Improvised Night Vision

Improvised Night Vision
If you’re anything like me, you either have night vision or want it; for all of the usual reasons. Whether you have Gen 3 filmless dual tubes, low budget digital, or nothing at all: we’re all know that a lot of bad things happen when it’s dark outside. NVG is a super power that you can buy, and it’s becoming much more common for both civilians as well as state level actors. Potentially hostile dudes with glowing eyes who can magically see in the dark raises some interesting personal security concerns. I’ve been thinking about this problem a lot so let’s discuss some ideas surrounding this topic. FYI, I’m just a random dude on the internet and this is all obviously airsoft LARPing mil-sim anyway. My goal here is to think outside the box and conduct an interesting thought experiment.

Disclaimer: This video is hypothetical airsoft LARPing tactics for defending hotpockets and chicken tendies in the basement. Equipment in this video are airsoft. As it happens, airsoft replicas are a great way to get a lot more reps with your NODS. Any relation to real world tactics or events is coincidental.

This One’s For the Poors, and the Rich Guys too

Whenever I make a night vision video I always get comments from two camps, there’s the “just as good” crowd and the “don’t be a poor crowd.” But, for right now let’s meet in the middle. I personally have real NODs, but I don’t have enough devices to equip my entire crew in a “situation.” Some of my friends have NODs, a few have dual tubes and a small select group has backup devices to loan out in an emergency. A wider group of my circle has low budget digital devices like the Sionyx Aurora, Sightmark Wraith etc. So, if things got weird tonight and we wanted the best chance to survive, we would need to utilize “real night vision” alongside the poor-tier stuff and whatever junk we have lying around.

But even if your entire crew does have legit intensifier tubes, you can still use many of these tactics to give yourself a much-needed advantage in your next hypothetical airsoft larping mil-sim basement adventure.

Okay, let’s get started.

Use Photonic Barriers

One of the main weaknesses of low light technology involves something called photonic barriers. A photonic barrier is when you can’t see something that’s hiding in the shadows behind a bright light source. When a car’s driving toward you in the dark, you can’t see the details of the car or driver because the headlights make a photonic barrier. Photonic barriers are a big factor in low light operations. When defending a position, you could use light and shadow for concealment. If your position is already known to adversaries, for example your home, why not use active infrared illumination to create photonic barriers that help you see approaching attackers while also making it harder for those attackers to see you? This strategy will benefit you whether you’re using a cheap digital unit or a legit PVS14. Worried about grid being down? There are cheap and effective battery powered IR lights that you can recharge with USB solar. You can make a photonic barrier with infrared or visible light. Here is me with and without a photonic barrier.

Pros and cons. Be aware that some intensifier tubes have an autogate feature that mitigates some but not all of the effects of photonic barriers. It’s also true that active IR photonic barriers give your position away. Anyone with NVG would see bright lights and it may draw attention. But, an intentional photonic barrier does still force would-be attackers to approach you walking toward bright lights that are difficult to see past. Even if you have legit NODs, using an active IR photonic barrier gives you the advantage of seeing attackers from further away while you’re concealed in shadows. Furthermore, if your attackers don’t have NVG then you have an even greater advantage because they’re walking straight into flood lights and don’t even know it.

All in all, the smart use of photonic barriers for night LARPing seems like a great idea for perimeter defense of important locations that are not secret or hidden.

Don’t Body Mount Your IR Illuminators

What do high end lasers like the MAWL and cheap digital night vision have in common? The answer is they both put out a huge IR signature that gives opponents something to aim at. This means that in certain defensive situations it might be smart to use off-body IR illumination. Sure, keep a Laser Aiming Module (LAM) on your rifle, but don’t use it for observation; only deploy your LAM when ready to fire. Even if you have legit intensifier tubes, you can observe more details and see things further away if you use active IR illumination. Off body illumination also gives you all of the advantages of the afore-mentioned photonic barriers.

