Good Night, Loran

In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.

The death blow came last May when President Obama called the system obsolete, saying it is no longer needed in an age in which Global Positioning System devices are nearly ubiquitous in cars, planes and boats.

Killing Loran-C will save the government $190 million over five years, Obama said. But supporters of Loran -- including the man known as "the father of GPS" -- say the nation's increasing reliance on GPS paradoxically has increased the importance of maintaining Loran as a backup.

At 3 p.m. Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard turned off Loran signals at 19 of the 24 Loran stations. Signals remain at five stations because of agreements with Russia and Canada, but the Coast Guard expects those stations to be decommissioned by June after the United States receives verification that those countries have been notified of the change.

The five stations that temporarily remain on line are at Attu, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, and Caribou, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Shoal Cove, Alaska; and George, Washington.

- from CNN/Reuters

Clint Bradford, K6LCS

 

But...is it ham radio news??

As much as I feel personally attached to Loran-C--and the defunct OMEGA-- it doesn't have any application to ham radio. It's not Part 97 and not used in Part 97. If there IS some tie-in (example--more allocation at 160M for us?) can we be more explicit?

I respectfully and politely wish to see if we can form some consensus on what constitutes 'ham radio news'. If we wish to EXTEND 'ham news' to include matters outside of licensed ham radio, then where do we begin, and where do we end?

For example, RFglobalnet already covers this sort of stuff--allo r 'radio' and wireless--should we open up HRN to everything that is 'radio' related?

Placing the obituary of a non-ham science fiction writer is a perfect example, a while back, of just this issue. It seems to be ever-present these days.

Thoughts? Legit ones; I don't mean this as a flame and I am not looking for agreement, necessarily, either.

"Your opinion may differ".

73,
Chip W1YW

 

re: good night,Loran

I used loran for several years for navigation for my small airplane and found it very good. Sure, I later replaced it with GPS.
I hate to see it go because it WOULD make a good backup when the sun
comes back to life, possible disrupting GPS. See preceding thread.

"Ollie" k0lqk

 

Amateur use of LORAN-C

LORAN-C was usable for inland surface navigation. As an alternative to GPS it would provide good enough position information. The problem was that it was quickly eclisped by GPS which offers better information. The however to this is that if GPS is heavily degraded by solar activity LORAN-C would still be usable.

Another use, again eclisped by GPS, is frequency referencing. It was possible to create a frequency reference mangement system using LORAN-C. I worked in a metrology lab in the 1990's which used such a system. I believe I saw a homebrew system somewhere on the WWW back in the '90's.

 

you know, this just don't sound right to me
in one saying,

Researchers say, the Sun is awakening after a period of low activity, which does not bode well for a world ever more dependent on satellite navigation. The Sun's irregular activity can wreak havoc with the weak sat-nav signals we use. The last time the Sun reached a peak in activity, satellite navigation was barely a consumer product. But the Sun is on its way to another solar maximum,,,,, so our GPS's could get knocked out

and in another saying they (the gov) turned of LORAN due to obsolete and out dated technology...

so, if the new stuff fails, and the old still is off line, then your S.O.L.
is it just me that see's a problem here?

I don't get it

 

Well, certainly Obama is the most qualified person to determine if Loran is obsolete.

 

Good Night Loran-C

Would be nice to keep a back-up, of course, the only redundancy that management cares for now is Stupidity. We are dealing with a nobel piece(sic) prize winner.

Tom,K4IJA

 

W1YW poses the question, how is LORAN related to ham interests? Well, I appreciate just about any news regarding the RF spectrum. As a private pilot I have used Loran in the past and I found it interesting that the gov. turned it off. I believe that any article even loosely related to a ham' interest is worthwhile. It fills in any gaps of our knowledge in the RF spectrum. Also, most hams are inquisitive about most science related topics and they would find this of interest. Keep 'em coming.

 

Having to squeeze my 160 operations between the Loran A stations down in L.A. certainly made it relevant.

I used a synchronous blanker described in QST in the early sixties to get rid of the racket. Really worked great!

eric

 

I agree. Ham only news gets boring.

My new ISPELL checker insists on using Lorain. I prefer Vanna.

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

 

By the way...that blanker was designed by Herbert Hoover, Jr! Wish I still had the thing. Maybe Ill make a new one.

eric

 

LORAN-C is in the 100 kHz range, so has nothing to do with the 160 amateur band.

 

Thanks for the news Clint, and yes this is ham radio related news, sheesh!.

I got into ham radio in the 70's and I'll never forget the mesmerizing sounds of LORAN on 160m at night; wow did it trash the band! HF was full of all kinds of cool signals back then, it's kinda boring now.

John

 

Amazing...How vulnerable this Nation is geting...

By relying on Technology that will be neutralized by an EMP/Solar/Antisat etc,,
Just because Mr.Obama says it`s obsolete does`nt mean mean it can`t be used as abackup when all else is gone......Eat words someday when it`s too late..

Glad I know how to use a Compass...

 

Hmmm what does it have to do with Ham Radio??? Well, some of us heard strange signals on radios when young, and started to ask why and what. Some of us continued on, and made a life in electronics or communications. Some if us are just nostalgic. Me?? I'm ALL of the above. You wanted "Change", and now you're getting it. Ms. Palin asked "By the way, how's that Hopey - Changey thing going anyway?", so now we can answer I don't remember reading anything in the sign up sheet in here, as to what was designated Ham related info, or that it had to be that when posting. I am sure Obama did not make the decision himself, but one of his glorified advisers walked in with a paper, and told him it was worth having his signature on. Someone else walked in with a script for him to read, or give to the media telling why he was shutting it down. It is not worth the bickering about, but yet here I am... I will find something else a lot more worth while in a bit, but right now, it's just too cold to go outside, and enjoy the evening. Must be the same for the rest of you, or why else would you still be reading this? Now, get on 2m, find something on HF, or watch a movie with your family. Me, I'm going to go practice at Lodge tonight.
73,
Paul N5XMV...