BuckEye wireless- Up to 254 cameras can be assigned to one base

[Rit]

Anyone miss the days of taking rolls of film to Walgreen’s 1-hour photo?

 

[Rit]

It will be interesting to see how the build-out of 5G impacts the cost of cell data. If the cost of data drops significantly, it may make future cell base systems more cost effective.

Thanks,

Jack[/QUOTE]
Nothing cheap about deploying a 5G network. It will be a means for faster data but not cheaper data.

I have been playing around with this Ridgtec cellular camera and you can control the resolution of the thumbnails and the image that is recorded to the SD card. Then of course you can request a HD image. The HD images request is only as good as the rate it was recorded at. The issue is the higher MP the rating it was recorded the higher the plan charge per photo. I can say there isn’t a huge difference between the thumbnail and the HD photo. Maybe when racks are more pronounced it may make a difference or perhaps Ridgtec is just a bum camera. I just wish I could use my own SIM cards in these cameras. I have a dozen lines that I pay next to nothing for and unlimited data.

I haven’t figured it out yet but if I want to share the photo it’s not great off the app and the email of the photos I get are small and they don’t all show up.

 

[yoderjac]

I have complete confidence in the Reconyx cell cams based on my experience with their non cell cams. They also come with a 5 year warranty. They stand by their stuff and customer service has been a dream to work with. Regarding images, you can request a full HD photo buy yes it sends low quality pics to save data. I don’t need high resolution for all my pics, just the bucks I need a better view of :)

I think you'll be happy with them!

 

[yoderjac]

It will be interesting to see how the build-out of 5G impacts the cost of cell data. If the cost of data drops significantly, it may make future cell base systems more cost effective.

Thanks,

Jack

Nothing cheap about deploying a 5G network. It will be a means for faster data but not cheaper data.

I have been playing around with this Ridgtec cellular camera and you can control the resolution of the thumbnails and the image that is recorded to the SD card. Then of course you can request a HD image. The HD images request is only as good as the rate it was recorded at. The issue is the higher MP the rating it was recorded the higher the plan charge per photo. I can say there isn’t a huge difference between the thumbnail and the HD photo. Maybe when racks are more pronounced it may make a difference or perhaps Ridgtec is just a bum camera. I just wish I could use my own SIM cards in these cameras. I have a dozen lines that I pay next to nothing for and unlimited data.

I haven’t figured it out yet but if I want to share the photo it’s not great off the app and the email of the photos I get are small and they don’t all show up.[/QUOTE]

High speed 5G data will drive more data consumption, especially for things like streaming. The impact I'm talking about is a market impact. Once the build-out is done, the cost for maintenance won't be much different than 4G. Yes, the companies will need to amortize their build-out cost, but I'm expecting some competition to eventually drive data prices down and data consumption increases. In the past sending high resolution pictures on the cell network was a high data volume application compared to most applications. With streaming video and such taking over as high data consumption apps, sending high resolution pictures will become a low data consumption application in relative terms. So, I'm expecting 5G to eventually (and I stress eventually), drive down the cost of data on a per mb basis.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Rit]

Nothing cheap about deploying a 5G network. It will be a means for faster data but not cheaper data.

I have been playing around with this Ridgtec cellular camera and you can control the resolution of the thumbnails and the image that is recorded to the SD card. Then of course you can request a HD image. The HD images request is only as good as the rate it was recorded at. The issue is the higher MP the rating it was recorded the higher the plan charge per photo. I can say there isn’t a huge difference between the thumbnail and the HD photo. Maybe when racks are more pronounced it may make a difference or perhaps Ridgtec is just a bum camera. I just wish I could use my own SIM cards in these cameras. I have a dozen lines that I pay next to nothing for and unlimited data.

I haven’t figured it out yet but if I want to share the photo it’s not great off the app and the email of the photos I get are small and they don’t all show up.

High speed 5G data will drive more data consumption, especially for things like streaming. The impact I'm talking about is a market impact. Once the build-out is done, the cost for maintenance won't be much different than 4G.

