Having spent a good portion of my career in the aerospace/defense industry I have spent some time around parabolic “dish” antennas and have applied this reflective principal to my cell phone on occasions.

Years ago I participated as an Assistant Scout Master at a camp. The parents of one of the Scouts helped transport our troop members and during the week took a vacation along the nearby California coast. At the end of the week they shared this experience with me. At one point the husband needed to make a call but had trouble finding a signal. He asked himself “what would Ken do?”. He looked for a parabolic feature in the landscape and found a rock with a concave surface. He placed the phone at it’s focal point and “bingo!” was able to connect his call.

I couldn’t find a signal at my son’s place so I found a pan and put my phone inside it. Surprisingly, even without a registered signal strength bar showing I was able to connect my call and have the critical items delivered.

This parabolic effect has worked for me and you might keep it in mind if you find yourself in a similar situation. I’m sure that there are other techniques that I would love to hear about so please share your successes in the comments section below so that we may all be better prepared for this eventuality.

A dime photographed with a phone camera through a water drop

On a smaller scale, a drop of water can be used as a magnifier as well. A drop of water can be placed on a flat horizontal pane of glass that in turn can be held over a subject to be magnified. Drawing a small circle with an oily substance such as butter or grease will help contain the water drop. Alternately, you can take a piece of non-porous material like a piece of plastic or waxpaper and then using a hole punch make a small hole. By dipping your finger in some water you can transfer a water drop to the hole where it will become suspended, thus forming a lens. You can control the amount of water and thereby alter the magnification power.

As I pondered this mini-magnifier I realized that a possible application would be to use it in conjunction with my cell phone camera, both for close-up viewing and to photograph. I found a clear plastic bottle and cut out a piece. I took a hand-operated hole punch and made a hole. Then I dipped my finger in some water and transferred a drop into the hole where it was suspended. I decided that a small dime would be my subject (see photo).

Because water is liquid it will wiggle and potentially blur, especially when photographing. I found that low profile items like pens or pencils will help to brace the camera and plastic water drop holder when it’s held over the item being viewed. It is also helpful to have strong light from the side for illumination.

This “lens” may be thought of as a “life hack” rather than an emergency tool, but then, reading fine print on a map, a phone number in a directory or examination of a small cut or injury may be urgent and this may offer a solution in a pinch. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you and how you used it.