[Laser] Changes to ARRL VHF contest rules

[James Whitfield]

A very good question.  The article contains no more on the subject than I 
quoted.  I suppose we will have to wait for the follow on article.

The only "spin" I would put on it is in the phrasing "... as long as the 
laser power is less than 5mW ...".   If I had to speculate with the limited 
information available, I would say that there is a concern about laser power 
limits.  That may leave the Non laser power limits un-specified.

Lasers do have safety and handling issues related to power, 5 mW being one 
of the defined limit for certain uses.

I am not aware of other monochromatic light sources having equivalent safety 
and handling issues.

Maybe this will lead to the use of light beams as the equivalent of laser 
gunsights for VHF/UHF ( and up! ) operations.  If the light beam 
communication is locked on, it should lead to high confidence that the other 
antennas are pointed in the right direction.  That does presume that the 
light beam is properly alighned with the boresight of the other antennas.


James
 n5gui


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Moss" <n9jim-6 at pacbell.net>
To: "Free Space LASER Communications" <laser at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 10:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Laser] Changes to ARRL VHF contest rules


> what if power is > 5mW???
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: James Whitfield <n5gui at cox.net>
> To: laser at mailman.qth.net
> Sent: Mon, July 19, 2010 12:52:48 PM
> Subject: [Laser] Changes to ARRL VHF contest rules
>
> Posted on the ARRL website this afternoon is an item about the ARRL Board 
> of
> Directors meeting.  The details were not provided and are expected to be 
> in a
> more in depth report in a few days along with the official minutes.
>
> The specific item that I thought might be of interest here reads:
>
> "  ... clarified the VHF rules to allow monochromatic  sources ( such as 
> laser
> or LED ) to count for contest credit, as long as the laser power is less 
> than 5
> mW; ...  "
>
>
> I for one, am interested to see what the details are and what this will 
> mean as
> far as encouraging more experimentation and activity in the optical realm.
>
>
> Best wishes.
>
>
> James
> n5gui
>
>
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