Thanks,

Jack[/QUOTE]

We will have to agree to disagree. When the 5G build is done maintenance cost will be at an all time high. You will have a newly integrated 5G network
That network will be under strict optimization guidelines early and a lot of hardware will be swapped out (manufactures cover the equipment for 7-10 days). Don’t ask me how the hell they get away with that but they do. Due to poor performing components there will be a ton of hardware swapped out as maintenance. When the initial 5G is launched it will be a data only platform. The end users device may say 5G but they will fall back to LTE for voice calls. You will still have an aging LTE network that requires maintenance. Until at least 2022 there will still be a 3G network online. This is another story also because some of these cell cameras claim they are running on LTE when in fact they are not. They are on HSPA+ which is 3G equipment fed by fiber and they can legally call it LTE 4G. As we have discussed prior spectrum is limited, protected, and coveted. More and more devices are being installed inside of cellular networks to deal with external interference and interference caused to others by network elements. This just adds to the maintenance cost to operate a cellular network.

As the bandwidth is cranked up to end users it requires equipment that can handle the speeds. This causes a continuous need for software and component upgrades. I’ve have spent the last 2 weeks installing new backhaul units to handle the incoming 5G equipment while upgrading older units via software until replacements can be installed over the coming weeks. As demand for data increases so does the cost to provide that data on a consistent basis.

 

[yoderjac]

High speed 5G data will drive more data consumption, especially for things like streaming. The impact I'm talking about is a market impact. Once the build-out is done, the cost for maintenance won't be much different than 4G.

Thanks,

Jack

We will have to agree to disagree. When the 5G build is done maintenance cost will be at an all time high. You will have a newly integrated 5G network
That network will be under strict optimization guidelines early and a lot of hardware will be swapped out (manufactures cover the equipment for 7-10 days). Don’t ask me how the hell they get away with that but they do. Due to poor performing components there will be a ton of hardware swapped out as maintenance. When the initial 5G is launched it will be a data only platform. The end users device may say 5G but they will fall back to LTE for voice calls. You will still have an aging LTE network that requires maintenance. Until at least 2022 there will still be a 3G network online. This is another story also because some of these cell cameras claim they are running on LTE when in fact they are not. They are on HSPA+ which is 3G equipment fed by fiber and they can legally call it LTE 4G. As we have discussed prior spectrum is limited, protected, and coveted. More and more devices are being installed inside of cellular networks to deal with external interference and interference caused to others by network elements. This just adds to the maintenance cost to operate a cellular network.

As the bandwidth is cranked up to end users it requires equipment that can handle the speeds. This causes a continuous need for software and component upgrades. I’ve have spent the last 2 weeks installing new backhaul units to handle the incoming 5G equipment while upgrading older units via software until replacements can be installed over the coming weeks. As demand for data increases so does the cost to provide that data on a consistent basis.[/QUOTE]

You could be right, but when I look back at history, cost to the consumer seems to rise as a much slower rate than the amount of data that can be transmitted for that price. It was true in the wired world as well as the wireless world historically. Time will tell.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

Anyone miss the days of taking rolls of film to Walgreen’s 1-hour photo?

I kind of do. Have stacks of photos from my Cuddeback which I traded in for their Capture when it first came out.
Loved getting the pictures and going thru them. Hated only a few or even zero turning out or the rest were of nothing. I paid for that?!

 

[yoderjac]

The first one I played with didn't even have a camera. It was an old trail timer that just counted events. I got an attachment that had a solenoid that basically pushed a button. You sandwiched a camera between the two sections of the attachment placing the solenoid over top the button on the camera. That was the first time I could get a picture of what was coming down the trail.

Prior to that, I played with a string timer. It was basically a clock that you attached to a tree. You strung a thread across the trail and tied it to a tree on the other side. When game hit the thread, it would pull a pin from the clock which would stop it. It was a one shot deal that would tell you no more than the time it was tripped.

Before that, I would just rake some soft soil on the trail and visit it to look for prints.

Things have certainly changed!

 

[SwampCat]

The first one I played with didn't even have a camera. It was an old trail timer that just counted events. I got an attachment that had a solenoid that basically pushed a button. You sandwiched a camera between the two sections of the attachment placing the solenoid over top the button on the camera. That was the first time I could get a picture of what was coming down the trail.

