The Loran Came Back....
- Thread starter yachtorion
- Start date
stephennoble
Active Member
Yes, I was most interested to hear that on Radio 4 this morning, then followed by desert island discs with record number two being "nina simone- my baby just cares for me" Two things that took me back to my old days....
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
Does that mean we'll all have to have another black box so that we know where we are? My pal's fishing boat has got a Loran box on it - perhaps it will start working again!
Me - I'll continue to use my handheld GPS, smartphone, paper charts and bearing compass.
Me - I'll continue to use my handheld GPS, smartphone, paper charts and bearing compass.
Birdseye
Well-Known Member
No. Its a government white elephant
" The US Coast Guard is busy decommissioning the existing eLoran infrastructure. And in Europe, the governments of Norway and France have said they will cease operations next year. Commercial companies may take up the reins, but without support from some of the biggest shipping nations, the eLoran safety net may not be around to rescue everyone. "
More taxpayers money wasted.
" The US Coast Guard is busy decommissioning the existing eLoran infrastructure. And in Europe, the governments of Norway and France have said they will cease operations next year. Commercial companies may take up the reins, but without support from some of the biggest shipping nations, the eLoran safety net may not be around to rescue everyone. "
More taxpayers money wasted.
yachtorion
Well-Known Member
Seems like a sensible option to me. It's a so much simpler and more reliable system than GPS - and cheap too in comparison. GPS is not immune to failure - this is a great safety net. I think everyone else will be re-activating their systems soon.
MASH
N/A
How is it "cheaper" than GPS when no one in Europe pays for GPS? The fact that GPS is two orders of magnitude more accurate might be a selling point too...
Plus the Ruskis have their own GPS clone, and soon Europe will too.
GPS not immune to failure? Oh. OK. So 30 odd stations are less immure to failure than two/three? I miss the logic there.
Better dig out the backstaff and water clock. All this technology's rubbish apparently.
d'uh Oh!
Plus the Ruskis have their own GPS clone, and soon Europe will too.
GPS not immune to failure? Oh. OK. So 30 odd stations are less immure to failure than two/three? I miss the logic there.
Better dig out the backstaff and water clock. All this technology's rubbish apparently.
d'uh Oh!
yachtorion
Well-Known Member
Bit harsh?
It's a lot cheaper than GPS was to build.. and we are paying for Galileo... As the article points out the failure modes of Loran are very different to GPS and GPS jamming etc (even accidental via Solar storm) is very plausible whereas Loran jamming is harder. There are good reasons for having it as a backup...
Who said anything about all tech being rubbish? Different techs have their strength and weaknesses... that's why it's good to have more than one.
I think some people just come on here for an argument
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andygc
Well-Known Member
Early last July, in Lyme Bay, we lost GPS for the day. As we were on our way from Torbay to the Exe on a fine day it didn't matter. Had we been elsewhere it could have been important. I don't know why we lost it, but I don't suppose it was because 30 satellites failed. GPS can be jammed, deliberately or by solar activity. Having a fall-back system for shipping seems sensible. That it is not as accurate as GPS can be is beside the point. An accuracy of about 100 metres is fine for normal navigation.
westernman
Well-Known Member
From http://elorantechnologies.com/eloran-technologies/
The plans are for it to be accurate enough to navigate a ship to dock in a port with no other inputs.
Otter
Well-Known Member
A fairly simple GPS jammer will knock out the GPS signal for a huge area around it. Agent of enemy plants it in a dock or on an anchored small boat and you can't direct plod to find it because their in car/patrol boat sat navs won't work
Isn't that with pseudolites?
macnorton
Well-Known Member
But your compass would still work, GPS is for backup not navigation!
andygc
Well-Known Member
Which planet are you on? Most air and marine navigation is by GPS. Compass, log and clock are the backup system. I'm perfectly capable of using traditional methods. The point of my post was that GPS can disappear when you least expect it, so upgrading Loran is a good idea for commercial shipping.
Otter
Well-Known Member
Agreed, GPS is for navigation, I only use paper charts on long passages of 40 miles plus, and occasionally for close up pilotage.
Buck Turgidson
Well-Known Member
Had great difficulty using the compass on my charter holiday this summer as I guess it hadn't been swung in a while and we were in charted areas of magnetic anomaly. Luckily we had differential GPS which remained accurate to less than the length of the boat for 7 days solid. Not surprising really but the nay sayers will never be convinced.
westernman
Well-Known Member
Why do you need GPS to be more accurate than to a couple of 100m or so?
Buck Turgidson
Well-Known Member
In my day job it's so I don't put 200 passengers into the grass.
When sailing I normally don't but when the compass is unreliable it aids close quarters navigating i.e. pilotage.
macnorton
Well-Known Member
What does the warning say on your gps when you switch it on? if your compass is wrong that's your fault! Mine is accurate!
Buck Turgidson
Well-Known Member
I think you are confusing an electronic chart plotter with GPS. But well done on your compass. Given that I was on a charter boat, how much of my holiday should I have devoted to the compass swing?
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
Both compass and gps are for navigation; commercial or leisure, whatever is best for a particular case.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
if technology allows this facility to be avaialble and accurate to a couple of feet, why not