Setting Up a Surveillance Camera for the Technically Challenged

With crime on the rise and troublesome people a part of life, it pays to have home surveillance at times. If you suspect that you are being cheated on by a spouse, stalked, harassed or worry about babysitters with your children, here are some tips on setting up a simple mini spy camera to give you a little peace of mind. It's not being paranoid but taking care of yourself when you feel uneasy about a security related situation. Only set up cameras where it is legal to do so; check your local law enforcement if you have any questions about legalities. It's always a good idea to make a quick call to the police and ask what the law in your area permits. My suggestions are for law abiding purposes only.

There are many types of surveillance cameras on the market, from the cheap to the incredibly expensive. The more money it costs, the more features and options you'll have to work with, but for basic purposes, a simple pinhole or mini spy security camera with wireless receiver and an AC adapter should do a pretty good job. Sure, you can buy a teddy bear, clock radio or tissue holder with a camera tucked discreetly inside of it (for a few hundred bucks), but buying a mini spy camera alone is drastically much less expensive and you can disguise it any way you want.

In my situation, my home is wired against intrusion due to an overzealous person in my midst who has been looking into my windows and invading my privacy in multiple ways. To remedy this situation, I first contacted law enforcement and got their opinions, who told me that it was ok to set up a camera if I wanted to. So, never having done this before, I jumped on Ebay and educated myself about surveillance systems. Being on a budget, it was important that this equipment was quality but not pricey. I found and bought a new wireless camera kit for around $40.

The discreet box was mailed to me, and it contained a receiver, two AC adapters, a cable and the tiny little camera. Assembling it all meant plugging everything together, an adapter into the camera and separately, another adapter into the receiver. Then, each adapter was plugged into the wall. It was as simple as that. The kit came with a battery hookup if I wanted a totally wireless camera, but in this case it isn't necessary, the adapters were better for me. The tricky part for me was figuring out how to make the camera and reciever communicate with my television but in the end it wasn't as intimidating as I first thought.

The receiver on my surveillance receiver has color coded video input plugs, one yellow and one white. I plugged the cable into those then hooked the other end of it to the TV, which has corresponding plugs of the same colors. Then, there's a knob on the side of the receiver to adjust the picture. "What picture?", you may ask. All you see is tv programs.

The trick to it is to set the TV through the "Video Source" button on your cable remote, which may go by other names on other peoples' systems. This button controls your TV to switch over to VCR, DVD or others on channels (not the ones used to go to your programs but frequency channels). My camera is on video (or frequency) 3. My DVD player is on video (or frequency) 2. Just hit the "Video source" button a few times to get to the right channel. You'll know you have the right one when you can see the (plugged in) camera picture (make sure the camera is connected and on) or a blank screen (this means you need to adjust the frequency of the reciever to see a picture). Then, adjust the knob on the pinhole camera reciever until you see a focused picture, and voila, there's the closed circuit live picture you've been waiting to see.

The next trick is to angle the camera in a way so it is not seen, but is monitoring the area clearly with no interference of any kind. This is best done with a friend; otherwise you have to run back and forth to see if the picture is what you want, on the TV screen. To secure the little camera into place, I used heavy duty, double sided tape. I stuck a blank tape into my VCR (yes, VCRs still have a purpose in this high tech world) and now I can record what the camera sees anytime I want by hitting "record" on the VCR or my tv remote control. That's it; my space is now being watched by a closed circuit camera, in color, with sound for only a fraction of what it would cost to buy a camera in a clock radio.

Using surveillance equipment isn't for everyone but is a good idea for anyone who is being victimized, picked on, or stolen from. Don't let the offenders get away with their bad behavior. If you plan to take a case to court, there is nothing better than to be able to visually show proof of your allegations against another person, otherwise it's a "he said/she said" deal. Security doesn't have to be expensive. Just take installing slow and easy, doing one step at a time. Think of it as a puzzle to figure out. Once it's done, there's a sense of mastery for those of us who aren't technically inclined. Now, I think I'll go tackle re-wiring my rented condo (just kidding), the world is my oyster. And, my place is secure.