Prior to that, I played with a string timer. It was basically a clock that you attached to a tree. You strung a thread across the trail and tied it to a tree on the other side. When game hit the thread, it would pull a pin from the clock which would stop it. It was a one shot deal that would tell you no more than the time it was tripped.

Before that, I would just rake some soft soil on the trail and visit it to look for prints.

Things have certainly changed!

your last statement sums it up pretty well “Things have certainly changed”. Forty years ago, I would shoot the first spike I saw and was dang proud of it. Now, if my game cameras don't show a deer we consider a “shooter” - we will often hunt nearby public land, where game cameras arent permitted, to hunt the unknown, as opposed to hunting our own place where we know there isnt a deer we would shoot.

 

[Knehrke]

I have not dealt with the Chinese cams for years, but it would not surprise me at all to see significant improvements in reliability and QC over time along with commensurate increase in price. That is their typical business MO. They buy into a market at the low end with pricing that is so low, others can't compete and many will suffer the poor reliability and short lifespan. Then, as others are forced out of the market and their market share grows, they improve their reliability and QC and can raise their prices. So, your observation of improving quality does not surprise me.

I love to see additional competitors in the market. I was hoping that CuddieLink would help, but watching those threads, the lower cost appears to result in lower performance and reliability. While they are not a fit for QDM data collection because they don't transmit full resolution images, they seem to me to be a great fit for a small property with a good RF environment for a scouting application.

As for QDM data collections, one can certainly use inexpensive cams if you are willing to compromise on a few things. In fact, the gold standard for survey data is the MSU protocol. It has been vetted more than any other. The problem is that it requires point source bait which is problematic these days. Bait will overcome flash avoidance. It only requires a few weeks of survey time.

The only way to prove flash avoidance is with data analysis. Here is how I did it. I used red blob and black flash cameras and swapped the locations over time. When I did survey data pulls and compared red blob to true black flash, there was a very statistically significant difference in both mature bucks and sex ratios between the two. Flash avoidance is not spooking deer. It is simply the fact that mature bucks (in general as a class) are more cautious than younger deer. They avoid triggering the camera and keep other deer between them and that odd visual effect they are not quite sure of. Mature females can be very cautious, but they have fawns to deal with. So, the result is many more triggers by young and female deer. When doing detailed analysis on pictures using Photoshop to clean them up, it was not uncommon to see mature bucks on the very fringe of the flash. In a macro analysis used to establish sex and age distribution, these would be classified as non-positive IDs and excluded where pictures of the young deer that triggered the cam would be positive IDs and included.

Keep in mind that not all black flash is created equal. Most inexpensive cameras ramp up LEDs slowly and then take a picture and then ramp them down. They also leave the shutter open longer to compensate for a poor image sensor. Better designs have good timing between the black flash and shutter. Most folks think wavelength is the only factor involved, but both intensity and duration of the flash matter when it comes to flash avoidance.

The best analogy I can think of is a peripheral vision Field of View test that you get at the ophthalmologist office. You stare at a dot and press a button when you see dots flash in your peripheral vision. The size, brightness (intensity), and duration of those dots all vary and all impact your ability to detect the flash and push the button.

One more point to consider. Camera data is only a fraction of the data I collect for QDM decision making. It is a significant source but not the only one. We also log observations on every hunt as well and collection harvest and biological sample data for aging.

Thanks,

Jack

My wife is the research director at the Flaum Eye Institute. Honestly, I never thought that I'd read a reference to a Humphrey's perimetry test on this forum, but it doesn't surprise me that it comes from Jack lol! She uses it all the time in her psychophysical retraining paradigm to measure how stimulation to the blindfield can help stroke victims to recover more normal vision. Who'd have thought?

 

[yoderjac]

My wife is the research director at the Flaum Eye Institute. Honestly, I never thought that I'd read a reference to a Humphrey's perimetry test on this forum, but it doesn't surprise me that it comes from Jack lol! She uses it all the time in her psychophysical retraining paradigm to measure how stimulation to the blindfield can help stroke victims to recover more normal vision. Who'd have thought?

