Loran is back.
- Thread starter bendyone
- Start date
Piers
Well-known member
Memories...memories of flying BOAC Boeing 707s across the Atlantic and having to navigate using Loran (remember those ground waves, sky waves and seeing which was which on the 4" 'scope?) and the sextant that popped up through a hole in the cockpit's ceiling?
That was in the early 1970s before INS (Inertial Navigation System) was introduced.
Memories...
That was in the early 1970s before INS (Inertial Navigation System) was introduced.
Memories...
macd
Active member
Yes, more options has got to be good...like the three* simultaneous threads on this very subject. You never know when one might be down.
* Sorry, make that four.
* Sorry, make that four.
maxi77
Active member
In a submarine with a trailing wire aerial you knew you had a ground wave.
Sandy
Well-known member
Have professional navigators stopped navigating? All rather worrying.
Border Terrier
New member
As used when my avatar photograph was taken.
Ravi
Active member
Strange that that article says that eLorans is being implemented by the General Lighthouses Authority. You would think that they would know where their lighthouses are, at all times.
RAI
Well-known member
IMHO eLORAN is the last gasp of a dying system. Old LORAN receivers are being sold off on e-Bay. The new eLORAN receivers are pretty experimental and their prices unattractive.
The the only place in the world were it's going to work is around parts of the UK. GPS is global, so is GLONASS, so will be Galileo and the Chinese Beidou system too.
The the only place in the world were it's going to work is around parts of the UK. GPS is global, so is GLONASS, so will be Galileo and the Chinese Beidou system too.
Border Terrier
New member
ps. That was Loran C almost 40 years ago and the Ambrose light is no longer there.
DJE
Well-known member
I went to a GLA lecture about this a year or two ago. They are very worried about the potential for jamming of satellite systems. Land-based transmitters have much greater power and are much closer to the ships so they are harder to jam. Receiving GPS transmissions has been compared to looking for a 60W light bulb which is 1000 miles away!
Twister_Ken
Well-known member
I've been sailing so long I used to know him when he was 2nd Lieutenant Lighthouses-Authority.
RAI
Well-known member
Actually, a 12 W transmitter 12645 miles away, while sharing the same frequency with many other transmitters. It works surprisingly well.
maxi77
Active member
40 years ago it was Loran A for me, sitting in a darkened radar office peering at a 2inch 'a' scan screen