the back gate since servicing them would be easily seen from Rachel.

Referring page:
back gate

reply to post by gariac


Link is not working. You put a coma instead of a dot just after the 3 w's.

reply to post by thruthseek3r


There is a 4 hour limit on edits. Yeah, news to me too.

www.lazygranch.com/bg.htm

Since I work in the video surveillance field I can tell you those cameras are garbage. I cannot believe they use those cohu's to protect Area 51.

First off they are POE (powered over Ethernet) therefore any loss of internet connection will make the cameras turn off. The do not have redundant back up power. Ever lose internet connection at your house/business? Of course they are CCTV because they are not transmitting their IP to a remote connection, but that dependency on internet connectivity is baffling.

Second-They are designed for image capturing, not real time video analytic and detection. In fact they have no analytic or motion activated alarm triggers. Unless someone is constantly monitoring them, anyone could pass by them. Interesting they say "low light sensitivity". Unless they have IR capabilities, that's a lie.

Third-Zoom and capture abilities are nearly non existent on these. Again, they are not designed to handle real-time incidents.

Final item: These cameras have no two-way audio ability. Maybe a minor point because they institue other measures to gather sounds, but surveillance cameras today that are more modern and are used by commercial businesses have two-way recording capabilities whether it is a land-line or VOIP technology.

They sure are getting good at making the windows darker. Is it me, or is the tower with the camera on it watching you tilted to the left? That doesn't look 90* at all.

reply to post by JKF1897


RS-170 is black and white analog video. The cameras are not IP using POE as far as I can tell.

reply to post by gariac


They must really rely on the ground sensors over the camera system to detect intruders. That would make sense seeing you couldn't possibly cover the desert with analytic cameras.

reply to post by JKF1897


I get the feeling that much of the border security is just theatre. Sure, you will get arrested if you cross the border, but seriously, you are very far away from the base itself.

I'm sure things get ugly closer to the base itself. The dudes just check badges and log license plates. I'm not convinced the will shoot you but rather contact the guys that will shoot you.