Sounds like she is involved in some pretty interesting research. I guess, I have a suspicious looking optic nerve and years ago, I had an optical migraine. My ophthalmologist is concerned about something called normal pressure glaucoma. She sent me to a specialist at one point. Every year or so, she takes a picture of my optic nerve as a baseline for future comparison. The other thing she does regularly is have me take this peripheral vision test. I found it interesting how the size, intensity, and duration of the flashes change my visual perception as well as where they occur in the field of view. Vision occurs in the brain, and the eye is just a complex sensor. In some cases, it is clear that I saw the dot. In other cases, I'm thinking "did I just see something or is t my imagination", and in other cases, I never perceived the dot itself. at all.

I believe this test is conducted with broad spectrum light as I don't see any color change in the dots. The only difference between this and black flash is the frequency (wavelength) of the light being produced. So, all of these factors as well as the frequency are part of how/whether the flash is perceived. A deer's vision system is not identical to ours. They have a tapetum that allows them to use low light better than us as well as a difference in the number of rods and cones in the eye itself. We can be sure exactly how a deer perceives the world but we can approximate it pretty well looking at the eye (sensor) and deducing perception based on their reaction to stimuli.

One of the smartest engineers I knew worked on a research lab. I was amazed at how he could draw interdisciplinary relationships. At one time, there was a circuit board failure in a state of the art highly complex system developed by a very large engineering firm for the government. None of their engineers could figure out why the failure occurred. They ran all kinds of sophisticated tests, bought in consultants, and still could not figure it out. I'm sure millions of dollars were spent trying to solve this problem.

Finally they send a sample of the failed board to this research lab. My engineer friend took a look at the board and ask "what are you using to clean these boards?". They told him and he said "That's your problem". He ran no tests, just looked at it. Sure enough, they changed the cleaner they were using and the problem of these custom boards failing vanished.

Later I asked him how he knew. He said, "Well, back when I was in college, I did a lot of surfing. I used this chemical to clean my surf board one year, and I noticed a crazing pattern in the finish. I saw the same crazing pattern on the coating of the failed board they sent. The cleaner they were using had the same chemical in it. I was seeing the results of the same chemical reaction".

That is just one example of how the guy was able to draw relationships between things he experienced in completely unrelated aspects of his life and problem that arose at work. He has since passed on, but he was one of the most humble and best engineers I ever learned from.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Knehrke]

The ability to draw robust conclusions intuitively from seemingly unrelated pieces of data is what separates the great from the pretty darn good. I just wish we could get back to the science being about the science and not about the politics, but as with everything, this virus has changed our world. It's a good time to watch the trees grow and contemplate our place in it. Be well.

 

[yoderjac]

The ability to draw robust conclusions intuitively from seemingly unrelated pieces of data is what separates the great from the pretty darn good. I just wish we could get back to the science being about the science and not about the politics, but as with everything, this virus has changed our world. It's a good time to watch the trees grow and contemplate our place in it. Be well.

Well said!

 

[Rit]

Currently running 2 Reconyx cellular cams and have had really good luck with them. There was another thread discussing the new Reconyx cell cams and someone had mentioned that they were not receiving all the pictures on the SD card to the app. I have yet to pull my SD cards to see if that might be the case or not.

Fast forward to tonight. I was sitting in a low impact stand about 100 yards away from one of my cell cams. There is a really good trail leading from that camera past my stand. I had 11 deer pass me tonight on that very trail. I fired up the app and I had 3 pictures of one deer. Now it’s entirely possible that they fed into that trail closer to me and never walk past my other camera. All that to say when I checked the app I was a little surprised to see my batteries were down to 75%. This essentially means I will need to go in and change them at the worst time to do so.

I really would like to add 3 more cameras but when you start talking about reoccurring cost for a cellular plan and batteries and the fact the Reconyx camera is already $599 these buckeye cams don’t seem like the break even point would be too far down the road. Especially if you considered the cost of running the Reconyx 12 months out of the year for an apples to apples comparison. The gate opener option is also a bonus.

