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Questions & Answers

What am I looking at?

You are facing westerly skies, overlooking the Allegheny River (mile marker 40.4) at Rosston Eddy Marina, located just outside of Ford City in Manor Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania.
GPS coordinates are 40.751638 N, -79.551404 W or 40⁰ 45' 5" N, -79⁰ 33' 5" W.

What will I see?

Winter: Mostly boaters who never say die! Yes, some will boat as often as possible, especially anglers who tend to emerge on warmer rainy days, mostly launching from Crooked Creek. Once in a while, the river will freeze over. The ice jams are fascinating to see, but often come with dangerous flooding and debris.
Spring: Once temperatures rise, the water level drops and the ice melts or otherwise moves out, the crew at Rosston Eddy Marina place docks and boats into the river. This is generally quite a sight to behold; a handful of men deploy the entire infrastructure in less than a week's time. A lot of beautiful waterfowl and wildlife abound!
Summer: During prime boating season, you will see plenty of docks, boats, kayakers, anglers, and lots of human activity! Oftentimes, you'll also see a lot of small aircraft arriving and departing McVille Airport (upper left corner), which also provides flight lessons.
Autumn: After an exciting boating season, the docks and boats are removed from the water. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removes their channel markers (buoys) in the water, and some anglers show up to fish again late in the season. Western Pennsylvania's beautiful foliage takes over to round out the season.

How can I see current weather conditions at Rosston Eddy Marina?

You're in luck! Only ten feet from the camera sits an Ambient Weather WS-2902 weather station, which reports conditions in real-time to Weather Underground and to WeatherCloud.

How do I know if the water level is high at the river? How often does it flood?

While flooding is not unheard of, it is not overly common; the Allegheny River widens significantly at Rosston Eddy, and water generally has plenty of room to spread out compared to areas upstream and downstream. You might be intrigued to learn that it takes approximately 45 minutes for water to reach the inflow of Lock & Dam No. 6 from the outflow of Lock & Dam No. 7. Flooding normally happens during springtime and when river ice thaws. When water reaches the anchor ring on the retaining wall, the river is at action flood stage (approximately 17 feet). Text overlays may be displayed during inclement conditions to show where the flood stages are in contrast with the water levels. You can also view the NOAA NWS Pittsburgh hydrology report for Lock & Dam 7 at Kittanning (upstream of us) and for Lock & Dam 6 at Clinton (downstream of us) to see up-to-date reports.

Recent crests are provided are from 2016 onward for the Lower Pool gages of Kittanning Lock & Dam No. 7 for weather events where water levels rose to minor flooding levels (approximately 21 feet) for Rosston Eddy. Unfortunately, records were inaccurate, unavailable or otherwise incomplete for the Upper Pool gages of Clinton Lock & Dam No. 6; that data was omitted.

Does the camera pan, tilt or zoom? Does it change position?

No, it does not have any of those capabilities; unlike most politicians, it remains in a fixed position.

Why are there text overlays in the video?

You may see labels in the video that highlight local landmarks and features. Most of these include nautical mile markers, as noted in parenthesis. These may change from time to time to highlight any significant item or activity within the camera's view, or may be turned off to provide a more unobstructed view.

I've been to the marina, and I see bright objects (after dark) that I don't see when I'm there in person. What are they?

There are other security cameras on-premise which emit infrared light. While not visible to the human eye, infrared light does cast illumination on other objects that this camera does detect. In most cases, you will see objects which appear as bright white lights, particularly when the camera is operating in black-and-white mode, which only occurs in very low light conditions. So, be sure to smile and wave next time you're visiting the marina...you're on camera!

It's a clear night. Am I really seeing stars?

Yes, you are...and there went Buddy Ebsen! No, we're just joking...however, this camera does a decent job at showing several celestial bodies, including those that appear dim to the naked eye. It's much darker at nighttime with less ambient light than what this camera would suggest through its imaging.

What kind of camera and streaming service is being used?

We're not entirely sure about the camera, to be honest. It was a cheap, off-brand 1080P 5MP IP68 camera we found for about $60 USD, capable of color at night (SONY STARVIS) and little else. We use RTSP to stream our video to IPCamLive, and they do a great job at streaming out to the rest of the world.

I logged on to the website and the camera is offline, what happened?

The camera sometimes generates electrical noise that interferes with an amateur radio station that is onsite. It may be turned off temporarily while the station is in operation, but will be back online when operations have wrapped up. We're working on a permanent solution to remediate that.

I've never heard of Rosston Roost...what is it, a bar or restaurant, or some kind of neighborhood hotspot?

Why heavens, no! It's just an affectionate name for a private residence, which is also home to an occupant who finds himself immersed in several madcap projects...like this one! However, said occupant has been known to entertain, serve drinks, and be caught partaking of sparking libations...on occasion.