Got the dinghy painted
Frogwatch
an ugly shade of left over green paint and it needed repair.
So.........recalling times I have been in the fog and worried about
being run down in my white sailboat. I'll paint the dinghy the
brightest color possible.
I have now named her "Retina Burn". Fluorescent yellow/green on her
outside and fluorescent orange on the inside, it is impossible to not
see her. Unfortunately, I neglected whether the people around me in
the marina will object.
Wayne.B
You're better off to buy a good radar reflector or two and hoist them
to the spreaders.
Tom Francis - SWSports
Heh - yeah but then you don't get to paint a dinghy with obnoxious
colors in a determined effort to render as many people blind as
possible. :>)
Also here's a thought to consider with respect to the potential color
of the dignhy. Lime green and yellow (base lime green with yellow
trim or vice versa) is not as visible as you would think. The NFPA
did a study a few years ago about visibility of fire and rescue
vehicles and found that lime green/yellow were equal in terms of
potential accidents as red/white but when lime green was matched with
white, the accident potential dropped by almost 90%.
The reason is kind of interesting and something that I knew, but never
would have considered. The human eye is practically red blind at
night even under city driving conditions - in the darker country or
poor surburban lighitng conditions its practically invisible. While
you would think that the white would off set that disadvantage, it
turns out that the white actually enhances the color blending effect.
The lime green/yellow combination has basically the same effect but
for different reasons - the eye response to the combination confused
the eye and the brain does not process the information even with the
difference in spectrum - it's not a situation where the eye is blind
to the color rather that the two colors are so close in the visible
spectrum that the background effect is enhanced.
So if you were going to paint the dinghy for visibility, the better
choice would be lime green/white.
I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.
Or any small boat for that matter.
Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
then again, I might not be using the right search terms.
CalifBill
"Tom Francis - SWSports" <remov...@rejectswsportsdot.org> wrote in
message news:rj7gg5tfesnqjuhp9...@4ax.com...
Hell, they don't watch the radar. My wife got hit in Mission Bay, San Diego
in a red kayak. Could not get out of the way fast enough for a sailboat set
on course and the "pilot", in the back not watching. Could have been even
worse. He was near shore and near the yacht club with the kids sailing and
kayaking. Luckily was a glancing blow and not damage. Did not have my VHF
with me, or he would have been explaining his skills to the harbor patrol/
lifeguards.
Wayne.B
<remov...@rejectswsportsdot.org> wrote:
>I was wondering about radar reflectivity a couple of days ago and
>thought about this - I wonder if aluminized paint, non-fiber or fiber,
>epoxy might be a way to paint a dignhy to make it visible to radar.
>
>Or any small boat for that matter.
>
>Might be worth testing out sometime. I can't find any relevant data
>on the web about radar reflectivity of aluminum impregnated paints,
>then again, I might not be using the right search terms.
The problem is that dinghys and other small boats are so close to the
water that they quickly get lost in sea clutter on radar. Even the
small reflectors and metalic flags that offshore lobstermen use on
their pickup sticks are a lot better than nothing. A decent radar
reflector 10 to 20 feet off the water makes a huge difference.
Liferaft canopies are supposed to have some sort of radar reflective
material, probably metalized mylar, but I'm not sure.
<http://www.theradarreflectorsite.org/Articles/MiscellaneousReflectiveMaterials.pdf>
Tom Francis - SWSports
Good point.
I wonder though if you couldn't put a reflector on a short pole - say
three feet or so and add a radar transponder?
Wayne.B
<remov...@rejectswsportsdot.org> wrote:
Anything like that will help a lot, and a transponder will make you
look like a super tanker. However it's one more electronic gizmo to
keep working and no real easy way to test it.
Speaking of electronics, have you been on 20 meters lately? The
sunspots are coming back. We are open to the North East for 2 or 3
hours every day, California and the PNW later in the afternoon. I've
actually made a few contacts on 15 meters lately.
Tom Francis - SWSports
>Speaking of electronics, have you been on 20 meters lately? The
>sunspots are coming back. We are open to the North East for 2 or 3
>hours every day, California and the PNW later in the afternoon. I've
>actually made a few contacts on 15 meters lately.
Yeah - I've been listening - had a long path QSO with a JA on 30
meters which was a shocker. That's rather unusual.
I'm not sure its sunspots though - at least not at this stage of Cycle
24. I think what's happening is that we're seeing some flare activity
in the Helium I sphere which created a coronal hole - that would cause
an increase in magenetosphere energy here on Earth. As of today, none
of the major observatories have seen any sunspot activity at all. In
fact, the active/minor/severe potential at mid and high latitudes is
at .05/.01/.01 respectively. No spots. :>)
I was reading today that the solar jet stream is finally moving into
position towards the sun's equator - two years or so later than it
normally does. That portends increased sunspot activity. How long
that lasts though is a question - it may be the last "umph" before it
enters another Maunder Minimum as some have speculated. The timing is
right.
thunder
> Yeah - I've been listening - had a long path QSO with a JA on 30 meters
> which was a shocker. That's rather unusual.
