I'm sad

[Whiteowl]

My LORAN is gone. I've known it was coming for a long time but it still makes me sad. Not so much that I can't do without it although I used it often. But, for me, I think it is more of a symbol of the old guys that really knew their stuff when it came to boating. Over the last few years all of the guys that took me under their wing and taught me about boats have died and the demise of Loran just seems like the end of their era. I can remember when loran-c came around and shortly thereafter the cross-track steering. The first steering display we had was an add-on to a Sitex. The cross-track display sat on top of the Loran as a separate unit. I should say it was networked to the display but that term was unheard of then. The small size of the "bookshelf" Lorans was amazing. If you have really been around you will remember the Loran-A. About the size of a bread box and looking into the scope was like using the bomb sight on a B17. I only saw a few of those.It is fairly easy to calculate distance and heading using Lat/Long but when you saw someone figure distance and heading with TD's you knew you had better pay attention to what they were saying. I guess that is progress. Oh well, on to the next thing!

[wiley]

$35 million a year operation!

Any news on that E-LORAN?

[team oldschool]

Ya, Loved my Sitex.

[Drailey]

Ya, Loved my Sitex.

Say bye bye to the Studabaker, stick a fork in it, it's done!

[Whiteowl]

e-loran dies with the Loran-c. 35 million is a bunch of money but that is only a couple of days worth of GPS. There is about a Billion in the 2010 budget for GPS related items. The cost of the WAAS system is almost 100 million this year. I think it is funny that Loran, a land based radio signal, is outdated but the GPS is augmented with a land based radio signal to make it more accurate. But even with all of that, since GPS is used in so many different things, the per user cost may well be less than Loran. My wifes little garmin gets her from I-20 to I-85 around Atlanta. I don't think my beloved Sitex could do that.

[Sandy]

Whiteowl - I do remember tuning in that big old Loran A with it's CRT scope-screen and cranky tuning systems.

My 1st Loran C was a huge improvement- it was a single line ~1977 Texas Instrument TI9000 product that would sequentually display the GRI 9960 master and each W,X,Y & Z -secondaries if it received them, so if I worked fast I could copy those numbers and plot them on the paper chart and correct my course accordingly - amazing magic! http://jproc.ca/hyperbolic/loran_c_rcvr.html

With the advent of GPS and subsequent elimination of Selective Availability and addition of Differential and WAAS corrections and excellent multifunction, overlaying, wx-displaying chartplotters , I don't miss LORAN a bit. Don't look back, you'll turn to salt!!

[Whiteowl]

Katuna, the link was interesting. I never realized that Loran was being worked on in the forties and fifties. Your post brought a smile. I can't help but laugh remembering how much trouble we went to to figure out where in the **** we were. But you just can't duplicate the feeling of accomplishment when, after a couple of hours or trying, you saw the outline of the offshore wreck being burned into the "click click" paper machine. And you had better have that bouy ready to throw overboard to mark the spot. If you didn't you may not mark the wreck again. Maybe my problem is that it is too easy these days. No challenge, no fun. I guess that is why there are so many "cavemen" offshore these days.