18th-19th Field Trips to Alice Holt Forest
From left-right, natural streamer on 28th February 2025 with two solar panels (photos 1 and 2), natural streamer on 14th March 2025 with one solar panel (photo 3), installation streamer with two solar panels (photo 4) and closeup of the installation streamer with shorter distance between modem and RPi (photo 5).
After our group visit on 28 February 2025, I went for two more consecutive visits to the Alice Holt Forest on 14 March and 20 April 2025. The main goal of these two follow-up field trips was to collect the monthly recordings, replace the batteries of Paula’s streamer and Pete’s installation in the Willows Green trail, adjust the solar panels of the streamers for the spring period, and adjust the hi-fi streamer.
Before Feb 28th 2025, the recordings of the natural soundscape were done using MEMS microphones. Since February 28th 2025, the quality of the recordings has improved considerably because of changes in the equipment, including switching to Rode LavalierGO mics with Rode AI-Micro audio interface and software updates. On Feb 28th, I also updated the new OS of the streamers with a remote code update.
On 14th March, I reshuffled the solar panels, changing the number of solar panels for the natural soundscape (Giorgio) from four to two. I moved these two to Paula’s streamer to have two instead of zero. Also, I changed the inclination from about 80 to about 60 degrees for the spring season.
After a month, on Mar 14th, I could confirm using my self-built battery sensor that the battery was fully charged for Giorgio with two solar panels at the right inclination. This month was especially sunny. For Paula’s streamer under the canopy, surprisingly, the battery was still at 12.28v. Under the canopy, with only rare direct sunlight, it lasted a full month with 2 solar panels, and it didn’t show signs of low voltage.
On Apr 20th, I collected the recordings of the two streamers. I shortened the distance between the RPi and the modem of Giorgio’s streamer (natural soundscape) to make the streamer more sturdy (with an audio interface, there was less risk of interference). Moreover, I replaced the battery of Paula’s streamer and Pete’s installation. Everything seems to be going fine.