Brian Whatcott wrote wrote:


Parallax wrote in message
. com...
Practical Sailor had an interesting article about a laser device used
as an alert/locate device for ppl in distress. Basically its a 5 mW
laser diode with a plastic line generating lens. They say that it has
to be held to sweep the horizon and jiggled slowly and that it takes
practice before it is needed. ///

I have had one of these for over two years. It does not need to be
"jiggled" slowly to be noticed. It sounds to me like the person who
wrote
the article may not have tested it.
///
Scott


It sounds as though Scott may not be aware of the impact of a flashing
light. Some aircraft use double flashing strobes for this purpose.
No more power, but more eye-grabbing.

It also sounds like you might not be aware of the huge difference in the
quality of light the laser flare gives out. Much more eye-grabbing than a
stobe or other light source.

One of the tests they did was to see if a observer in a plane could pick it
out from other lights at an airport at night. They had no problem
identifiying it from various locations. They did the same test from variouls
spots in the middle of a city. Also no problem.

Scott