The signalling lights at our site are located on the top deck of a double
decker bus, so you can still see then over the hump.

In the UK there are only about 3 commonly available gliding frequencies,
and some gliding clubs are not that far apart. I could well imagine trying
to launch a glider on instructions that come from another club! Also winch
launching (and speed calls) would tie up a frequency that is often
required for other purposes.

Land lines have been tried in the UK, but it has been reported that they
were chewed through by rats, rabbits, sheep and other assorted critters.
even when buried in the ground. And yes I know that the Germans have to
use this system by the decree of the LBA. How do they avoid critter
damage?

Derek C

At 10:31 12 April 2009, The Real Doctor wrote:
On 12 Apr, 07:15, Derek Copeland wrote:
If you have a winch run that is long enough (1km+) to give decent high
launches, then bats are very difficult to see from the winch, unless
they
are so big as to be unwieldy and difficult to handle in any sort of
wind.
Also the winch driver will not be able to see them if you launch over
a
hump, which we do on one of the runs at our airfield.

Indeed. In which case radio or telephone should be used.

I agree that light signals should be automated so the winch driver can
easily distinguish between 'take up slack' (slow flashes) and 'all
out' (faster flashes).

Anyone signalling to the winch should, I think, be obliged to spend
some time at the business end to see what the winch driver can see,
and appreciate what's needed and what the limitations of a particular
system are.

To give an example, I was winching at one club where the signaller had
been told (by a BGA instructor no less) to give the "all out" as a
series of fast flashes - 2 per second or thereabouts. The signalling
lamp was incandescent, which meant that the signal emerged as a
slightly fluctuating dim blur. So I interpreted it as a "stop" and cut
the power at once (ie right at the beginning of the ground run). After
a certain amount of re-education we were able to proceed in rather
greater safety.

Ian