capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Yeah Im gonna stick with bit of paper and pencil. 
Astro calculations
- Thread starter davidej
- Start date
Uricanejack
Well-Known Member
It’s a point. But not the only point
I would have said the point of an observation is to confirm the electronics are working correctly.
How the observation is processed is irrelevant.
Pencil, calculator or computer.
Unfortunately my old 16 k Casio basic pocket computer no longer works. So I am back to the pencil. Excel is to complex for me.
Trying to find a calculator which is simple enough for me is a problem to.
davidej
Well-Known Member
That's what my instructor says. But my opinion is that it is more likely that the Almanac /Sight reduction tables will get wet and soggy as the eight (at the last count) GPSs on the boat all fail to work. One chartplotter, one old chartplotter left in place so as not to create a hole, a battery driven handheld Garmin, three smartphones, two tablets.
For me, it is a purely intellectual exercise. I am glad to say I seem to have de-bugged my spreadsheet.
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
Possible causes of GPS failure:
1) Lightning strike taking out your electronics. (Possible)
2) Solar flare taking out one or more GPS satellites. (Probable, one day)
3) Military GPS jamming exercises. (West of Scotland 2017 & 2018)
4) Military GPS spoofing during genuine conflict. (I was on a jack-up rig in the Med at the start of Gulf War 1. According to our GPS we were doing 17kts across the Libyan desert.)
5) Software coding errors in your GPS. (This forum has lots of examples).
6) Do you really want to be dependent on the largesse of the American Department of Defense (sic)?
1) Lightning strike taking out your electronics. (Possible)
2) Solar flare taking out one or more GPS satellites. (Probable, one day)
3) Military GPS jamming exercises. (West of Scotland 2017 & 2018)
4) Military GPS spoofing during genuine conflict. (I was on a jack-up rig in the Med at the start of Gulf War 1. According to our GPS we were doing 17kts across the Libyan desert.)
5) Software coding errors in your GPS. (This forum has lots of examples).
6) Do you really want to be dependent on the largesse of the American Department of Defense (sic)?
Uricanejack
Well-Known Member
Good for you. There is no point in trying to explain why it’s worth while going through the intellectual excersise.
Although like the story of the man with a clock knows what time it is while the man with 2 clocks doesnt. Which of the 8 GPS units is correct
One of theses days I will have to figure out how to make an excel spreadsheet. I could just get an app from an app maker. My son has an app on his phone which he just holds up and it will tell him exactly which star he is looking at. So an app to figure out a true altitude and azimuth with an I phone should obviously exist. But where would the fun be in using something I don’t understand and didn’t create.
I enjoyed writing my own basic computer program to get a commodore Vic 20 to figure out a sight. The Casio was easier because I didn’t need to convert everything into radians.
I also came up with programs for compas errors, great circles, rumb lines, ETA, distance run and slip. Just as an exercise.
Although like the story of the man with a clock knows what time it is while the man with 2 clocks doesnt. Which of the 8 GPS units is correct
One of theses days I will have to figure out how to make an excel spreadsheet. I could just get an app from an app maker. My son has an app on his phone which he just holds up and it will tell him exactly which star he is looking at. So an app to figure out a true altitude and azimuth with an I phone should obviously exist. But where would the fun be in using something I don’t understand and didn’t create.
I enjoyed writing my own basic computer program to get a commodore Vic 20 to figure out a sight. The Casio was easier because I didn’t need to convert everything into radians.
I also came up with programs for compas errors, great circles, rumb lines, ETA, distance run and slip. Just as an exercise.
davidej
Well-Known Member
Good for you. There is no point in trying to explain why it’s worth while going through the intellectual excersise.
Although like the story of the man with a clock knows what time it is while the man with 2 clocks doesnt. Which of the 8 GPS units is correct
One of theses days I will have to figure out how to make an excel spreadsheet. I could just get an app from an app maker. My son has an app on his phone which he just holds up and it will tell him exactly which star he is looking at. So an app to figure out a true altitude and azimuth with an I phone should obviously exist. But where would the fun be in using something I don’t understand and didn’t create.
I enjoyed writing my own basic computer program to get a commodore Vic 20 to figure out a sight. The Casio was easier because I didn’t need to convert everything into radians.
I also came up with programs for compas errors, great circles, rumb lines, ETA, distance run and slip. Just as an exercise.
A man after my own heart!