For the digital guys, off body IR illumination is a must in my opinion. The worst part of digital low light devices is that dudes who use it have a giant IR spotlight attached to their face and that light shines everywhere they look. If you have real NVG, you can see the light from digital NVG illuminators from a literal mile away. So, if I was forced to use a cheap digital unit I could mitigate this weakness by not mounting my illumination on my body. Then, I hide behind the photonic barrier of my off-body light source at a certain offset so that I can’t be taken out by someone simply shooting at the light. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trading in my white phosphor dual tubes for a sightmark. But, separating the illumination from my physical body does make me less of a bullet magnet… in airsoft LARPing of course.

Make Your Own Night Vision Camera

Spec ops troops fighting in the mountain caves of Afghanistan described opponents modifying things like GoPro and cellphone cameras to detect IR lights. Normal digital cameras have filters that block IR light so it doesn’t make your pictures look weird. But, these IR filters can sometimes be removed. An old GoPro can be used with a closed circuit TV as a night observation tool. This is how you get night fighting capability for $50 bucks. I bought an old GoPro camera on eBay and modified it based on some YouTube videos. FYI as a proper low light device it totally sucks, but it works for some use cases. What you need to know that military grade intensifier tubes only work if there’s a tiny amount of ambient light. For example, night vision by itself won’t work in a basement or in a cave. Additionally, if it’s super dark, like stormy and there’s no moon and deep woods, then even a PVS14 might need active IR light to be useful. We can exploit this weakness by creating passive IR sensors that detect IR light use. Then we can just take out opponents using cheap white light etc after we detect them.

A modded GoPro camera is very limited, it sees in the dark so long as you have a strong IR light. But, it can also detect other people using IR lights. A sample use case might be to put this camera in a dark hallway or cave. Then, you could see approaching enemies that are forced to use active IR. In this way, you would be warned that enemies using night vision were approaching. In summary, you can use poverty-tier junk to eliminate the advantages of 10 grand of kit in certain defensive scenarios.

Chokepoints and Environment

Defending in 360 degrees is very difficult. The solution is to use what’s called a chokepoint, where would-be attackers are forced to attack from one predictable direction. Then, just like in Call of Duty we just camp out and wait for the bad guys. Bridges, boat docks, mountain passes etc are all large scale choke points. For small unit tactics, man made obstacles like stairwells, gates and doors can all be chokepoints. The physical environment has chokepoints in the form of cliffs, bodies of water and natural vegetation. We can influence chokepoints via landscaping, building design, fences, gates and our tactics. The limitations of low light technology make chokepoints even more interesting after sunset. Running around at night is more difficult than moving in the daytime, even with good quality dual tubes. Your NVG have limited field of view and you also have a limited focus range. This means that things up close appear blurry. Heavy brush, trees and rough terrain are much harder to quickly and quietly cross, even with night vision.

The previous example of deploying a cheap modded GoPro set up on a staircase is a perfect example of using a chokepoint. Combining natural and artificial chokepoints in your environment can lead to big advantages and help make up for limited equipment and defenders. A chokepoint can be as simple as where the cars are parked in the driveway or how you do your landscaping. Stairs and hallways are perfect man-made chokepoints. Stairs give you a double advantage of both the high ground and a choke point. For exterior chokepoints, your landscaping makes a huge difference. My wife would be very angry if I surrounded my entire property in razor wire. But, if I just don’t “get around to” cutting back certain blackberry bushes I can make attackers almost guaranteed to come at me from a certain direction. Trust me, 8 foot high blackberries would be very hard to quickly and quietly get through in the day or night. In ww2, the French “Hedgerows” created huge problems for Allied troops shortly after D-Day. If I’m outnumbered in an airsoft LARPing adventure, I can make my resources go further with chokepoints and my property landscaping to my advantage.

It sounds simple, but everything from home design to landscaping can greatly influence your outcome.

Night Vision is Everywhere

Closed circuit trail cams, cheap modded digital cameras, security cameras and even baby monitors are all IR capable devices. Security cameras and baby monitors are the most interesting when it comes to cheap and easy night detection. A lot of these devices can be run off of batteries that can be recharged with USB solar devices. These devices will never replace a PVS14, but you can deploy them judiciously to defend a static position. If your low light defense budget is a few hundred bucks you might be able to rig something up. Another benefit to these devices is that they use IR flood lights which also double as photonic barriers for you to hide behind. Example, you have security cameras on the outside of your house and use a Sionyx Aurora to scan from inside behind the photonic barrier created by the IR cameras pointed outward. Watch out for interior cameras because those will light up your position on the inside.

