I ran a mirror-flash exercise with one of the fire crews today.

They positioned in a location unknown to me at mid-day, and shot me a series of mirror flashes. The flash is very easy to spot, even from 10 miles away (they were on Pine Mountain near the University of Oregon Observatory). I got an azimuth and vertical angle and plotted their position.

I aced their position today! The exercise is good practice for me, but it is mostly a confidence building maneuver for the fire crews. The newbies see: 1. How quickly a lookout can spot a mirror flash; 2. How accurate a lookout can pinpoint the crews location, and; 3. How the mirror flash can be used to help the lookout guide the fire crew to the wildfire.

They also got an extra today: how to conduct operations - uninterrupted - with a radio failure. My lookout radio failed, so we went to a tactical frequency with me using my hand-held unit (walkie-talkie). Seamless!

I drove in to Bend after the mirror flash exercise. Monday and Tuesday are my days off. The fire crew just happened to catch me in the tower before I left for Bend, so I donated about 45 minutes of my time to the taxpayers (guilty about the fishing on your nickles last week!).

Here are some more photos from yesterday and today.


I may have posted this vista last night


Sunset last night (China Hat Butte in the near ground)


The Three Sisters finally show up this morning!


Nick


The high desert open-range along the FS-25 road


I love this fence! It would have been a great composition subject for my Digital 101 course in the winter: leading lines.


Same fence, but for the desert's Spring colors.

Ah, great pictures! I envy you the variety of scenery...

High desert, the Three Sisters, the forest...wonderful! And that sunset...*sigh*

We're having our "normal" June gloom, complete with overcast skies morning and evening...

Yuck.


Your exercise sounds interesting too. Nothing like being ready for whatever comes down the pike.

Love your posts...

Keep 'em coming!


:hi:

:hi:

Awestruck...

Great job and Nick looks like he's got "friend" written all over him.
I guess your diggin' the new camera too!

This is full-frame JPEG stuff. I haven't even started shooting camera raw (which I soon will).

BTW: Spotted a bald eagle today on a nest. I'll try to get back near the spot for photos!

I can provide lat/lon or TRS, if you are interested.

and I was just wondering. More familiar with the area north of Bend.

Thank you

From the left: South Sister, Broken Top, Middle Sister, and North Sister.

Sounds like you really enjoy your job, btw. Almost makes me want to try it for a season.

Nice pics, btw :)

Nothing was ready in the lookout. I was packed up to walk out. I winged it and had them a TRS "legal" in less than two minutes!

How's the DX up there? You getting your fair share of BBQ? You know...the important things. :D

No DX yet. I left SC without the base to my vertical antennas! So I ordered a couple of end-fed wire antennas today (10 and 20 meters). I should be on the air by the end of the week.

New job(meh) and a new fiancee'. That part you can get relatively excited about. ;-)

really like them!

You should be paying us taxpayers for the opportunity of working in such a wonderful place and in such a fascinating job.

What I wouldn't give to be sitting where you're sitting now.

Had one in my punch-out survival kit back when I was playing jet jock.
Cool.

But I had no idea back then that they were so effective. I went through jungle survival school in the Philippines (Clark AFB) and sea survival school in Okinawa (Kadena AFB). We were taught how to use the mirrors, but we were never given a demonstration of how effective the flashes can be. I was looking at the fire crews' mirror flashes yesterday from over 50,000 feet away!

The F-84 would carry that extra weight? Oh, the F-84 is a ground-lovin' whore ... etc!

Really is amazing.

And count me in the Nick fan club.

How do you know when to look for the mirror flashes? Do you just sit on a heights and wait all day for them?

:hi:

eta: also the pics are wonderful, too :)