AUNV-TEMPORARY-FORUM
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The Australian Night Vision Forums was a project started by David Kitson, which began following progress on DIY night vision for home use, and followed on to making professional equipment and conducting amateur night vision research. The author is an independent night vision research living in Western Australia, who does this work in their spare time. Although it was originally possible to obtain a log in, and gain access to other information, access to this site is now controlled and logins for foreign persons, or foreign (non-Australian) persons not co-working on night vision projects under permit by the Deparment of Defence is no longer permitted.
This website doesn't get updated all that often, but the information available publicly through this site is not controlled and much of it resides in the public domain.
David Kitson is an independent night vision researcher. You can get in contact with him via sending email to davidk (at) blackice.com.au
Welcome to the Australian Night Vision Forums.
FAQ.
Q. How do I get a username and password?
A. Usernames are no longer permitted on this forum.
Q. What software do you use for this forum?
A. Writers' Forum. It's proprietary.
Q. I'm not from Australia. Can I join?
A. All are welcome to read here. As for public forums, I chat regularly on the AR15 night vision forums. Go to AR15.com and look for Night Vision under the "Armory" heading. It's near the bottom of the page. Log in there ( access is free ) and chat to me and other experts. It may seem like a strange sub-forum on a weapons site, but it does represent the key technical night vision discussion forum in the world. I post under the name "cj7hawk"
Q. Can you build a NV for me?
A. Sorry. Unless you want me to design one for you, and you're looking to manufacture, I probably can't help you - There are, however, many resources on this site that will help you achieve that goal. I have also listed a number of night vision supplied throughout Australia on my front page.
guest at 11:44:25 04-16-2010
Hey whats up all, Im interested in joining your group, so I can learn to build my own night vision scope so I can adapt it to a camera. I like watching the night skies, I live in the mountains by lake Tahoe California. I look forward to hearing from you,Regards Rall
Hi Rall, I've sent you an email - Happy to help. David.
guest at 14:15:49 04-26-2010
hi i am a newbie to night vision and got a link to your web site , And i am very interested in the cascade home build, And very interested in joining your forum, the pictures from the build them selves look very good..
Thankyou - I hope they helped :) The forum is in Beta and doesn't support members yet, but you can still view it. David.
guest at 19:57:27 05-24-2010
Hey nice site i live in NSW close to a army range that do training for the RAAF and i want to see the beams from the FA-18s LITENING targeting pod and the IR Strobes that the personal use on the ground.
Ok thanks if u could get back to me on -email deleted-
Hi JS, Thanks - Unfortunately, I don't know much about the targeting pod on F18's or the strobes they use. If they are InfraRed, you can see a lot with any NV scope - even a Gen1 scope will do quite well and the cascade scopes can be used to see detail. If the targeting pods are NIR or close to MWIR, you'd need to find Gen0 Night Vision ( Still floating around in Australia after a company sold a lot during the 90s - mostly in PVC piping ) since it's the only NV that can see above 1000nm and up to 1500nm easily. Digital is next with good response to 1100nm. Normal night vision only works around 960nm and lower. David.
guest at 11:19:29 06-13-2010
Hi I am new to night vision and I heard this is the home of the PVS-514. I am also told this is the only true Aussie made night vision device. Is this true ?!
Night vision is very cool and I am here to learn all I can !! :)
Is ATN night vision really that bad or is that guy over in the US that rags on them all the time just plain nuts ??
Thanks for your help and great site !
Hi, thanks for your comments. The PVS-514 is a friendly "inside joke" within the night vision community. Yes, it is a real scope, but it's more just a way to turn a PVS-5 into a PVS-14 lookalike that works and functions well. You can see how to make one in the projects area. I am, however, the only person currently designing original night vision equipment in Australia that I know of, however there are other devices that were designed and made here. A company in Victoria used to make their own designs ( which were very good ). The Military here use an Israeli scope - the Mini N SEAS. It may be manufactured here under license, but I don't know. ATN does seem to be a frequent subject on the International NV forums, in part due to customer service issues and part due to their products, with a lot of their customers venting anger about their problems but I can only observe the situation as I don't have any ATN equipment - excepting an ATN Gen1 scope. I know the "guy" you are mentioning and he will explain his position on ATN to anyone who asks. He's actually quite an experienced user with deep knowledge of high-end NV equipment. What I can say, is that I've seen their catalog and many of the NV images appear to be "photoshopped" which certainly seems misleading and would probably be illegal in Australia. That's a shame, because it's not that difficult to take real pictures and include details of the conditions under which they were taken. It also wouldn't help ATNs reputation at all that some of their pictures look to be faked.