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Re: extended recording

Subject: Re: extended recording
From: Klas Strandberg <>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 12:35:36 +0200
There is a need though, and that is when you want to set up a mic and
recorder under - for example - several hawks nests and record what is
happening during the day, over a longer period. How often the adults feed,
for example, or breed. You need the happenings and the timing, not the soun=
d
quality.

I have built a few such set up's, for researchers, and then I would have
loved to have the modern big memories.

Klas.

At 01:50 2003-08-28 -0400, you wrote:
>oryoki2000 wrote:
>> Minidisc users who are happy changing discs every 80 minutes need
>> read no further...
>>
>> Hitachi recently confirmed plans to release a 4GB microdrive in
>> November.  Anticipating price reductions by its Compactflash
>> competitors, Hitachi is setting the list price for the 4GB drive at
>> $500.
>>
>> The 4GB microdrive is a good match with Marantz's PMD-670 recorder
>> (~$600), which has a Type 2 Compactflash slot and FAT32 file system. =

>> 4GB of storage means the PMD-670 can record DAT-quality uncompressed
>> stereo for six hours.  If MP2 compression is OK, then you could
>> capture more than 24 hours of stereo non-stop.
>
>This business of just shotgunning recording is not my style. I'm not a
>fan of listening to long sections of useless recording, and I do listen
>to all I record. So, I concentrate on shorter recordings that are
>actually what I want. All part of the fieldcraft of recording. I
>consider the record buffer to be more important than huge recording length=
s.
>
>You might want to also think about how you will handle a 4 GB soundfile,
>archive it and so on. Look at just how long it will take to just open
>the file and such like.
>
>> A field-ready portable power source (including battery, fuse in
>> circuit, voltage regulator, power cord, recharger and carrying case)
>> costs $90 to $125 from commercial sources.
>>
>> Astronomy hobbyists use a setup like this to power a telescope's
>> equatorial drive in the field.  I saw several astronomy sites that
>> explain how to build your own field battery setup.=20
>
>The equatorial drive on my big Celestron runs on one 9 volt battery. For
>days. A well balanced equatorial drive takes almost no power to run it.
>
>However what does eat power is keeping condensation off the glass
>surfaces. Since they are pointed at the cold of space they get
>condensation on them, often before anything else. This is generally
>taken care of using heat bands around each lens. The heat has to be
>quite low so as not to cause undue air movement and spoil the
>resolution, but it's still significant. It's all this resistance heat
>that needs the battery power. And in many modern setup a big battery is
>necessary to keep the laptop computer that's probably taking the photos
>going. Also the new Go To scopes have a onboard computer and motor
>drives on both axis. Those eat a bit of power, especially if you do a
>lot of jumping around the sky with them.
>
>My Celestron is one of the older Ultima scopes. A real nice photography
>scope it's equipped with a autoguider (for long exposure photography)
>and digital setting circles, but no go to computer. I still do it the
>hard way mostly by starhopping. And I still shoot film. About all this
>hobby of mine has in common with my frog recording is that both are done
>at night. The unwanted man made pollution in astronomy is light. A even
>more pervasive problem than sound.
>
>I have a nice Kendrick battery pack like described. It runs the dew
>removers, the autoguider. I also use it to power a cigarette lighter
>spotlight when not doing astronomy, which it can do for a good part of
>the night. It's got a nice shoulder pac, inside of which is a sealed
>motorcycle battery. About like carrying the old Nagra, which has been
>described as a cement block on a strap. In 10 years I've had to replace
>the battery once. There are also gel cell lead acid batteries in this
>size range for the truly wild trips through the woods.
>
>Walt
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
Telinga Microphones, Botarbo,
S-748 96 Tobo, Sweden.
Phone & fax int + 295 310 01
email: 
       



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