End of an Era: Loran-C

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zz0468

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LORAN C to be discontinued!

Does anyone else use LORAN C? Looks like it's the end of an era:

LORAN-C General Information - USCG Navigation Center

I've used it for years as part of a home frequency standard ensemble. Looks like maybe it's finally time to spring for that Cesium standard I've always wanted.

Anyone want an Austron LORAN C receiver? I'll let you have it cheap. :twisted:
 

zz0468

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Is anyone else going to be effected by this?

Is anyone else a bit dismayed about how quickly the Coast Guard did a 180 flip from their previous position that they were going to support and upgrade the system?

Is anyone else dismayed that we now have all our eggs in one aging basket (GPS)?
 
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ab3a

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Aviation communities fought for a while to keep LORAN as a backup in case GPS failed. There are numerous airways and instrument approaches that now rely strictly upon GPS.

I have a strong suspicion that some day we'll find ourselves re-inventing LORAN --the day after some huge solar storm destroys numerous satellites. Let's not forget what happened in 1859. It could happen again.
 

DPD1

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I agree... Way too much dependence on space technology now. If you look at the crazy stuff happening with the Chinese destroying that satellite and stuff... A complete cascade destruction of satellites from space debris is a very real possibility, and a disturbing one.
 

prcguy

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Funny, I thought the Civil War era satellites were fairly impervious to solar storms with their cast iron chassis and wooden circuit boards.

This is just a guess but I think with the constellation of GPS satellites in LEO, many would be out of the solar storm blast zone and would survive.
prcguy


I have a strong suspicion that some day we'll find ourselves re-inventing LORAN --the day after some huge solar storm destroys numerous satellites. Let's not forget what happened in 1859. It could happen again.
 

zz0468

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LOL... wooden circuit boards.

Actually, GPS satellite orbits are around 11,000 miles.

Not bad, when you consider the tiny antenna's used to receive them!
 

poltergeisty

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LORAN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was gonna say. Along with VORs and NDBs shutting down, I think they will be making a mistake.However it looks like "eLOARN" will be used. When I wonder?

I've always wanted to buy DGPS equipment for my old GPS just because. Despite the fact I could use WAAS.

To think that the ancient Egyptians built the Great Pyramid only a few inches from being square and a few minutes off from true North.

LORAN - Google Maps
 

icom1020

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I heard about the possibility of these closing and visited one last summer in George WA. Simple phone call and I was in.
 

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datainmotion

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Since we are less than 24 hrs away from this now, I thought I'd post a picture of what the signal looks like ("bricks") since we won't see it again (at least in this form). I will try to be monitoring at 2000z tomorrow and record the screen graphic of the actual termination as well.
 

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rdale

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It's still being used in Canada... It's actually affecting weather forecasting in the US, as the upperair sounding system in Albany NY has not been upgraded to GPS reporting, so they are unsuccessfully trying to still tap into Canadian LORAN for location information during ascent.
 

zz0468

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It's still being used in Canada... It's actually affecting weather forecasting in the US, as the upperair sounding system in Albany NY has not been upgraded to GPS reporting, so they are unsuccessfully trying to still tap into Canadian LORAN for location information during ascent.

This makes me wonder how many other poorly documented users of LORAN are out there, dead in the water.
 
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