My nesting dinghy that is supposed to sit on my sailboat foredeck was
an ugly shade of left over green paint and it needed repair.
So.........recalling times I have been in the fog and worried about
being run down in my white sailboat. I'll paint the dinghy the
brightest color possible.
I have now named her "Retina Burn". Fluorescent yellow/green on her
outside and fluorescent orange on the inside, it is impossible to not
see her. Unfortunately, I neglected whether the people around me in
the marina will object.

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:28:16 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

My nesting dinghy that is supposed to sit on my sailboat foredeck was
an ugly shade of left over green paint and it needed repair.
So.........recalling times I have been in the fog and worried about
being run down in my white sailboat. I'll paint the dinghy the
brightest color possible.
I have now named her "Retina Burn". Fluorescent yellow/green on her
outside and fluorescent orange on the inside, it is impossible to not
see her. Unfortunately, I neglected whether the people around me in
the marina will object.

You're better off to buy a good radar reflector or two and hoist them
to the spreaders.

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:57:36 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:28:16 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

My nesting dinghy that is supposed to sit on my sailboat foredeck was
an ugly shade of left over green paint and it needed repair.
So.........recalling times I have been in the fog and worried about
being run down in my white sailboat. I'll paint the dinghy the
brightest color possible.
I have now named her "Retina Burn". Fluorescent yellow/green on her
outside and fluorescent orange on the inside, it is impossible to not
see her. Unfortunately, I neglected whether the people around me in
the marina will object.

You're better off to buy a good radar reflector or two and hoist them
to the spreaders.

Heh - yeah but then you don't get to paint a dinghy with obnoxious
colors in a determined effort to render as many people blind as
possible. :)

Also here's a thought to consider with respect to the potential color
of the dignhy. Lime green and yellow (base lime green with yellow
trim or vice versa) is not as visible as you would think. The NFPA
did a study a few years ago about visibility of fire and rescue
vehicles and found that lime green/yellow were equal in terms of
potential accidents as red/white but when lime green was matched with
white, the accident potential dropped by almost 90%.

The reason is kind of interesting and something that I knew, but never
would have considered. The human eye is practically red blind at
night even under city driving conditions - in the darker country or
poor surburban lighitng conditions its practically invisible. While
you would think that the white would off set that disadvantage, it
turns out that the white actually enhances the color blending effect.

The lime green/yellow combination has basically the same effect but
for different reasons - the eye response to the combination confused
the eye and the brain does not process the information even with the
difference in spectrum - it's not a situation where the eye is blind
to the color rather that the two colors are so close in the visible
spectrum that the background effect is enhanced.

So if you were going to paint the dinghy for visibility, the better
choice would be lime green/white.

I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.

Or any small boat for that matter.

Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
then again, I might not be using the right search terms.

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:57:36 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:28:16 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

My nesting dinghy that is supposed to sit on my sailboat foredeck was
an ugly shade of left over green paint and it needed repair.
So.........recalling times I have been in the fog and worried about
being run down in my white sailboat. I'll paint the dinghy the
brightest color possible.
I have now named her "Retina Burn". Fluorescent yellow/green on her
outside and fluorescent orange on the inside, it is impossible to not
see her. Unfortunately, I neglected whether the people around me in
the marina will object.

You're better off to buy a good radar reflector or two and hoist them
to the spreaders.

Heh - yeah but then you don't get to paint a dinghy with obnoxious
colors in a determined effort to render as many people blind as
possible. :)

Also here's a thought to consider with respect to the potential color
of the dignhy. Lime green and yellow (base lime green with yellow
trim or vice versa) is not as visible as you would think. The NFPA
did a study a few years ago about visibility of fire and rescue
vehicles and found that lime green/yellow were equal in terms of
potential accidents as red/white but when lime green was matched with
white, the accident potential dropped by almost 90%.

The reason is kind of interesting and something that I knew, but never
would have considered. The human eye is practically red blind at
night even under city driving conditions - in the darker country or
poor surburban lighitng conditions its practically invisible. While
you would think that the white would off set that disadvantage, it
turns out that the white actually enhances the color blending effect.

The lime green/yellow combination has basically the same effect but
for different reasons - the eye response to the combination confused
the eye and the brain does not process the information even with the
difference in spectrum - it's not a situation where the eye is blind
to the color rather that the two colors are so close in the visible
spectrum that the background effect is enhanced.

So if you were going to paint the dinghy for visibility, the better
choice would be lime green/white.

I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.

Or any small boat for that matter.

Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
then again, I might not be using the right search terms.

Hell, they don't watch the radar. My wife got hit in Mission Bay, San Diego
in a red kayak. Could not get out of the way fast enough for a sailboat set
on course and the "pilot", in the back not watching. Could have been even
worse. He was near shore and near the yacht club with the kids sailing and
kayaking. Luckily was a glancing blow and not damage. Did not have my VHF
with me, or he would have been explaining his skills to the harbor patrol/
lifeguards.

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:38:47 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.

Or any small boat for that matter.

Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
then again, I might not be using the right search terms.

