eLORAN

[Richard O'Neill]

  Remember, no matter where you go, there you are! :-\


On 10/31/2014 12:20 PM, fgentges at mindspring.com wrote:
> Joe,
>
> The original LORAN system was deployed during WWII, used the 160 meter 
> band and continued for some time afterwords but was shut down and the 
> band was returned to the hams as it had been before the war.
>
> A later version was deployed on 100 kHz and is still in use in some 
> countries.  It is not a global system so they are more of a regional 
> system.  At one point the system in the US was being expanded to 
> provide stations in the mid-america so the system could be used for 
> aircraft navigation.  Then the success of GPS caused the expansion to 
> halt and later to shut down all the US transmitters. :-(
>
> I am not certain if the British eLORAN is a variant of LORAN C but I 
> suspect it is to take advantage of the installed base of receivers and 
> transmitters.  The LORAN C system works very well and modern receivers 
> use microprocessors etc. to produce a map display.
>
> The early LORAN systems both on 160 meters and 100 kHz used an 
> oscilloscope type display and required a series of special maps and 
> user skill to navigate with them.  The microprocessors made a huge 
> difference.  I got a receiver at a hamfest, put it in my car and it 
> reported latitude and longitude but no maps. A problem was that road 
> maps from the gas stations did not have latitude and longitude. 
> Instead, you needed maps from the government which did not show roads 
> very well.  Nonetheless, it was a fun system to run.
>
> Frank K0BRA
>
>
> On 10/31/2014 8:57 AM, joseph at kirtland.com wrote:
>> Are there any LORAN restrictions still in effect on 160 meters?
>>
>> Joe, N6DGY
>>
>>
>> Original email:
>> -----------------
>> From: fgentges at mindspring.com fgentges at mindspring.com
>> Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:41:33 -0400
>> To: tacos at amrad.org
>> Subject: Re: eLORAN
>>
>>
>> When I worked for the US Navy, I was the navigation policy officer and I
>> was a strong advocate of LORAN C as a backup for GPS.  We had an
>> installed base of modern LORAN C receivers on our ships and the Coast
>> Guard had the installed base of LORAN C transmitters.  All we had to do
>> was the cost of maintenance and operation, both which were not that 
>> great.
>>
>> We would hear of shutting down LORAN C from time to time but the US Navy
>> would not go along with that.
>>
>> Since that the Coast Guard decided to shut down the LORAN C transmitter
>> sites.  That was a bad policy decision.
>>
>> Now the US Navy will have to use celestial navigation as back up.  They
>> can probably do it but the loss of LORAN C makes it a speciality of a
>> limited group of naval officers trained at the Naval Academy.
>>
>> Frank K0BRA
>>
>>
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