G4FUI Webcam Live Streams

Virtual Desktop Cam

G4FUI Shack Cam

Shack Cam

Live Stream

How is this done?

An application called EPCam copies a portion of my Windows desktop running EasyPal and feeds it as a video source to a second application called webcamXP which in turn streams it onto the internet via its built in web server. This first application has some nice features, in particular the facility to add a feed of the video webcam into the corner of the main stream, plus a scrolling marquee which can add information to the display without detracting too much from it.

Additionally, there needs to be a way for viewers of your webcam to connect to the PC on which you are running the above software and which needs to get past your firewall. If you have a static IP address this is fairly straightforward, though if your IP address is dynamically allocated you need to subscribe to a third-party "DDNS" (Dynamic DNS) service such as DynDNS.com and No-IP.com to direct the users to your machine. This sounds quite scary, but in practice is reasonably straightforward to set up. Many routers allow automatic updating of the service with the information required to make this work.   The DDNS service providers provide a basic level of service free of charge which is perfectly adequate for the streaming of webcams.

Why is this done?

Normally this is to provide a visual indication to the Digital SSTV enthusiasts of how well or otherwise these signals are propagating into East Cumbria, England.

When is this done?

This is only a part-time operation, and runs when I am active in either transmitting or just receiving digital SSTV pictures (the latter occupation is often referred to as "lurking"!)

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old shack photo

The above image is the other side of the webcam as of late May 2009, in case you are interested!

Page Updated :- November 13th 2022


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