DIY Surface Dolphin Communication System ~$2,500.00

Do-it-yourself: a laptop, 2 hydrophones, and Seadragon version 1.0 (available today for free).

The Seadragon software can be downloaded from http://c2h.sourceforge.net/.

Seadragon requires Java SE version 5 or above, available for free from http://java.com/ or from http://java.sun.com/ .

Seadragon has been tested under Windows. It may also work under Mac OSX with the valid version of Java from Apple (v. 5), or under Uni*, Solaris, Linux, given the valid Java version (v. 5).

I use 2 inexpensive and quality hydrophones from http://www.aquarianaudio.com/ - They have a male RCA connector that fits in the microphone and earphone jacks of the laptop (or amplifier). Model H1 for output and H2 for input. We are not affiliated with this or any other manufacturer.

Optional amplifier between the earphone jack and the output hydrophone. I use very small battery-operated device from Altec Lansing, inMotion (built for iPods). Make sure that the output intensity is much less than 100 dB (re 1 microPascal) near the dolphins.

You get your own hardware. We do not sell anything.

Btw, the laptop should be running at 2 GHz minimum.

serge