 

[yoderjac]

At the time I made the decision to go with quality cameras getting tired of the constant returns, short life-span, and missed triggers, I did an engineering analysis on them. There were only 2 contenders, Reconyx and BEC. It was a tough call. No one had wireless or cell cams back then. BEC had just announced the new Apollo and Orion. They sent me an Orion to use in a game camera class I was teaching for the state. This was before they were released to the public. They were filling military orders at the time.

I liked the concept of wireless but it had a very expensive up front cost. I decided to go with BEC over Reconyx for two reasons. I was that BEC had the military contract I knew the testing that would be required for that. The second was that I could buy Apollo cameras and then upgrade them to become Orion cameras.

Now, many, many years later, I have a robust Orion network with solar panels at the farm running 24/7/365 and it has clearly been much lower cost than any other option. I got sub-second trigger times without missed triggers and bullet-proof reliability on top of the savings. If you have an environment where RF at 900 mhz doable with the stock equipment, your long-term cost will be even lower. My problem is that I'm on a pine farm and pines attenuate signals much more than other vegetation at this frequency. I had to put up towers and use large yagi antennas, so my up front cost in money and time were on the high end, and it took quite a while to hit the break even point. That is unless I count the labor (and impact on hunting) of swapping SD cards and changing batteries on a regular basis.

I have only one of their new X80 series cameras that I got for testing. It has been problem free long enough now for me to recommend them. The are less expensive than the Orion but the radio is shorter distance than the Orion. Eventually, I'm sure my Orions will fail and not be serviceable, but that hasn't happened yet.

Thakns,

Jack

 

[Dukslayr]

Currently running 2 Reconyx cellular cams and have had really good luck with them. There was another thread discussing the new Reconyx cell cams and someone had mentioned that they were not receiving all the pictures on the SD card to the app. I have yet to pull my SD cards to see if that might be the case or not.

Fast forward to tonight. I was sitting in a low impact stand about 100 yards away from one of my cell cams. There is a really good trail leading from that camera past my stand. I had 11 deer pass me tonight on that very trail. I fired up the app and I had 3 pictures of one deer. Now it’s entirely possible that they fed into that trail closer to me and never walk past my other camera. All that to say when I checked the app I was a little surprised to see my batteries were down to 75%. This essentially means I will need to go in and change them at the worst time to do so.

I really would like to add 3 more cameras but when you start talking about reoccurring cost for a cellular plan and batteries and the fact the Reconyx camera is already $599 these buckeye cams don’t seem like the break even point would be too far down the road. Especially if you considered the cost of running the Reconyx 12 months out of the year for an apples to apples comparison. The gate opener option is also a bonus.

You might give your Reconyx a little more time. They’ve only been out for a few months and they’re constantly updating them so I expect both the camera software and the app to get better. I have t had battery life challenges yet, but I’m running mine on batch transmission only twice a day, which I’m assuming helps battery life. I’m putting battery HME battery boxes and solar out on 4 of my 6 and will report back out they work. I’m happy to send you my quote from Buckeye if you want to see what a 5 camera system will run you with them. I have zero doubt they’re an awesome system, but certainly at the very top end of cost.

 

[Rit]

At the time I made the decision to go with quality cameras getting tired of the constant returns, short life-span, and missed triggers, I did an engineering analysis on them. There were only 2 contenders, Reconyx and BEC. It was a tough call. No one had wireless or cell cams back then. BEC had just announced the new Apollo and Orion. They sent me an Orion to use in a game camera class I was teaching for the state. This was before they were released to the public. They were filling military orders at the time.

I liked the concept of wireless but it had a very expensive up front cost. I decided to go with BEC over Reconyx for two reasons. I was that BEC had the military contract I knew the testing that would be required for that. The second was that I could buy Apollo cameras and then upgrade them to become Orion cameras.

