Ric,
I was wondering how many photos in which you were holding the surveyor's rod were taken, and if there might be an example that would show the numbering on the rod more sharply.
I really like Jeff's idea of using the surveyor's rod and overlaying the Earhart image over the existing vega's position....very ingenius. Reading Jeff's report and viewing the images, I was looking for detail, as I usually do, but found I couldn't read all the numbering on the rod you were holding.
In this post:
http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,1793.msg39139.html#msg39139 you mention that you are some 5' 10-1/2 inches tall,...I presume barefoot. The image in which you are holding the rod next to the vega does not show the numbering very clearly above the four foot mark....I have a friend who is good at working on images help me,out of curiousity,try to determine what your height would read on the rod....he came up with about 5' 8-1/4 .....Puzzling.....see attachment.
Since a telescoping rod was used,may it have slid down unnoticed ,in upon itself ( some 2 inches)in the process of moving about the plane and in the very limited time frame you were working under, at the time Jeff captured your image, or am I looking at things incorrectly, or other, such as our attempt to estimate what your height reads on the blurred surveyor's rod is flawed?