Strange Images on Google's Street View.

[N2NH]

It wouldn't do much good unless you had someone else to receive it. More interesting would be to use a low power ( < 5mW ) laser and modulate it to transmit audio or digital data. Or, to build a stealth eavesdropping device.

I knew a couple of people who were interested but being on a hill overlooking the bay, there were times when Helicopters were below us and I never hooked it up because it would've been unattended. I was going to feed it with a fiber optic cable and an optoisolator to turn the laser on and off. I looked into ultraviolet lasers, but found out that there was atmospheric absorption issues. I didn't want infrared because of the health issues to humans and birds.

[n2ize]

I knew a couple of people who were interested but being on a hill overlooking the bay, there were times when Helicopters were below us and I never hooked it up because it would've been unattended. I was going to feed it with a fiber optic cable and an optoisolator to turn the laser on and off. I looked into ultraviolet lasers, but found out that there was atmospheric absorption issues. I didn't want infrared because of the health issues to humans and birds.

I doubt infrared would have been a health issue because you'd be using very low power for such an application (or at least I hope you would). :) A low power infrared laser wouldn't even begin to come anywhere near the amount of infrared we are exposed to on a typical sunny day. The danger of infrared lasers becomes apparent at high power levels that are capable of generating heat when contacting human tissue. Of particular concern is that infrared is invisible so if a high power infrared laser beam hits the eye you wouldn't have any blink reflex and you wouldn't even know its hitting the eye until you feel pain or hear something pop. But at rather low power levels over long distances and divergence it would be harmless.

[N2RJ]

I did and no, I haven't played with one. I did toy around with the idea of using one as a transmitter for line of sight morse code for awhile, but with all the helicopters flying at low altitude in NYC, I got cold feet on that.

You can modulate it and transmit phone or even digital emission with it too.

http://modulatedlight.org/optical_co..._pointers.html

IR is definitely doable. In fact, wireless headphones use IR.

[KG4CGC]

Loose pixels? Try loose pixies.

[WØTKX]

http://youtu.be/KO2HP8msjC0

[kb2vxa]

Once upon a time a friend scrounged a HeNe laser and power supply from a scrapped arcade game. His bedroom window on the 2nd floor overlooked the intersection at the end of the street and the stop sign so we had a little fun with drivers stopped there. There were blinking stop signs so why did this one just a metal plate blink? They sat there a long time trying to figure it out, sometimes a driver behind got annoyed and leaned on the horn. Funnier still were the alternating turn signals, was he turning left or right? Yep, highly reflective surfaces like a coated stop sign and a tail light lens glow brightly while any spilled light goes unnoticed being so dim.

Another time a ham friend from Minnesota with his son came to visit his parents and we went to a hamfest. The kid being into lasers bought several gas lasers, Brewster windows and power supplies, that was the only time I ever saw lasers at a hamfest looking like rather odd transmitting tubes. Like Wil Smith said; I have got to get me one of these!

[W6UV]

Here's a Google Maps view from near my QTH:

Capture.jpg

[NQ6U]

Here's a Google Maps view from near my QTH

Looks fine to me...

As a native San Franciscan currently expatriated to San Diego speaking to a Bay Area resident, let me be the first to welcome you to the Island. I think you'll find the natives (mostly) friendly—at least, as long as you stay out of the political arena. It's like a cage match in there sometimes.

Barkeep, serve this man the adult beverage of his choice and put it on the Vatican's tab.

[K7SGJ]

Here's a Google Maps view from near my QTH:

Capture.jpg

Hmmmm, that's got to be a hoot when two trains going in opposite directions hit that point. I would have figured there to be a salvage yard there instead of a house.

Welcome to the Island. Enjoy the Pope's gift of your first drink. Keep the umbrella as a souvenir since you'll be paying the rest of your life for it, one way or another.

[N2NH]

...Caught on Google's Street View.

NSFW LINK HERE.

Getting some bush in the bush.