Now, many, many years later, I have a robust Orion network with solar panels at the farm running 24/7/365 and it has clearly been much lower cost than any other option. I got sub-second trigger times without missed triggers and bullet-proof reliability on top of the savings. If you have an environment where RF at 900 mhz doable with the stock equipment, your long-term cost will be even lower. My problem is that I'm on a pine farm and pines attenuate signals much more than other vegetation at this frequency. I had to put up towers and use large yagi antennas, so my up front cost in money and time were on the high end, and it took quite a while to hit the break even point. That is unless I count the labor (and impact on hunting) of swapping SD cards and changing batteries on a regular basis.

I have only one of their new X80 series cameras that I got for testing. It has been problem free long enough now for me to recommend them. The are less expensive than the Orion but the radio is shorter distance than the Orion. Eventually, I'm sure my Orions will fail and not be serviceable, but that hasn't happened yet.

Thakns,

Jack

That’s good info. I have heavily wooded areas but no pines. A few ERC but not enough to cause concern. Most of these cams would go in openings I created so solar will work great. The other thing is my longest shot would be a little under 400 yards. 900 is robust enough to bend and twist its way thru without LOS and still provide good throughput. If I wanted to be extra sure of good signal I could put the antennas up 10’ but at such short distances I’m not sure it will matter much.

I am a little disappointed that the stock PC base doesn’t come with any cable. I would probably need the 40’ extender cable. My initially thought is to mount the PC base antenna on an old TV antenna that I have with my house being 90% brick. I’d probably have to paint the mounting section and move it slightly away from the TV antenna. Might have to take a few other precautions to avoid any PIM. But the more I look at the repeated cost of cell plans, batteries, and location visits this is becoming more and more appealing.

I also like the gate, pump, and motor control option along with the ability to monitor my driveway 24/7/365. Now let’s just hope nothing happens with the 900 spectrum. That’s the only concern I really have.

I can get away with mostly stock items so my initially cost will be lower.

 

[Rit]

You might give your Reconyx a little more time. They’ve only been out for a few months and they’re constantly updating them so I expect both the camera software and the app to get better. I have t had battery life challenges yet, but I’m running mine on batch transmission only twice a day, which I’m assuming helps battery life. I’m putting battery HME battery boxes and solar out on 4 of my 6 and will report back out they work. I’m happy to send you my quote from Buckeye if you want to see what a 5 camera system will run you with them. I have zero doubt they’re an awesome system, but certainly at the very top end of cost.

I am a Reconyx supporter and I think they make a great product. That said the reoccurring charges and battery changes on running 5-6 Cams is going to add up.

It’s roughly twice as much to deploy 1 BEC compared to Reconyx. To me it doesn’t matter if I spend $6000 now or $6000 over five years the money is still spent. Where BEC comes out ahead is there is a break even point then you actually save money. The math for me says just under 3 years per cam. That isn’t including the thought that running 5 cams you will need more blocks of 2000 photos plus HD request. I am coming close to needing a 2nd block with just 2 cams. There is some great info from Jac and Bill about how well the cams work. If you extrapolate the cost of 5 BEC cams vs 5 Reconyx cell cams out over a 10 year period running them 24/7/365 that math isn’t even close. I bet it will cost you twice as much in that period to run Reconyx. Maybe more than that because after year 3 with BEC you are in the green.

Reconyx cell currently runs me $599 and I can get a BEC X80 series with battery and solar panel for $1089. I have 6 Reconyx cams now none of them older than 3 years. If I sell them it pays for my PC base plus at least 1 X80. If I am being honest a private wireless cam network is a tad neater than a celluar cam network especially one that can operate a gate, pump, or motor if needed. I may even dump my home security system if I decide to set this up.

On a side note my battery level has gone back to 99%. The battery average mV did also recover slightly. I did notice my temp readings on both cams is off about 10 degrees. I thought I read somewhere that you can celebrate it. I’ll have to go back and look.

 

[Bill]

I would probably need the 40’ extender cable. My initially thought is to mount the PC base antenna on an old TV antenna

this is what I do. Be sure to get the small flexible cable that goes between the PC base and the long antenna cable. The large cable is ridged and it’s a lot easier to deal with when you add the flexible adapter.

also I would grill tech support before buying X80’s. I have a friend who bought an Orion package only months before the Xseries came out. He was a bit miffed that they discontinued them short there after.

the X series is a few years old now. I’d want to know if they have a new system in the pipeline.

