Signalling Mirror

Thanks for the info. DIO
Ian

up here for thinking eh - good sugestion!

A DVD (or normal grooming mirror) will not have the special targeting features that a true heliograph (signal mirror) has.

Alan

Every DVD/CD I have seen has a hole fitted ;-).

Just hold the mirror/CD over your eye, place your thumb over the target at arms length then flash the reflected light at your thumb.

Easy as.

Absolutlery Shaker, but be prepared to pay a premium for it. Why not buy some international signal flags???
I saw one of these for sale at an "Outdoors" shop (mountain designs), $38 in a smart pouch....
Personally I'll go back to semaphore signaling or a stolen smoke grenade would also give your position away.

Yes, you're probably right, not too many here could afford $4.50, or especially the dearest one at $9.95 ..... Site Link

Just as a matter of interest, you may like to know that you are living in the past, Semaphore, along with Morse Code is history, & no longer officially recognised!

Carrying orange smoke flares would be a very good idea along with a heliograph (signal mirror), if you are going well off the beaten track.

I've got a piece of stainless steel mirror about 3"x2". Haven't bothered with any holes in it. Just hold the mirror near my face, extend other arm, sight through the bottom corner of the mirror and my thumb on the extended arm, get the sun reflection from the same corner to just hit my thumb and thats it.

Came in very handy a few years ago, miles out to sea, engine out, no mobile, no battery so no radio. Managed to signal an ab diver on his boat a few miles away. Never go without it.

jd

Actually Shaker, Morse is far from dead in the aviation industry. In fact, all ground-based navigation aids are primarily identified by Morse Code worldwide :-)

It's also widely used with Navies for light signals between ships at sea.

We carry heliographs in our survival kits and life raft packs. Amazingly effective piece of kit for something so simple. Hope I never have to use one but!

John R (NSW) .... I may have been misinformed & have to stand corrected re Morse Code, I know Semaphore is no longer used & I was led believe that same was true about Morse Code, although I thought that I read that radio operators no longer had to have an understanding of it.

Gidday Shaker,

When I did my Instrument rating back in the '80s I had to pass a test of 10 WPM (receiving) Morse (to ident the navaids mentioned above). In the '90s this was removed because CASA probably figured that pilots could read a chart and get the Morse off it.....

I'm not sure about Amateur Radio Licences 'coz I don't hold one. I think they are somewhat more difficult to get than a Flight Radio Operator's.

With the advent of Flight Management Systems there is now more emphasis on the GPS component (with its inherent limitations, etc from a flight navigation point of view).