Height/distance measurement

Okay, you know those "real-world" problems in trig books? One popular type describes someone standing a known distance away from a tree or utility pole and using some look-through device to find the angle of elevation between their eyes and the top of the tree/pole. You then use the appropriate trig function (sine, cosine, tangent) to find distances between you, the base of the tree/pole, and the top of the tree/pole.

I want one of those angle-finding look-through devices. Nothing involving a laser or electronics, just a simple hand tool to find an angle of elevation. I was thinking this would be useful for beamshot distance measurements in outdoor field tests.

I forgot what it is called but I did find a similar cheap and easy device to make provided that you already have a large protractor avaliable


This was from a site that showed you how to find the altitude of rockets
http://iss.cet.edu/mars/o1112.xml but I think similar math applies for beam shots.

Ah ha! Now why didn't I think of that? I'll try one of those until I can find the commercially available type. I kind of would like to have something more than homebuilt. The major plus to the homebuilt kind is that it will cost very little to make.

Awesome.

Anyone know what they're commercially known as, by any chance?

It's called a Clinometer or Inclinometer. If you google it you'll find some different types out there. My Brunton Compass has a clinometer function that basically is a weighted indicator that you use while holding the compass vertically.