No, a baby cam connected to your wifi is not spec ops gear, but it would be some level of improvised night vision if used creatively. Aside from these devices not being head mounted, the biggest consideration is power supply. But, many of these devices are now battery powered and could be useful in certain scenarios.

Cheap Handheld Thermal

People ask me what kind of night vision is best for under 500 or a thousand bucks. My answer is to save more money and sell a spare rifle. But, another answer may also be to get an affordable low end thermal device. These days a handheld thermal would give you the ability to scan your environment for heat signatures. Depending on the situation, you could then interdict the intruders with a white light and take whatever action is needed. With a thermal device, it would be really hard for the baddies to sneak up on you. And, while high end thermal costs as much as NODs, there’s handheld stuff that works and is reasonably priced.

For under a grand, I’d rather have thermal than a cheap digital IR device. The biggest weakness of thermal is lack of battery life. But, many units allow you to piggyback on an external battery pack. Low end thermal may also not help you see who it is either, but at least you’ll know there’s a warm-bodied creature in your area. Thermal also can’t see through windows like night vision so that’s also a weakness. BTW, thermal won’t help you detect reptilian lizard people, so there’s that too.

Tape Over Everything

There are dozens of tiny useless light sources inside your home that make it easier for attackers using intensifier tubes to see you. The clock displays from your oven and microwave are enough for me to spot someone inside of a house. Smoke alarms, home stereos, monitors, TV screens and your stupid smart phone all put out useful amounts of light so night vision attackers can tell where you’re at while they hide in the bushes outside.

The solution is to get more serious about your light discipline inside the home and USE PHOTONIC BARRIERS. Use black electrical tape and cover up all of those useless LED light sources inside your home. Also, curtains and blinds are also a good idea.

Dogs!

In my videos, I often show me walking the dog at night. I’m using NODs but the dog is just running around having fun. The dog can see better than me, hear better than me and smell better than me. Using dogs to patrol your perimeter is a great way to make life harder for attacking goons. With my background in martial arts, I have a pretty good chance of defending against an attacking dog during the day. But, I’d have a much harder time defending against a dog attack at night. Under NODs, I have a very limited field of view and things up close are blurry. This means that my own dog can run circles around me at night even though I’m wearing tubes. In summary, a dog with bad intention could give me an unplanned respawn at night.

For this reason, probably the single best improvised night vision device could be guard dogs. Maybe this is why certain agencies shoot them so much.

You CAN afford Night Vision

A lot of the guys who say they can’t afford night vision have 10 or more guns. If that’s you, you can afford them, you just don’t want to make the sacrifices. Those who don’t have NODS are usually unwilling to sell a rifle or two so they can afford them. The others are younger and need to prioritize saving some money. I didn’t make much money when I was in my 20’s, but if I took the money I spent at the bar, on weed, cigarettes and on race cars and had saved it, I could have had NVG with some patience. By the grace of God, I quit drinking, smoking and drugs over a decade ago and now I have some kit here and there. In my early twenties, I used to spend about $500 per month on smoking and bar tabs. In a year that’s 6 grand, which is enough for a legit night fighting setup. Ask Jesus to help you quit all the stupid stuff and in one year you’ll have way nicer toys.

If you already make good money and have some nice guns, sell a gun. If you’re broke, seriously examine how many of your expenses are wants versus needs and cut out booze, junk food and fast food, smokes, drugs, Netflix etc. Especially if you’re single and don’t have kids, it’s really fun to live a Spartan, minimalist life where you work out, train martial arts, train with firearms while learning and reading books every day. Over time, you’ll develop a confident mindset that girls will naturally find attractive.

Closing Remarks

Getting legit NVG has been an amazing adventure for me. I highly recommend you get some for yourself. But, whether you do or don’t have night vision, you can use the ideas in this video to make yourself a lot more ready for some airsoft mil-sim LARPing than you were before.