Long distance webcam?

[jackyyll]

What would be the best way to network a webcam so that i can use it from ~500ft away? I know cat-5 is shit after 100ft is it? And wireless might be too expensive for that kind of range .. I need a cheap solution, what do you guys think?

 

[JTY]

Cat5 is fine for a 300ft.

As for wireless, that depends. Is it 500ft of open space, or are there walls in the way of getting a signal? If it's open area, then a wifi enabled camera would do the trick.

 

[MooCow]

I know cat-5 is shit after 100ft is it?

100 meters

 

[jackyyll]

It's not open space, there are buildings obstructing the path. Would it be possible to put a switch in the middle of two 100m wires and still get 100% "signal"?

 

[MooCow]

I believe it should work... a switch should act like a repeater (as hubs also do), but I might be wrong, though a switch is not the same as a hub, I'm speaking on the sake of a relay of power. However distance is determined by diminishing signal due to a drop in voltage so a powered switch should extend your distance.

 

[nexusalt]

I can't believe no one has reccomended the [H] solution yet.....

Run Fiber!!

If you eBay the parts, you should be able to pick up everything you need for ~100 bones or so. Here's what I got with just a quick look.

2 Ethernet\SC Fiber Converters

http://cgi.ebay.com/TFC-110MSC-100BaseTX-to-100Base-FX-Fiber-Converter-SC_W0QQitemZ160161686471QQihZ006QQcategoryZ11175QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

500ft spool of SC-SC Multimode Fiber

http://cgi.ebay.com/500-FT-SPOOL-FIBER-OPTIC-DUPLEX-CABLE-SC-SC-4-Adapters_W0QQitemZ140162293890QQihZ004QQcategoryZ64046QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You'll have no issues with signal degradation over 500ft....You should be good out to about 2km. If you watch eBay for a few days, you can usually snag some killer deals on the actual fiber itself too.

 

[MooCow]

He did say a cheap solution, although he never did give a budget either....

 

[Icidic]

~$90 isn't exactly what I'd call expensive. As he said, you can get killer deals off eBay these days on stuff like this.

Fibre +1