[DS2] [SG2] Laser Ranging

> Los writes:

> In SF, our range finder is the big-ass laser thing which we never even

> In my very limited exposure to armor, it's a simple thing to site the

Can't you put the hurt on somebody's eyes with one of those things? How

many 'shots' does one have (battery life)? How heavy is it? Does it require
special care in the field? Just curious.

> At 10:21 PM 9/29/98 -0500, Noah Doyle wrote:
re: lasers

> Can't you put the hurt on somebody's eyes with one of those things?
How
> many 'shots' does one have (battery life)? How heavy is it? Does it

All lasers can do retinal damages,even the little pointers kids (and even
college students,sheesh) seem to be fond of. Running around blinding people is
probably considered a serious misuse of military resources,though.:) You get
to see a good example of a laser target designator being used in the movie
adaptation of Tom Clancy's book 'Clear & Present Danger'. Fairly realistic
AFAIK. As for special care,you'd probably have to take special care of the
lenses. I'd think it'd be a bit on the fragile side,but like all military
hardware it'd be reinforced in certain areas. This is mostly
conjecture,though,I've never worked with one of these and my knowledge of
lasers is fairly minimal.

> On Tue, 29 Sep 1998, trapper wrote:

> All lasers can do retinal damages,even the little pointers kids (and

Those pointers are, btw, very nice for determining LOS in a game. I used to
use a small periscope, but I recently got a cheap keychain laser pointer and
it's great! Just hold it next to the firing figure and try to "lase" the
target.

> Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@swob.dna.fi> wrote:

> Those pointers are, btw, very nice for determining LOS in a game. I

I just bought one recently for just that purpose. Also, they help determine
firing arc in Full Thrust. From the target just "lase" the firing ship's base
and see which arc it is in.

Enjoy,

> Noah Doyle wrote:

> Can't you put the hurt on somebody's eyes with one of those things?

Yes

> How many 'shots' does one have (battery life)?

Don't know. I've never fired it off that much that the juice ran down. It
takes a special battery also.

> How heavy is it?

Probably 5 to 8 pounds, looks like a big boxy ungainly pair of binos.

> Does it require special care in the field? Just curious.

Nope. Just keep it pointed up and down range.

Tom spake thusly upon matters weighty:

But be damn careful not to hit anyone in the face (esp the eyes) with one. The
retina is very sensitive to this kind of damage. I know the output power of
these is in the low milliwatts, but the laser diode emits (roughly) one
frequency of coherent light and that is VERY damaging (afaik) to the receptors
in the eye. Near misses I've seen have caused people problems seeing for quite
a while. So, if you want to range from ship to ship for firing arcs, make sure
your downrange path is clear. Please also remember than light diffracts and
splits
in glass, crystal, and other transparent or translucent media - I've
seen people shoot crystal chandeliers. Nice visual effect but damn dangerous
as we now have ten or more beams of coherent light all focused in
unpredictable directions. It's be a stupid way to suffer optic damage.

Tom. <deactivates "mothering mode">

> Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@swob.dna.fi> wrote: