:
terrestrial Draft Monitors c.72-02 The tuned and sensed wires of the
are susceptible to drafts up to pre-storm gusts. (Flies travel at their own risk through
these potentially hazardous strands, however, there usually are
no fly problems on dry, clear and breezy days.)
mono configuration
w/Frap
transducer
Upon entering the pre-amp, the combined
signals are fed into an audio amplifier. With a house that has extra windows it is an intercepted
realtime multiple sound source. Des Moines
Register photograph
construction, 1974-1975 
last image of Draft Monitor in Duluth before
it was recycled, 2002 
Draft monitor stereo versionand
details showing stainless pigtails held taut by stainless steel
wires from a Webcor-Chicago wire recorder. As you can see, they
approach being less than hair diameter.
in progress
fast forward 1: 
front doors faced
S. and were one of two entrances
I 169 Rest Stop,
Milaca from N.rear view (note a N.E. faceing parabola on top left
corner; there was one at each cardinal point or near roof)
three dedication
plaques above have one reader's attention
Milaca roof parabola
aimed S. W. Following a look se by the
former business Sharper Image , this version was not accepted
because they wanted it to be retrofitable and be placed into all
sorts of window formats.
Minnesota highway
commission version with the preferred solar panel and storage
battery was in the basement. (Because
of its remore Route 169 location, it was later destroyed by vandals.)
The two part speaker
system in the lobby offered visitors options. Standing passively
below the ceiling speakers you could hear mixed sounds from all
the trees. An interactive speaker was hung on a lobby wall and
with the aid of instructions hanging nearby you could call up
-activate- available soundings from three originating sources,
The third one would have been the atmospheric PAM construction
and was to have been located centrally on the roof. Objections
were raised during the mid process and it was decided to cancel
this commision aspect. Lightning strikes were cited; however,
there were myriad reasons stated and of course this was a major
blow. Rouning out specifics, the vibrational sound monitoring
from the stainless steel strands in the solar-powered draft monitror-
above with a 1 inch copper frame- could also be mixed with the
other parabolas "straight line of sight sound collections"
in which anything falling within their focalized listening pathway,
or from the trees, could be be listened to. A total of four parabolas
were used with each faceing in a N. S. E or W. -or cardinal point.
Inside, a master control received all sounds from sensors placed
on braches in the trees and elsewhere
self broadcasting trees
surrounding rest stop had identical capabilities: used solar-powered
FM transmission - on seperate channels- where each location was
received by master control in the room behind main lobby
interactive contril
panel and walled speakers (L) main loby with speaker on wall (C)
north south east and west ceiling speakers (R)
discontinued PAM follows 
return home
D=original Draft
Monitor; I=Insect Broadcasting System studio; R=REDOT Generation
Input paraboa reflecting passalong & amplified audio between
participating ant hils on the front lawn in Coralville Iowa US
Preamp
to transmitter is top right.A sugar and honey path between several hills connected
similar studios whose outputs were wired to FM transmitters and
each broadcast a distinct pair of spatial channels. Sensor-contacted
membrane floors were covered with a intermittent path of honey
leading to/from entrance/exit. The studio shows a clear plastic oval window on its
roof.return home
student submission article copied
08 from Internet
original 1974 newspaper article; University
rank, Assistant Professor
attached to trees at opposite sides of the our lawn passed directly
over the garden
Posed photographs,
vertical and sunflowers-as-headphones at the request of the Des
Moines Register Iowa photographer.tudio sh
(1974
recorded crickets were played back over this area as the 1975
insects were sounding in late August)
fr/twenty foot aluminum spiral/metal plate suspended from a tree
seeking isolated raindrop
as trigerer (results: flat, splattered & "tear drops")
On
the outside, a guyed rectilinear jute frame was suspended from
a horizontal tree branch with the end being anchored to the ground. Beeswax
adhered Shadow sensors on this "pigs tail" below the
plate. The spirals potential resonance was diminished by 2 inch
balsam wooden dowels placed inline as dampers before and immediately
after the plate. Drops which passed through the hole could be
identified as dampened thuds which lacked the prolonged ringing
that you'd expect to hear if longer portions of the coil were
sounded.
Monitoring was
done during selected windy/calm periods throughout this summer.
Like parabolas were poisitioned about 35 feet off the groung and
both looked at each other over our 1926 house. Wearing Mono headphones
I received output in realtime from a DC amplifier which was input
from a sock-shielded RCA Dynamic microphone SK-B. It was atop
a 20 foot bamboo pole, was portable and used on our 2nd floor
veranda in order to intercept the perturbed audio between these
opposing parabolas. It was/is challenging and worthy of a permanent
infinity transmitter installation for telco dialup. 2-4 AM was
the best, with the quietest ambience, and I did hear some things
passing through this pathway. return
to your place
Proposed
(and not built),
1974
drawing Steel farm
tractor seat is attached to a flat spring(y) steel bar. One inch
steel plates are attached to in-ground concrete bases. The tie-down
of these varying gauges of stainless steel strands was to be X
distance and ending secured to and in-ground eye bolt.
Spread out over
the browning thick grass btwn the barn and our Coralville Iowa
house- in Late August 1972- are tests of one of the five 1/4 inch
deep magnesium discs. (Wooden shingles and a metal vent of the
barn may be seen reflected in both.) This hardware's potential
as to its resonance, vibrational and decay potentials are at hand,
and small objects- metalic, pebbles and Oak leaves- are dropped,
dragged and skipped over the glassy surface. Beneath these sounder
probes lies a very hard epoxy resin layer of Mylar sealing in
the brown iron-oxide material. It's a similar fusing process used
in the coating of reel-to-reel audio recording tape. What happens
on these archives will attest visually and audibly to their use
against the elements and from human intercession which usually
affected on the spot interventions throughout their otherwise
passive status as the latest Terrain Instruments: Sound Signal
Discs. They'll be multiple rain drop recipients and some of whom
will spend upcoming years suspended directly beneath Duluth tree
canopies and will be expected to catch select fat drops from overly
burdened rain-heavy leaves.
power
supply
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