What's New, Area 51 Gate, May 11 2015

Just watched the preview, looks pretty cool. Will def watch when it becomes digital.
a reply to: theabsolutetruth

originally posted by: nepatitan
Just watched the preview, looks pretty cool. Will def watch when it becomes digital.
a reply to: theabsolutetruth

Already available on iTunes, early digital release.

You're welcome

a reply to: theabsolutetruth

Just watched Area 51 last night. It was surprisingly good.

originally posted by: nepatitan
a reply to: theabsolutetruth

Just watched Area 51 last night. It was surprisingly good.

I forced myself to finish watching it last night. Sorry, but I found it predictably stupid. "Security breach...S4. Security breach...S4". Please.

The minutes it took from crossing the border to the base - probably the closest remote border crossing, Roadblock Canyon, is still like 10 miles away.

Why is it they still use handheld video camera's, which they always manage to repeatedly drop, that land either pointed at their face or the action. Why aren't they all wearing head-mounted GoPro's? Wouldn't that make more sense and add some realism?

Looking back at the photos, the concertina wire follows the road that is on our side of the border. Maybe they just strung it to alert the visitors not to cross onto their side. The border is poorly marked. Of course caution tape would do the job as well.

a reply to: FosterVS

Yea it wasn't realistic, but if it was, no one would watch it but us.
All in all I liked it.

a reply to: FosterVS

I see they got upgraded to 50k ford Raptors. What was wrong with the other trucks that probably had few miles on them, yea know just sitting around on hills not traveling far? Yeah probably set them on fire instead of selling them. The razor wire too makes no sense.

originally posted by: nepatitan
a reply to: FosterVS

Yea it wasn't realistic, but if it was, no one would watch it but us.
All in all I liked it.

Budget
$5,000,000 (estimated)

The film was released in Alamo Drafthouse theaters exclusively for a weekend-long-run, and on video on demand platforms beginning on May 15, 2015 courtesy of Paramount Insurge and Blumhouse Tilt.[10] The film made a total of $7,556 for its weekend long-run.[11]

Bahahaha. Probably covered what Glenn Campbell got paid.
I beg to differ - I think if they stuck to realism, secret planes, secret weapons, and not gone down the same tired UFO/alien/S4 road, it may have fared better.

originally posted by: NiZZiM
a reply to: FosterVS

I see they got upgraded to 50k ford Raptors. What was wrong with the other trucks that probably had few miles on them, yea know just sitting around on hills not traveling far? Yeah probably set them on fire instead of selling them. The razor wire too makes no sense.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

They have had the Raptors for a few years now. I think I have older photos than in the link above.

I think the concertina wire makes sense to keep the newbie visitors from crossing the line. I think the last thing the dudes want to do is arrest border violators. They rather sit around in $50k top of the line Ford trucks and drink coffee.

The trailer is a Thermal Imaging Sensor platform. It is an old one at that. The newer ones have a separate viewing camera and a radar system on top. The mast goes up 23 feet.

I wonder what sort of sensors they have.

Thermal can be defeated but I'm sure they have some sort of motion sensor that doesn't rely on infrared.

I'm guessing they use thermal and night vision... that's the best combination. A really good thermal-defeating ghillie suit on a patient person could probably get them a pretty long way into the facility.

Even better if they had a stuffed rabbit or coyote with an internal heat source to act as a decoy when the motion-sensors are tripped. The guards get alerted by the motion sensor, they look out with the thermal camera and see an animal so they ignore the alerts.

If any government types are reading this, I'm not going to try to sneak into Area 51... just postulating. I promise. Please don't make me disappear.

a reply to: Answer

There is no shortage of critters running around the range. Obviously the cattle, but plenty of desert hares and coyotes.

I was camped out there one night when a plane did a sonic boom. All the coyotes started to howl. We're talking surround sound. By my estimate about eight coyotes.

I've listened to cops using the FLIR. Detecting a heat source...no big deal. Knowing what produces the heat is another story.

a reply to: gariac

the cameras themselves have more than likely got facial recognition software attached to govt databases as well, wouldn't surprise me.

