Web Cams
 

Why is it that some web cams update every few seconds (Alton) and others every two hours or so..The Wolfe Cam used to be every 20 seconds or so...now it's "whatever"....it seems to vary all over the place now. The Mount Cam is at least a two hour delay.

If you need to be technical..that's OK with me....Just wondering. :look: NB

Each CAM operator would have to answer that question. Every camera has a different situation, setup and connection.

The cameras I manage (WeirsCAM and Anchor Marine CAM) have a solid cable internet connection and both cameras reliably upload a picture every 10 minutes. The WeirsCAM and some others also provide a live stream that is always available. If those cameras are not updating it is probably because I am fooling with them or the internet service is down.

The Mount Washington CAM works through a cellular connection that, like your cellphone, is not reliable everywhere on the lake. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It appears that the camera is set to upload every 5 minutes but that is often not possible when the cell service is marginal or unavailable.

Other cameras (like Snake Eyes) also rely on cellular connections or dial up service. Their ability to upload a picture every time is sometimes limited by unreliable connections, power failures or other factors.

Many of the cameras are mostly unattended and the operators are not always aware when there is a problem. Often a camera can be offline for days or weeks until it is noticed or someone complains. If the camera is not accessible the outages can last a lot longer.

Even with some reliability issues the growing number of webcams give us amazing access from anywhere in the world to live pictures and video from the lake. This was unimaginable 20 years ago. If one camera isn't working there are lots of other views available.