"vincent p. norris" wrote in message
...
Or a CD. An Oregon sheriff on search and rescue showed a group of us that
trick. He used an AOL advertising CD with the sides shaved off to make it
conveniently small (though still bigger than the usual signal mirror.)
Easy
to use, free, and much lighter than the double-glass ones usually sold
for
the purpose.

Good idea, but you need to include the hole, or make a hole, and learn
how to use that hole to aim the "flash" where you need it.

vince norris

He had a neat trick that didn't require the hole (though the CD had one.)
He held the CD in his right hand and shifted it around to aim the bright
reflection onto his left palm. He held his left thumb out to make a V of
thumb and forefinger. He moved his left hand - keeping the sunspot on his
palm by shifting the CD - until the plane was framed in the V. Then he eased
the sunspot up from his palm into the V and at the plane. The process seemed
much easier to do and remember than the mirror-and-hole business.

My husband tried it on me once. Although I wasn't expecting it - he hadn't
mentioned that he planned to signal - the very bright flash from the CD
immediately caught my attention. The repeated flickers made it very clear
that I was being signalled intentionally.

Kathy