February 23, 2000
Manteca Bulletin
by Brandon Bowers

High-tech peek-a-boo: Manteca firm lets researchers peek into secret

On just about any weekday, John Christensen's mailbox is filled with
packages and letters from around the world.

The Manteca inventor, who recently incorporated Sandpiper Technologies,
creates and manufactures research electronics, including video surveillance
systems used by scientists and police organizations worldwide.

"Anybody who wants to see over a three-story building would use one of these
things," he said, while working on a model of his popular "TreeTop Peeper"
product.

The TreeTop Peepers, a small, postage-stamp-sized camera mounted on the end
of an extendible pole, are used by biologists to monitor the activities of
birds and other tree-dwelling animals.

Before the product's invention, the researchers were required to scuffle up
the trees, risking a fall, and disturbing the nests they were trying to
observe.

After nearly four years of inventing and manufacturing wildlife research
products, Sandpiper recently moved from Christensen's garage into a new[ly
remodeled] building just west of the railroad tracks on Yosemite Avenue.

The winter season is one of the busiest times of the year for the company,
as biologists worldwide are preparing to begin the banding of new birds. A
small cluster of scientists on the Atlantic seaboard are currently using
Christensen's products to observe the breeding cycle of the endangered
Red-cockaded Woodpecker.

Sometime around March, the scientists venture into the woodpecker's habitat,
and extract and mark the birds for further study.

The birds nest high in the branches of lodgepole pines, making observation
difficult. With Christensen's invention, scientists are able to stand on the
ground and do their studies while watching a small video screen mounted to
the base of the TreeTop Peepers.

While the biologists and university students are currently gearing up for
the next season, Christensen is busy with maintenance work. Carefully
secured to the workbench of Sandpiper's new downtown Manteca location are
eight TreeTop models in varying stages of repair. Several of the products
needed cleaning.

"The pine trees weep pitch," explained Christensen. "Things get really
dirty."

The TreeTops are also used by military organizations, universities, police
departments and state and federal agencies.

Recently, the city of New York used it to monitor the burrowing beetles that
are plaguing area trees.

Several police agencies, as well as some bomb squads, use the product to
look under the roof tiles of buildings for hidden contraband.

Even building inspectors in San Francisco have been see using the TreeTops
while helping to retrofit structures to prevent earthquake damage,
Christensen said.

"When you build a revolutionary tool like this, people notice and the word
gets out," he said.

For the most part, the company has relied on word of mouth and its web site
(www.peeperpeople.com) for promotion.

"At least half of our orders are reorders," Christensen said. "It's a
collaborative effort, more than anything else. All of our customer's stuff,
we work with what they want."

For Sandpiper, the TreeTop products are only the tip of the iceberg of
available products. The company also manufactures monitoring equipment for
use underwater and underground.

Most recently released by Sandpiper is a 3/8-inch-diameter fiber-optic
probing tool used to view species underground. Currently, the product is
being used to study the habitat of blunt-nosed leopard lizards.

Though the tools are not used much in local areas, the Central Valley is the
second most endangered location in the United States, due to development.
Hawaii is the most endangered. The Manteca area is home to a number of
endangered species, including the San Joaquin Kit Fox, the Burrowing Owl and
the Kangaroo Rat.

"Nobody knows the impact of driving endangered species to extinction," he
said. "The biologists do this work, then recommend to the government how to
legislate. Many people say 'who cares,' but we don't know the impact of
severing the ecosystem."

Christensen, a retired [senior engineering associate] from Lawrence
Livermore [National] Laboratory and former [chief warrant officer] with the
U.S. Navy, moved to Manteca in 1982. Though he and his wife Ann have
operated Sandpiper Technologies (formerly Christensen Designs) for nearly 11
years, Manteca residents are still surprised to hear a business of such
technical caliber exists within city borders, he said.

"Virtually everyone here says 'you do what?'" he said. "I like Manteca. It's
a small community, which I like."

Ann, who manages the business portion of the company, graduated with a
journalism degree from San Diego State University, and worked in the
publishing industry until she married John in 1988.

"She's my biggest critic," John said. "If I have an idea, I'll tell her
about it, and she will tell me what she thinks. She's very helpful when it
comes to that."

The couple serve as leaders of the Manteca-based Central Valley Inventors'
Association, which meets once a month at the Manteca Public Library. John is
the president, while Ann serves as treasurer. During its peak time of the
year, the club has as many as 40 members who come from cities as far away as
Chico and Byron.

Sidebar article:

Not just Peepers
Though the concentration of Sandpiper Technologies is primarily focused upon
its biological research products, the company's line of products includes:

The Windless Windchime
An indoor version of chimes that rely on the power of the wind, the Windless
Windchimes make an electronic-analog replication of a windchime tune. A
17-foot version of Christensen's product stands in a Modesto shopping center
on the corner of 11th and J streets. The windchimes are marketed by Orchid
Isle Windchimes [in San Diego].

The Theseus
Marketed as a "tethered exploration device," the Theseus is a remote-control
video unit powered by twin motors and tractor treads. Just five inches long,
the Theseus is used by scientists with a need to explore low-light areas
without disturbing the environment.

Sandpiper Technologies is gradually departing from manufacturing the
Theseus, as the TreeTop Peeper video units are becoming more popular. The
Theseus evolved from a product called the Miniature Optical Lair Explorer
that was featured in the pages of National Geographic and a number of
newspapers and magazines.

The Computerized Vocalizer
Developed for the use of attracting certain species of birds to nesting
sites, the Computerized Vocalizer plays recorded compact disks [MP3
microchips] on a timed-interval basis. The Vocalizer is powered by another
Sandpiper product, the Sol-R-Station, which translates energy from the sun
into electricity. Together, the products are used to help in the
recolonization of bird species.

The Video Trigger
Rather than waste time watching countless hours of actionless videotapes,
scientists that observe animals use Sandpiper's Video Trigger Systems to
record only the time an animal is present. The triggers, through the use of
infrared and other technologies, detect the presence of heat or motion.