MBYC WebCam 1 (from clubhouse veranda)

Our goal with this first Webcam is to make it possible to see what is going on in the marina. The camera is temporarily located in the clubhouse and will probably later be moved to an enclosure on the roof of the little building by the bridge out in the marina so that we will have a better view of the marina. This is an inexpensive webcam for about $200, and if there is interest from the membership we would consider adding a few more, for instance by the entrance so we could record on a hard drive who enters the Yacht club grounds. These cameras can be set to record on motion sense, so that only relevant information gets recorded.

Technical note! If you can't see the webcam and if you are using Internet Explorer version 7, you might have to download and install Java, here is a link for it; http://www.java.com/en/

Please note! We are currently NOT recording anything, but that you could conceivably be watched live on the internet while sitting on the clubhouse deck or walking in the marina, don't forget to smile!  let me know your thoughts on this matter, click here to send an email

Why is the webcam sometimes not working?

Our network uses a Blue box called a Router, to connect the different components like the PC's, the Webcam and the big Copier/Printer, and to give them as needed access to the internet or to each other if users ask for it (example if one of the PC's want to print to the copier/printer). In order to be able to see the difference between all these components a number is automatically generated by the router and given to each component. This number is called a TCP/IP number and looks typically like this 192.168.1.101 The last part of it is what is relevant for our network.

So if the Webcam is called 192.168.1.101 in our network at the MBYC, we have to open up this address so that it can be seen by all on the internet, so that you can see the Webcam on the website. This is called assigning an address to an open port in the router.

The problem is that the address expires after a time and the router then gives out a new one to each device, and it might not be the same one it had before depending on what device asks first for a new TCP/IP address (we are talking milliseconds). It can also happen when we have a power glitch and all devices lose power for an instant. When that happens, we suddenly can't see the webcam anymore, because the address does not correspond to the open port it has been assigned to.

We are working on  how to assign a permanent address to the webcam so this wont happen, but have not been successful yet, in the meantime when it goes down, we just change the port assignment to the address that the webcam currently is at.