Tikaboo Peak weather station and spy camera

The Desert Research Institute managed to install a weather station on Tikaboo Peak without anyone noticing. Since the task for the day was long distance photography, I didn't have a wide angle lens with me, so here is a shot of the tower at stupid O clock (dawn), stitched from 3 photographs.



Now technically, this tower isn't right on the peak. Rather, they cleared an area just beneath the peak. It isn't on the side facing the base, but more like the back side of the peak, so the tower is hard to detect from ground level in the usual "tourist" spots.

Now that dome on the tower is, you guessed it, a spy camera. Supposedly to guard instrumentation, but it also makes it easy to spy on the visitors to the peak. [Note the DRI installed a less sophisticated weather station in Rachel with a similar spy camera. Hey, not that I'm trying to create a conspiracy here, but if Groom Lake had access to the video, it sure would be handy if they wanted to observe who is in town or on the peak. ]

Now perhaps I'm just a bit paranoid. I mean, is the camera really pointing at me? You be the judge.







OK, so it isn't pointing at me all the time.

Here is the base of the tower:



The device at the right of the photograph has dangling bladed that rattle in the wind. Needless to say, sleeping on top of TIkaboo Peak now won't be easy for light sleepers.

Since I had the telescope with me, I took some photos of the gear on the tower. I couldn't photograph the spy camera due to the steep angle. I doubt this is useful info, but like I said, I had the gear.





Here is the DRI link to get the data off this weather station.
www.wrcc.dri.edu...

It has been active since August. I assume this took at least a month or two to set up. They poured a concrete base, which I presume was accomplished using a helicopter to deliver the mix and water. I have no idea how they cleared the area for the base of the tower. I didn't notice any downed trees.

I should point out the just barely visible in the first photograph is a small yagi antenna. I'd say it is UHF or higher in frequency. It points in the general direction of the NTS.

I suppose if you want to hide from the spy cam, a Guy Fawkes mask would do the trick.

Can i ask what's so significant about this weather station?

Originally posted by Anttyk47
Can i ask what's so significant about this weather station?

It wasnt said in the OP's post, but the significance is...

Tikaboo Peak is a mountain in Lincoln County, Nevada, United States 26 miles (42 km) to the east of Area 51. It is the closest legal vantage point with a view of the area.

wiki

So if you want to see area 51, you go to Tikaboo Peak.
If the government want to see you, they install a camera.

The US government has expanded the physical border of the Nellis range over the years to stop people from viewing Groom Lake. The stole the land containing "Freedom Ridge" and "White Sides." The "interceptors" (a band of Groom Lake watchers) found the next best site, namely Tikaboo Peak. The distance to the base is about 26 miles, making observation difficult.

This is an "in your face" move by the base to "watch the watchers."

Of the many Western Regional WX Stations you've visited, is this the only one that has what appears to be a camera?

reply to post by RKWWWW


I've only seen the weather stations at Rachel and Tikaboo. I have seen CEMP stations, but they are different. My recollection is the CEMP stations don't have cameras.

I think the remoteness of Tikaboo Peak itself is enough of a deterrent that a security camera isn't needed.

Originally posted by gariac
The Desert Research Institute managed to install a weather station on Tikaboo Peak without anyone noticing.

To me it appears it was done in a public, above-board manner with the input of several resource specialists who were members of a review board.

www.blm.gov...

reply to post by RKWWWW


I only see input from the BLM and DRI. That is like the government asking the government for permission. This hardly qualifies as public input.

Take the construction of the UAV base at Yucca Lake. It just showed up one day on Google Earth. It took considerable arm twisting on my part to get the "reading room" to admit the new runway existed. The Nevada environmental agency (I forget the exact name) had no record of this. It wasn't until years later that a DRI report surfaced that approved the project.

In a similar manner, this tower just showed up. And it is mighty handy it is located on a peak where the base is photographed. There is a similar peak a bit to the east that is rarely used that I suspect would have been suitable.

reply to post by gariac

Excellent recon and information. Thanks for sharing.
With all the detection equipment approaching that area on the public side, you would think this would not be necessary.
But, I guess you can never have too much big-brother.

www.meetup.com...

A group of hikers did Tikaboo shortly after my trip and decided to pose with the spy cam.

I'm still researching this. I've discovered other cameras at other WX stations operated by The Desert Research Institute. Some are web cams, others are used to observe real time WX conditions. I'm not saying that the Tikaboo Peak camera falls in these categories, but I'm not ruling it out either. I'm going to call the phone number posted at the Tikaboo site and see what they say.

The station is now online. You can get weather data here:
www.wrcc.dri.edu...

There are photos from the site, but I am certain they are not from the spy camera itself. Rather, just from a photographer on the ground. I'm sure you will be shocked to read that they didn't photograph Groom Lake. Here is a photo they took of the ET Highway and Tikaboo vallley.

www.wrcc.dri.edu...

There are more images at the first link, plus a 85Mbyte AVI. Interesting imagery, but not revealing.

If you could somehow manage to get past the chicken wire, I think it might be rather easy to give that camera a new paint job. Gotta make sure you have a disguise though.

Based on Gariac's pics:
Apogee
Campbell

Did you happen to see anything that resembled a microphone?

reply to post by DClark


The tower is 10 meters. The camera isn't at the top, but it is very high. I think paintball would be the only solution.

I laugh at the notion of facial recognition software on the camera. I'm going to bring a sign so they know who I am. I hope to file a FOIA someday and get an image of myself on Tikaboo from the spy cam.

I didn't notice a microphone. I think they would have to point a directional microphone at the peak, and there is nothing pointing at the peak.

You don't know the amount of time a few of us have spent looking for hidden cameras. Literally scanning the hillside with binocs and /or telescopes. It was always assumed there were fixed cameras on Bald Mountain that were looking at the mailbox, the Little Aleinn parking area, and maybe Tikaboo. I just didn't expect them to put up two snooping weather stations in the area. One at the Little Aleinn, and of course one on Tikaboo. The CEMP photos for Rachel from the DRI are old. The CEMP was moved right to the front of the Little Aleinn and a similar spy camera was added. This is just so "in your face."

Speaking of hidden cameras, there was a report in the Army Times on Project Cardinal. Cardinal is a hidden camera project they used in Iraq and then later in Somalia. I haven't check it the project has a thread on ATS.

reply to post by gariac

reply to post by gariac


Great post. I had some time to kill so I went to RAWS page and looked at several, but not all, of the other weather stations and though they mostly all look the same, they do not have cameras. Interesting indeed that the one on Tikaboo peak has a cam.

Gariac- you should get yourself the Gigapan Epic Pro if you head up often and take panoramas.
gigapansystems.com...

By opening the aperture and stitching the images it gives a brilliant depth of field that you can zoom in on.

For those that havent seen its capabilities here's a pic of NellisAFB from LV
gigapan.org...

just zoom backwards

cheers

reply to post by lavenlaar


The gigapan would never hold a telescope,. I use a heavy gear head to get scope pointed towards the base. To photograph Groom Lake from Tikaboo, you need to have an equivalent focal length of about 2500mm. Now nobody brings a lens two and a half meters long, but a combination of the telescope and either eyepiece projection or a barlow had to get you in the neighborhood of 2500mm.

It may not be a requirement of their software, but panoramic images are best taken with the image plane over the pivot point. However for a telescope, the most stable image is take with the front glass over the pivot point.

I find it very telling that this project was funded by a grant from the department of defense. Think they could be any more obvious.

This is a view of the Tikaboo spy cam from a ground location. I didn't log the view spot, but if you repeat Jim Wilson's (Popular Mechanics) screw up (stay on Mail Box Road), you will run into this spot. It should be
N37 17 19.6 W115 26 34.8
You can see from this direction that the tower is back a bit from the top of the peak. As I've stated before, the camera is not on the peak, but just behind the peak, maybe 15ft from the top. That makes the tower hard to see from the ET highway.