The problem is that dinghys and other small boats are so close to the
water that they quickly get lost in sea clutter on radar. Even the
small reflectors and metalic flags that offshore lobstermen use on
their pickup sticks are a lot better than nothing. A decent radar
reflector 10 to 20 feet off the water makes a huge difference.
Liferaft canopies are supposed to have some sort of radar reflective
material, probably metalized mylar, but I'm not sure.

http://www.theradarreflectorsite.org/Articles/MiscellaneousReflectiveMaterials.pdf

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:54:58 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:38:47 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.

Or any small boat for that matter.

Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
then again, I might not be using the right search terms.

The problem is that dinghys and other small boats are so close to the
water that they quickly get lost in sea clutter on radar. Even the
small reflectors and metalic flags that offshore lobstermen use on
their pickup sticks are a lot better than nothing. A decent radar
reflector 10 to 20 feet off the water makes a huge difference.
Liferaft canopies are supposed to have some sort of radar reflective
material, probably metalized mylar, but I'm not sure.

http://www.theradarreflectorsite.org/Articles/MiscellaneousReflectiveMaterials.pdf

Good point.

I wonder though if you couldn't put a reflector on a short pole - say
three feet or so and add a radar transponder?

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:24:41 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:54:58 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:38:47 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:

I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.

Or any small boat for that matter.

Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
then again, I might not be using the right search terms.

The problem is that dinghys and other small boats are so close to the
water that they quickly get lost in sea clutter on radar. Even the
small reflectors and metalic flags that offshore lobstermen use on
their pickup sticks are a lot better than nothing. A decent radar
reflector 10 to 20 feet off the water makes a huge difference.
Liferaft canopies are supposed to have some sort of radar reflective
material, probably metalized mylar, but I'm not sure.

http://www.theradarreflectorsite.org/Articles/MiscellaneousReflectiveMaterials.pdf

Good point.

I wonder though if you couldn't put a reflector on a short pole - say
three feet or so and add a radar transponder?

Anything like that will help a lot, and a transponder will make you
look like a super tanker. However it's one more electronic gizmo to
keep working and no real easy way to test it.

Speaking of electronics, have you been on 20 meters lately? The
sunspots are coming back. We are open to the North East for 2 or 3
hours every day, California and the PNW later in the afternoon. I've
actually made a few contacts on 15 meters lately.

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:08:39 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Speaking of electronics, have you been on 20 meters lately? The
sunspots are coming back. We are open to the North East for 2 or 3
hours every day, California and the PNW later in the afternoon. I've
actually made a few contacts on 15 meters lately.

Yeah - I've been listening - had a long path QSO with a JA on 30
meters which was a shocker. That's rather unusual.

I'm not sure its sunspots though - at least not at this stage of Cycle
24. I think what's happening is that we're seeing some flare activity
in the Helium I sphere which created a coronal hole - that would cause
an increase in magenetosphere energy here on Earth. As of today, none
of the major observatories have seen any sunspot activity at all. In
fact, the active/minor/severe potential at mid and high latitudes is
at .05/.01/.01 respectively. No spots. :)

I was reading today that the solar jet stream is finally moving into
position towards the sun's equator - two years or so later than it
normally does. That portends increased sunspot activity. How long
that lasts though is a question - it may be the last "umph" before it
enters another Maunder Minimum as some have speculated. The timing is
right.

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:01:16 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:


Yeah - I've been listening - had a long path QSO with a JA on 30 meters
which was a shocker. That's rather unusual.

I'm not sure its sunspots though - at least not at this stage of Cycle
24. I think what's happening is that we're seeing some flare activity
in the Helium I sphere which created a coronal hole - that would cause
an increase in magenetosphere energy here on Earth. As of today, none
of the major observatories have seen any sunspot activity at all. In
fact, the active/minor/severe potential at mid and high latitudes is at
.05/.01/.01 respectively. No spots. :)

I was reading today that the solar jet stream is finally moving into
position towards the sun's equator - two years or so later than it
normally does. That portends increased sunspot activity. How long that
lasts though is a question - it may be the last "umph" before it enters
another Maunder Minimum as some have speculated. The timing is right.

Huh?? ;-)

On 11/21/09 10:10 PM, thunder wrote:
On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:01:16 -0500, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:


Yeah - I've been listening - had a long path QSO with a JA on 30 meters
which was a shocker. That's rather unusual.

I'm not sure its sunspots though - at least not at this stage of Cycle
24. I think what's happening is that we're seeing some flare activity
in the Helium I sphere which created a coronal hole - that would cause
an increase in magenetosphere energy here on Earth. As of today, none
of the major observatories have seen any sunspot activity at all. In
fact, the active/minor/severe potential at mid and high latitudes is at
.05/.01/.01 respectively. No spots. :)

I was reading today that the solar jet stream is finally moving into
position towards the sun's equator - two years or so later than it
normally does. That portends increased sunspot activity. How long that
lasts though is a question - it may be the last "umph" before it enters
another Maunder Minimum as some have speculated. The timing is right.

Huh?? ;-)


tom-tom's boats are hundreds and hundreds of miles away from him...so,
it's either play with his rubber ducky in the tub or insult his buds on
SW radio elsewhere.


--
If you are flajim, herring, loogy, GC boater, johnson, topbassdog, rob,
achmed the sock puppet, or one of a half dozen others, you're wasting
your time by trying to *communicate* with me through rec.boats, because,
well, you are among the permanent members of my dumbfoch dumpster, and I
don't read the vomit you post, except by accident on occasion. As
always, have a nice, simple-minded day.