How far is green beam visible?

[chad]

NanoWatt,

This really is not a good idea. 300mw taped to a 20 foot pole is going to be really hard to be precise with, you will have beams going uncontrolled everywhere. At that power level you do have to be careful where that beam goes.

I am sorry to be a buzz kill but this has the potential to to go wrong and further fuel more stringent regulations. Lasers are not toys and should be treated with respect, . All that would have to happen is a stray beam across some aircraft or get the attention of some cop and you will get a lot more attention than you want. It won't be so cool then, in fact i would call that an epic FAIL.

Again the chances are slim that it would be a problem but...

chad

[nanoWatt]

Good advice. Actually I am not too concerned about being exact. If I'm within about 5-feet of my antenna then that's fine. I just would like to know, in 2-foot or so steps approx how high I should raise one person's antenna.

One thing to consider is that the trees will keep growing, so 'just above the treetops' one year might be 'FAIL' in a few more.

Also, it will be difficult to judge how high the beam is from you when you are looking up at it, because there is no reference point, even if you knew exactly what diameter it is. Take the moon for instance.. how it looks larger at the horizon than way up in the sky, because at the horizon you have a reference.

I was thinking that in the back of my mind. Even if I fashioned a good solid bracket controlled with ropes, that would not be wise. I'm going to have to use some trig on this. Anyway, I have a feeling I might need to go up another 5 feet or so.

I'm doing this moreso for the coolness factor. I could just raise the antenna and test, raise and test, repeat. Or I could make use of a laser that I don't really have much else I can do with it. Now, back to learning my Maxwell equations.

NanoWatt,

This really is not a good idea. 300mw taped to a 20 foot pole is going to be really hard to be precise with, you will have beams going uncontrolled everywhere. At that power level you do have to be careful where that beam goes.

I am sorry to be a buzz kill but this has the potential to to go wrong and further fuel more stringent regulations. Lasers are not toys and should be treated with respect, . All that would have to happen is a stray beam across some aircraft or get the attention of some cop and you will get a lot more attention than you want. It won't be so cool then, in fact i would call that an epic FAIL.

Again the chances are slim that it would be a problem but...

chad

[Dr Laser]

I actually used 300mw green to align Yags Sectoral and Drums. (For those who don't know I'm talking about a different types of antennas). We had 2 people on site . One on each side of the link. I attached my 300mw to the antenna(I had a special-universal-hand-made-clamp) and pointed where other antenna was. Communication was done by 5W radios and was mostly "left right up down....more down....good enough" . Maximum we shot was about 5-6 miles. It allowed us to point antennas very fast and very accurate.

[nanoWatt]

Did you have to do this at dusk/night, or was the 300mW enough during the day to get a good alignment (beamwise), when viewing from the ground? Anyway, I use 19dBi CPE's that point to my omni. I only have about 17 customers, so I didn't feel the need to sectorize. I do have 2 AP's, one at 60' and the other is around 40'. The radios are fairly flexible, and I've had connectivity even when they are facing 90 degrees away, or even through RF echoes. I use the Deliberant brand because it's fairly inexpensive. I've also used Tranzeo which is good.

Anyway, I do communication by celphone cause it's cheap. I remember days when I was on a customer's roof, aiming, and had them on their computer telling me by phone what the signal strength was as I adjusted.

After I can fab a bracket, then just aiming with binoculars, if I have LOS will be very quick.