Homemade Heliographs
Below are photos of heliographs and
accessories built by enthusiastic heliographers.
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| Chris Brown, 40 years old, admittedly
not a wood craftsman, built this Hg from modern materials. See
"Build Your Own Hg" for more information. |
Henri Jacob, F6GTC, of France,
built this Hg, from old plans written in German. |
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Tom Kosel's 8" heliograph "Station
Model" is made of wood, but works like a champ. Sun mirror on left, station
mirror on right, and closed "screen" in middle. Note adjustable tripods. |
Doug Howser's heliograph includes two USMC surplus
geared mirrors, screen with six slats, a cast tripod bar mount, and two homemade tripods. |
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John Alcorn, VK2JWA of New South Wales, Australia with his 22-inch
"Heliomax". The telescope is mounted as an aiming device. Also note
the 5" Mance with its sight, tripod and case in foreground. Check out more of
Heliograph photos from down under at http://au.photos.yahoo.com/hamradio_au. |
Varsity Scouts using a 24" folding
heliograph made from four 12" mirrors. Also, they are practicing with their
handheld mirrors. For their latest events, see "What's New", and to
contact groups see "Related Sites". |
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| Author's RidKo (Riddle/Kosel)
3" Backpack heliograph. It is pictured here with a straight sight, the
projection of which is seen on the closed screen. Sun is in front (to the left) of
the heliograph. Both the heliograph and screen are mounted on common photo/video
tripods. Range with this size instrument is at least 30 miles on a bright Arizona
day. Construction is of hardwood, aluminum and brass. |
Same heliograph, but using a duplex (or station) mirror; projection of the unsilvered sun
spot on the mirror can be seen on the closed screen. Sun is behind (to right) of the
Hg. Photos were taken during a solo practice session using 3" reflectors
on opposite sides of the heliograph. The screen is operated by flipping the brass
lever located on its right side (dark spot is a rubber thumb pad). |
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This area is waiting for your photo. |
| Author's
signaling mirror made from 3"x4"x3/16" plate glass from which a 1/4" spot was
scratched from the silvering on its reverse. I found center by drawing lines from
diagonals, and used punched out plastic for drawing circle. Scribe was tip of very
sharp paring knife. You may want to duct-tape edges and back. Signaling
done by
casting shadow spot on finger nail aligned with target. Note that reflected image at
20 yards or so is round, not the shape of the mirror! |
This area available for your description. |
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