 

[yoderjac]

That’s good info. I have heavily wooded areas but no pines. A few ERC but not enough to cause concern. Most of these cams would go in openings I created so solar will work great. The other thing is my longest shot would be a little under 400 yards. 900 is robust enough to bend and twist its way thru without LOS and still provide good throughput. If I wanted to be extra sure of good signal I could put the antennas up 10’ but at such short distances I’m not sure it will matter much.

I am a little disappointed that the stock PC base doesn’t come with any cable. I would probably need the 40’ extender cable. My initially thought is to mount the PC base antenna on an old TV antenna that I have with my house being 90% brick. I’d probably have to paint the mounting section and move it slightly away from the TV antenna. Might have to take a few other precautions to avoid any PIM. But the more I look at the repeated cost of cell plans, batteries, and location visits this is becoming more and more appealing.

I also like the gate, pump, and motor control option along with the ability to monitor my driveway 24/7/365. Now let’s just hope nothing happens with the 900 spectrum. That’s the only concern I really have.

I can get away with mostly stock items so my initially cost will be lower.

I'm not sure I would do it that way. I have tried long active extender USB cables and I found the PC bases tends to hang. I also want to have access to the base rather than putting it outside. It may also depend on what other USB devices you are running on your computer.

I don't buy my cables from BEC. I buy them from L-Com. Depending on the length of your cable run, you can get 200 or 400 series rf cable. I don't have any issue connecting the 400 series cable I got from them to my PC Base. It is a one time connection. The USB, I have had to unplug and replug from time to time if a power outage or surge or something locks it up. It doesn't happen often, but I don't want to be going up an antenna mast when it does. There is no problem using a long (but in spec) passive USB cable so that the PC base is inside the structure so your RF cable is shorter than it would be otherwise.

Also consider what kind of antennas you want to use. I buy them from L-Com as well. If your cameras are all in the same general direction, you should get a yagi for the base. The size of the yagi (in db) will depend on how wide of an angle the cameras are at. He higher power the antenna, the narrower the beam width. IF the cameras are distributed around the PC base location you can use an Omni. You can get them as high as 8 db.

I think with the X80 series, they come with a rubber ducky rather than a 6 db yagi. You can use as large of a yagi (in db) as you want on a camera that only talks to the PC base. You just need to point it at the base. 900 mhz does not bend much. 6db and 9db yagi antennas are fairly small. When you get to 13 db, the physical size increases significantly.

Finally, keep in mind that any camera can be used as a repeater. So, you can route the signal from on camera to another camera closer than the base, and from that router camera , back to the base. You would typically use an Omni on a router camera. You can route multiple terminal cameras through a routing camera. The key here is sizing the solar. RF transmission uses more power to transmit pictures than the camera uses to take pictures. So, a routing camera uses a lot of power. Fortunately the X80 series is 12-volt. This makes solar much easier than with my X-series. Again, I don't buy BEC solar panels any more. They work fine for a terminal camera if it is not programmed to take pictures quickly in high resolution in a high traffic area. You need to balance the picture load with the available power. So, I've gone to buying 60 watt solar panels with their own PWM or MPPT charge controller and connect them to the external battery. As I recall, the X80 only uses external batteries.

SLA batteries form sulfate crystals if left at a low charge for any length of time. This significantly reduces battery life. I like to keep my batteries above 80% charge. This means when the load get heavy and the battery drains, I want the solar panel to take it back to full charge quickly. When you get multiple cloudy days in a row with bad weather, the drain continues with little recharge. Larger capacity batteries (AH) take longer to loose less of a percentage of their charge. I've found a 60 watt panel works well in my area to keep even routing camera batteries charged. I use a 5 minute delay between pictures. The reason for this is that I'm collecting data for QDM decisions and I need to be able to compare data from year to year. I found 5 minutes works well for this. Whatever you choose for a delay, will impact your power management. More pictures means more RF transmission.

As I say, I only have one X80 and many Orions, so I'm less familiar with the X80 than the orions.

Hope this helps,

Jack