Something else new in the vicinity - new signs along Hwy 375, north of Medlin Ranch and near Groom Lake Road:

I saw 2 BLM trucks installing these, and wondered - surely they aren't going to put up signs announcing "Secret Base Area 51 South of this Point"? Doubt they would get away with that. Thought maybe a mention of Medlin Ranch, which has been there for very long time.

Turns out it's info signs about Joshua tree's, abundant in this valley.
Word of caution - they are as "stabby" as they look. Instant skin piercing.

a reply to: FosterVS

Around the range, you really don't find a lot of Joshua trees except for the Tikaboo Valley. Do the signs explain this?

I met the BLM ranger once and he asked that we not cut down any Joshua trees. As if!

I find the yucca plants to be a bigger problem, mostly because they are so low. They sneak up on you when crossing the desert and not on a trail.

Edit:

The shots are sharp enough to read the signs. No explanation provided why there are so many Joshua trees in the Tikaboo Valley is provided. However, there are two different types of Joshua trees in the valley, which is considered unusual.

originally posted by: gariac
a reply to: FosterVS

Around the range, you really don't find a lot of Joshua trees except for the Tikaboo Valley. Do the signs explain this?

I met the BLM ranger once and he asked that we not cut down any Joshua trees. As if!

I find the yucca plants to be a bigger problem, mostly because they are so low. They sneak up on you when crossing the desert and not on a trail.

Edit:

The shots are sharp enough to read the signs. No explanation provided why there are so many Joshua trees in the Tikaboo Valley is provided. However, there are two different types of Joshua trees in the valley, which is considered unusual.

Sorry about that, I should have realized someone might actually want to read it!

Bigger version here:
www.topsecretbases.com...

I've always wondered why, as you travel west from GLR, they pretty much disappear as you approach Coyote Summit. I assumed it was an altitude thing, they maybe only grow at specific altitude/temperature range? Never realized there were two types, always thought the difference was age. I am always pleased when I first see them, it lets me know I have "arrived".

a reply to: FosterVS

I didn't know those little shrubs were even Joshua trees since they don't look like trees.

Come to think of it, when you drive to Tikaboo, you see the tree type of Joshua tree. I recall my first time attempting the drive to the Tikaboo staging area. It was March. It was high enough that it started to snow on the Joshua trees, which seemed wrong to me.

The Tikaboo camera was off for a few days. Perhaps weather related. It was working today, showing a little distant haze.

www.wrcc.dri.edu...

a reply to: gariac

I didn't know there was a webcam and weather station at Tikaboo Peak! Shame the camera isn't pointing in the opposite direction :-P ..... well that, and equipped with a colossal zoom!

a reply to: gfad

There are two cameras on the weather station. One is a fixed camera that could spot a vehicle driving on the direction of the Tikaboo staging area. That is the one on the internet. The other camera is a pan/tilt/zoom to protect the weather station equipment.

www.lazygranch.com...
www.lazygranch.com...
www.lazygranch.com...

www.meetup.com...

The camera is identical to the one mounted above the weather station at Rachel.

To the best of my knowledge, the base doesn't send anyone to get your license plate while you are on the hill. At least not with a car. They could send a chopper.

www.lazygranch.com...

www.lazygranch.com...

www.lazygranch.com...

Those camera's depending on the model can house a lot of stuff. Anything from simple hi-res photos to infrared and 3D imaging. I have heard that some are capable of have motion tracting that's fairly accurate up to a mile and some have seismic sensors too. However I can't say 100% for sure what that one can do or has equipted on it all I know is they can hold a very nice array of technology. Near the Naval base I live by they have some "simple" ones that are mainly just high-res cams and motion detection so they can either take multiple snap shots of someone/something passing a restricted area or live feed it to a command post near by. Though with all the stuff that goes on at Area51/GroomLake I would not be shocked if even the "lowend" model for them had stuff that would make tech nuts drool.