[Laser] Of mice and men

[Lee Scheppmann]

OK, here goes my first post [second attempt] so please forgive any goof-ups
till I get the hang of it. I’m in the San Diego area working with Kerry
N6IZW on laser com. I’m running a typical PGP type detector with the
photodiode and fet in a separate 1-1/4” tube in an 8” SC telescope. The
laser is 1 watt at about 925 nm. I’m still working on my adjustable mount
for the transmitter so that I can obtain more precise pointing. But that’s
another story.

I notice in one of the archives a reference to the use of an optical mouse
for tracking the moon. I’ve also considered hacking a mouse for measuring
motion of various objects and recently I pulled one apart, opened up the
iris on the chip, [Agilent chip] and put a C mount in front of it. Thru a
lot of trial and error I could get the curser to move across the screen in
both directions under bright light and with a stopped down iris, but I’m not
very happy with it so far. I don’t feel like I’ve got the right lens and
aperture combination such that passing cars, for example, will send the
curser flying. I’m spending a little bit of time on it and I’m wondering if
anyone out there has played with this too.

73, Lee KD0IF