[Laser] Laser comm stuff

[Kerry Banke]

Based on my own experience, I'd recommend building the most stable and 
finest resolution mount for your laser system that fits your budget and 
mechanical aptitude.  As you improve your system you'll always wish it was 
smoother and more stable. When using my rig with a 50mm beam expander, I 
have a spot size of less than 12"  at 4 miles.  This is right at the limit 
of being useable with the fine resolution  starret micrometer positioning 
system. Another issue becomes thermal stability. As the temperature of the 
rig changes the spot walks off the target. A good way to get a feel for the 
difficulties and performance of your setup  is to place a small bicycle 
reflector out as far as practical and try to hit it with your laser. I use 
a 3" retroreflector ( corner cube purchased of Ebay) on a hill top 4 miles 
away.
  - Kerry N6IZW -

At 03:37 PM 7/18/03 -0400, you wrote:
>There is one thing that concerns me with all this talk about transmitter
>aiming platforms. We know how big our lenses and detectors are at the
>receiving end. Though we all have different distance goals, our
>transmission distance is a known variable as well.