Signalling Mirrors...

[Pete E]

I came across the short video below that demonstrates just how effective a signalling mirror can be..if you read the comments, it mentions they were using an American military issue 5"X3" mirror, but the smaller more common 3"X2" sized mirrors are very effective as well..

 

[user 4386]

http://www.equipped.com/phony_signa...e,it off in another direction to signal with.

 

[Ned]

If you have an old hard disk drive you can remove the platter and use this for a mirror. has great reflecting ability, centre hole, and can be used for signaling and location.

regards Ned

 

[user 22230]

Keeping with the safety and survival theme, another good signal source to attract attention is burn your skid plate (better add daytime here ) Lovely black smoke just don't breath it. Also try to get yourself in a position you can be seen. The term birds eye view from a plane is a bit miss leading it's actually not that easy to spot someone on the ground. If we could train eagles would be a whole different ball game

 

[Moneybox]

I came across the short video below that demonstrates just how effective a signalling mirror can be..if you read the comments, it mentions they were using an American military issue 5"X3" mirror, but the smaller more common 3"X2" sized mirrors are very effective as well..

That's amazingly clear even at great distance but it will only work if you are directly in line with the reflected light. That means you have to be a very good judge of angles to get the reflection to the target especially if it's a plane up in the sky where you can't follow the beam of light.

 

[David-Karratha]

That's amazingly clear even at great distance but it will only work if you are directly in line with the reflected light. That means you have to be a very good judge of angles to get the reflection to the target especially if it's a plane up in the sky where you can't follow the beam of light.

Hold the mirror in one hand next to your eyes, and hold up a finger at arms length, between your eye and the thing you’re trying to signal. Get the reflection from the mirror, to shine onto your outstretched finger, which because it’s aligned with the plane (or ship etc), means you’re fairly accurately aiming the light at your target.
This allows you to fairly accurately control the reflected light, and if you’re a real smart-arse, you’d theoretically be able to send reasonably accurate Morse code - although the fact almost no-one could understand your message, is kind of an issue.
Critically (and more seriously), unless people are actually searching for you, flashing cars, planes and ships when you’re in trouble may really only elicit a “Hey, I wonder what that is?” response, before the person seeing your signal, goes back to whatever they were doing.
‘Mirrors, signal fires etc, whilst important, shouldn’t be a major part of your survival plans. The three most important items I’d suggest, would be epirb, epirb and epirb (emergency position indicating radio beacon). Then sat phones, radios, etc etc etc. If you’re in trouble, you need to be able to tell people about it asap.

 

[Skiffed]

My mate signaled me from a mountain range about 30km from our place. Was easier to see once I knew where he was. Only a small mirror. We communicated via 2m ham frequency. A great experiment.

 

[kev205]

That's amazingly clear even at great distance but it will only work if you are directly in line with the reflected light. That means you have to be a very good judge of angles to get the reflection to the target especially if it's a plane up in the sky where you can't follow the beam of light.

To target where you want your reflection to go, hold your arm out with your thumb up and with your arm pointed in the direction you want put the mirror on your arm and flash it so it lights your thumb basically use your arm as a sight