>
> I'm not sure its sunspots though - at least not at this stage of Cycle
> 24. I think what's happening is that we're seeing some flare activity
> in the Helium I sphere which created a coronal hole - that would cause
> an increase in magenetosphere energy here on Earth. As of today, none
> of the major observatories have seen any sunspot activity at all. In
> fact, the active/minor/severe potential at mid and high latitudes is at
> .05/.01/.01 respectively. No spots. :>)
>
> I was reading today that the solar jet stream is finally moving into
> position towards the sun's equator - two years or so later than it
> normally does. That portends increased sunspot activity. How long that
> lasts though is a question - it may be the last "umph" before it enters
> another Maunder Minimum as some have speculated. The timing is right.
Huh?? ;-)
H the K
tom-tom's boats are hundreds and hundreds of miles away from him...so,
it's either play with his rubber ducky in the tub or insult his buds on
SW radio elsewhere.
--
If you are flajim, herring, loogy, GC boater, johnson, topbassdog, rob,
achmed the sock puppet, or one of a half dozen others, you're wasting
your time by trying to *communicate* with me through rec.boats, because,
well, you are among the permanent members of my dumbfoch dumpster, and I
don't read the vomit you post, except by accident on occasion. As
always, have a nice, simple-minded day.
Wayne.B
Tom Francis - SWSports
Ok - you show me where they are that would create a solar flux of 75
with a corresponding A index of 9 and a K index of 2?. :>)
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/mdi_igr/1024/latest.jpg
If they are talking about Region 1033, here's the forecast.
Updated 2009 Nov 21 2201 UTC
Joint USAF/NOAA Report of Solar and Geophysical Activity
SDF Number 325 Issued at 2200Z on 21 Nov 2009
Analysis of Solar Active Regions and Activity from 20/2100Z to
21/2100Z: Solar activity was very low. Region 1033 (N18E07) remains a
Bxo-beta region. No significant flares were observed during the past
24 hours. The SOHO/C2 images observed a slow moving (around 200 km/s)
Earth directed CME at 21/0755Z. EIT images also showed a wave pattern,
associated with the CME, located in the vicinity of a filament channel
around S40E30.
Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is expected to remain very low
with a slight chance for a C-class flare.
Geophysical Activity Summary 20/2100Z to 21/2100Z: The geomagnetic
field was quiet to unsettled. Observations from the ACE spacecraft
indicate the continued influence of a recurrent coronal hole high
speed stream. Solar wind speed rose through the period from 430 -575
km/s with Bz fluctuations from -8 to +9 nT.
Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to be
predominantly quiet for the next three days (22-24 November).
That's hardly a good start for Cycle 24.
Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
Huh what? That the sun has a region of high speed gas they call a jet
stream at the 7Km depth level which causes sunspots or the Maunder
Minimum?
thunder
All of the above. Something about Hams. ;-)
Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
ROFTL!!!
"I'm not a solar scientist nor do I play one on TV..."
Having followed this for years, you do start to pick up on things here
and there. Recently, there has been some great solar space science
done at diifferent wavelengths in the past ten or so years which has
really powered up Earth weather science and some very interesting
correlations with the decadal and multidecadal ocean oscillations.
Live long enough, you'll pick up stuff if you're scientifically
oriented. :>)
John H
Your knowledge of things scientific would be much better demonstrated
if you simply stated, "I also believe everything Al Gore said."
--
John H
H the K
SW Tom-Tom's been playing with his flux capacitor...again.
Wayne.B
<remov...@rejectswsportsdot.org> wrote:
>That's hardly a good start for Cycle 24.
We'll see. All I know is that propagation has improved significantly
from where it was 6 months ago and the SFI numbers seem to support
that conclusion.
achmed
> On 11/22/09 1:17 AM, Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
>> That's hardly a good start for Cycle 24.
>
>
> SW Tom-Tom's been playing with his flux capacitor...again.
>
>
>
It is good to see that Mr Francis is resisting the desperate attempts of
Mr Krause to engage him.
Tom Francis - SWSports
Wellllll......... :>)
Granted, long path on 30 meters is a good start for sure - I haven't
seen that happen since they opened up the band.
This is a great program, by the way, for spotting band openings.
http://www.dxlabsuite.com/propview/
And the best part is IT'S FREE!!!
Free's for me. :>)
Wayne.B
<remov...@rejectswsportsdot.org> wrote:
>This is a great program, by the way, for spotting band openings.
>
>http://www.dxlabsuite.com/propview/
>
>And the best part is IT'S FREE!!!
>
>Free's for me. :>)
Thanks. As we used to say in NY, free is a VERY good price. -)
Wayne.B
>resisting the desperate attempts of
>Mr Krause to engage him.
Why don't you put that sociopath in your kill file like most of the
more or less normal folks have done ?
H the K
W'hine is unaware of "achmed's" other sockpuppet id's here?