Newcomer!

[Sporting Hunter]

I am new here and new to Night Vision too - please be gentle with me!

I have an old Air Ranger with some old Russian NV on top - it is all bloody heavy and cumbersome! But it does let me see in the dark. I think it might need a focus tweek, the reticule is sharp, but even focussing the front objective doesn't give such a sharp image as it used to, or maybe it is my tired old eyes!

I have been amazed at the difference the NV makes over my old red lamp, which has served me well for at least 20 years. I am thinking of getting something that will fit on the back of my daytime outfit and make use of the decent scope. Forget about rabbit distances, we haven't had a rabbit on the farm for over 15 years. They all died out years ago, not jusdt on our farm, but for a radius of about 10 miles all around - and talking to other people up and down the country, we are not the only ones with rabbits dying out. It is shame, we liked to have them around and would never over shoot them. A brace was sufficient. We used them as a harvest and cannot understand people wanting to shoot dozens at a time....rats though, that is a different matter. There are plenty of rats about in the winter and that is what I use the Nv for. So I only need 30 yards clear visibility.

Anyone got any ideas - and I don't mean £500+ worth either! I don't care for homemade ones as I am useless at any DIY...I am only just allowed loose with a wheelbarrow, anything more complex and I am stumped.

[andybig]

Hi mate, welcome to the forum.
Its a shame you dont want to do a DIY build.
Even on a budget of £70-£80 you could buy a screen and a camera and a battery that will allow you to shoot way beyond the 30 meters you want.

You can get a screen for £14
A good camera for £30
An Ir illuminator for £15 off ebay
Plus a battery for £20
Maybe £5 for cables and connectors.

But that would knock the socks off your old scope.

[Sporting Hunter]

Thanks Andy, but what do you mount it on?Where does the lens come from and what size? What do you use for a box to store it all in?

Then you have to take into account, i tried to put a curtain rail up once...it stayed up for about 5 minutes, then it fell down and pulled a load of plaster off the wall with it.....I don't even put up a picture hook now.I have absolutely no DIY capability whatsoever. Tap washer? No thanks - I would flood the hose in all probability.

Trying to make a NV unit is for clever folks who can do more than cut the grass!

[andybig]

Its all plug and play.
If you have a look at the DIY section "Stickies" at the top of the page.

But to mount the camera behind the scope you can use a piece of pipe/tube or a plumbing fitting or spend a few more pounds and buy a DSA

[Radagast]

Your scope is almost certainly what we call Gen 1, meaning it is first generation or 1960s technology.The guts that make it work is called an image intensifier tube. These have a limited life span, 900-1500 hours on the early stuff. Exposure to bright light will reduce that life span. It sounds like your tube is starting to degrade.

Your simplest bet is to buy a similar item, but they are not cheap, the surplus is long gone and now the Gen I is new built to civilian standards:
http://www.scottcountry.co.uk/products_ ... uctID=3145
http://www.nightvisiongear.co.uk/produc ... rion4X.htm.
http://www.nvscopes.com/night%20vision% ... 20pro.html

Or you can get a dedicated digital rifle scope. These use a digital camera (like a closed circuit TV security camera) instead of an image intensifier tube:
http://dk.scottcountry.com/news_detail.asp?newsID=1151
At about 400 pounds they are cheaper, but they do need a better infrared torch than the built in one, & the mounting rings are extra so you will end up paying around 500 pounds.

A 200 yard capable home build will set you back around 200 to 250 pounds.

I suggest you have a look at Marky's videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Marky610?feature=watch
He prototypes much of the kit we use and is manufacturing a commercial unit (again a bit over 500 quid) that will bolt onto the back of a normal rifle scope.

Also Roland:
http://www.youtube.com/user/RolaidsBench
His 'plug and play' home builds are quite basic.

[Sporting Hunter]

Thank you folks. This what I have at the moment - it is big, bulky but works.



I was after something more compact, the Photon is still not much smaller than what I have, so no advantage in spending £400+ on one when all I am doing is getting more of the same! Perhaps I should just spend a little time to get it focussed properly. I didn't realise the ones that will fit on the back of a normal scope were so big - someone told me they were only about 4 inches long, so would just take up the eye relief of the scope. I think I am expecting too much from modern kit.

[Radagast]

Looks like yours is an early Dedal Gen 1 variant. Some data here:
http://designer25.narod.ru/Dedal-NV/products.html
Most home brew add on NV are around the 100 to 130mm mark, but that goes after the normal eye relief.
There are several fairly short designs:
http://www.nvscopes.com/ward-d-vision%2 ... ision.html
http://www.night-eye500.co.uk/catalog/p ... ucts_id=29
http://www.nitesite.co.uk/

[Sporting Hunter]

I had the Ranger out again last night, just to test it out again - If I focus it the image is actually pretty good. I can see a penny at 15 yards with it no problem. It is just fussy with the focussing - reading radagasts link to the Dedal page I think this is a 64mm f1.2 lens - no wonder it is focus fussy!

With the infra red loose attachment light there is virtually no glow from it. The built in one is very bright red light. Maybe that is what the rats are seeing. I shall persevere with the one I have got and use the add-on infra red illuminator and see how I get on.

Thanks for your help.

[Radagast]

The onboard infrared is probably in the 808nm bandwidth, closer to visible red than the 850nm and 940nm torches that are popular with digital night vision.
Some 1st gen. NV will see 850nm, others will not. Have a read of the discussions of the Uniquefire UF-T20 converted to 850nm IR. Its good for 200 meters with digital scopes and one of the members on here has used a lesser 850nm torch with his Gen 1 monocular to double its effective range for rabbit ID to around 60m. If you continue to have problems buy a T20 and try it, it may give you the extra illumination you need.