ARRLWeb: Laser Communications

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Best of the New Ham Companion -- Selected QST articles on all aspects of ham radio--from the beginner's perspective.

Laser Communications

ARRL Technical Information Service page · TIS Menu page

Additional information on this subject and related topics can be found in back issues of QST and the following:

The ARRL UHF/Microwave Experimenter's Manual

The ARRL has an extensive catalog of books and materials related to Amateur Radio.

Articles

Note: Some of the following articles are in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To view and print these files, you'll need a copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader program. (Version 3.0 or later required). More information here.

A Laser Communications Primer -- Part 1 (2,880,281 bytes, PDF file)
QST September 1990, pp. 19-24
A tutorial on lasers and how they work.
A Laser Communications Primer -- Part 2 (2,420,832 bytes, PDF file)
QST October 1990, pp. 22-26
Make a laser communications system from a laser tag game.
Lasers and Amateur Radio (491,562 bytes, PDF file)
QEX January 1985, pp. 5-10
An introduction to lasers.
Laser Communication Range (109,004 bytes, PDF file)
QST April 1989, p. 74
Calculating the range of a laser communications system.
A Laser Transceiver for the ARRL 10-GHz-and-Up Contest (883,186 bytes, PDF file)
QEX November/December 2001, pp.11-19
An optical transceiver you can build to get on the 6500-A band

Note:

Contact information for suppliers mentioned in the above articles should first be confirmed using TIS Address Database Search.

Bibliography (Members Only)

ARRL Periodicals Index Search - This database contains the QST index from 1915 to the present and the QEX index from 1981 to the present. For QST issues from 1970 to the present, and some selected articles back to 1922 (when construction articles featuring tubes began in earnest), identifying keywords have been added to the technical articles. By entering keywords (ANTENNA) or combinations of keywords (CONSTRUCTION ANTENNA VERTICAL HF) into the Title words: field, you may create dynamic bibliographies.
Technical article KEYWORD list. Hints for more successful searching

Suggested keywords for more articles like the ones on this page are: LASER

Web Links:

N6IZW/W6VR Laser QSO
Carrying voice over a 'RED POINTER' laser beam
Edmund Scientific Co.
Source for lasers.
K3PGP Experimenter's Corner
Laser construction projects.
Amateur Radio Laser Communications
LASER DXing Advice from KB2TCQ
14 Watt Argon-ion LASER at KB2TCQ
Laser Communications

Article Reprints:

Note: Reprints are available from the Technical Department Secretary, ARRL, 225 Main Street, Newington, CT 06111. Article copies must be prepaid $3 for ARRL Members, $5 for non-members. You may order by telephone (860-594-0200) and pay by credit card. Reprints can only be sent by mail and cannot be sent by or attached to e-mail.

This information was prepared as a membership service by the American Radio Relay League, Inc., Technical Information Service, 225 Main St., Newington, CT 06111 (860) 594-0214. Email: tis@arrl.org (Internet). ARRL HQ is glad to provide this information on the Web free of charge as a service to League members and affiliated clubs.

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