My Webcam for Amateur Radio Google Meets!

My aging laptop has been giving poor images during our Amateur Radio Google Meets for discussion of Low Earth Orbit Amateur Radio Satellite operations. Here is another option which has been in my shelf, but seldom used! This a full HD webcam quite suitable for online meetings. The camera is rated at 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second (fps). It is a UVC Plug and Play device, meaning that it is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Video device Class, which can transmit in-stream video over the USB port. Plug and Play means that the initial detection and configuration of the device is performed by the operating system in the computer without any user interaction. Not all USB devices are Plug and Play, as you may know, like an RTL-SDR which I bought recently, which needs quite a lot of user interaction for installation of software and configuration.

This webcam has a 72 degrees wide angle view and 270 degree adjustable swivel. For those who unfamiliar with the term, swivel is a coupling between two parts enabling one part to revolve without turning the other. The webcam can be clipped on to your laptop, external monitor or a tripod stand and has built in dual digital microphone.

There is tiny red LED indicator which lights up when the webcam is connected to the USB port.

When the camera is live, another green LED lights up near it, giving us an indication that the camera is live. In case the camera app has been blocked in the Windows Settings, we will have to update the permissions before we can have the camera live during Google Meets.

This is the USB cable with Type A plug at the tip. More interesting to radio amateurs will be the cylindrical device on the cable, which most of the radio amateurs will know are the Ferrite Beads to prevent radiofrequency interference. Ferrite Beads are a common sight on the power supplies of most devices these days. Still I do get a lot of noise in my HF radio, probably due to other devices operating elsewhere in the neighborhood. Even in my VHF radio, I have noted up to 7 segments on the signal meter in the evening hours, though not seen at daytime.