stumblingthunder

All the pictures I have seen of Jersey Skiffs racing had the boats airborne at very strange angles: Looks like a lot of fun! - Stumbling

I was perusing the listing pictures and it has the distinct look of heading to the zombie anchorage. First and foremost, the Volvo MD6a, only fit to be the leading weight for a mooring. Everything else looks tired and in need of attention. Who knows what rot lurks in her heart and bones. I am impressed by the look of the vintage sailing instruments and the pressurized diesel/Kero heating stove. - Stumbling

I did some research and I do not think that there currently any celestial navigation training in the USAF. One gentleman indicated that the last time he shot sights for navigation was in a C-130 in the 1990s and it was more to just keep practice. He has been long retired from the military. The USAF did have some automated celestial/inertial navigation systems in certain aircraft during the late cold war: i.e. SR-71, RC-135 and a few others: https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/nortronics-nas-14v2-astroinertial-navigation-system The picture of the device is from the Smithsonian, which gives you an inkling that it is no longer in use. There are articles that indicate research is being done to make a modern version of this for both aircraft and surface vessels. The main reason I am aware of all of this is from my father, who was a Navigation Officer in the USAF in the 50's. - Stumbling

This must be the smaller progenitor of the Hobie Monocat: What comes around, keeps going around. - Stumbling

I am sorry that my bringing it up caused a hypertension reaction! Were you a customer or an investor? - Stumbling

Was touching on this subject over in this thread in Cruising Anarchy: Does not take much radio power to jam GPS signals, and with computing power, a false signal can be broadcast and really cause mayhem in an area. - Stumbling

We are glad to move along some of the weather that we have been having in the past few weeks to the Northern Gulf. A number of rivers in the Tampa Bay area are at flood stage or just below from all of the moisture that has been pumping in from the Caribbean. - Stumbling

It easier for Maritime navigation to go back to more hands on navigation than the aviation folks can. Our whole commercial infrastructure is based on GPS driven autopilots to keep aircraft accurately positioned both in altitude and lat/long on the established airways. Washington has been decommissioning the Omni/VOR radio navigation aids and is is expected to be decommissioning more than 70 beacons this year. If someone starts messing with the GPS signals inland, they could really bring air travel to a crawl. The separation between aircraft would have to be increased to compensate for the increased inaccuracy of aircraft placement, thus reducing the capacity on the airway paths. At least for the commercial and private aircraft, there are no real alternatives to GPS, as the hardware in the cockpit is not automated to do Omni/VOR navigation. Also, there is no room to add back a human navigator to handle those tasks that the pilot and co-pilot do not have the time for while flying the plane. It would also put a crimp on auto landing in bad weather conditions. I don't think that a new aircraft sextant (with an artificial horizon built in to the instrument) has been built in more than 60-70 years. There were combo aviation Loran-c/GPS navigation instruments marketed. Once eLoran is spun up, those will have to be marketed again for the aviation circles. Now, back to our regularly scheduled thread on radar reflectors... - Stumbling

One last observation. Navy brass has seen the light that GPS is not infallible, so now celestial navigation training is back in the curriculum at Annapolis since 2015/16. - Stumbling

Its become easier to spoof or jam GPS signals, and the GLOSNASS system uses a frequency that is not that far different from GPS, making it fairly easy to jam with the same setup. Galileo (EU) and Beidou (China) neither are in a production configuration nor do they have world wide coverage. Satellite navigation signals are far weaker than terrestrial loran, plus loran frequency is much lower. It takes a far larger transmitter to mess with a loran signal than doing it to GPS/GLOSNASS signals. - Stumbling

I agree, the main focus on the eloran is a backup to GPS. I was responding to RKoch that the old transmitter setup for Loran-C is long gone, therefore the old receivers are useless, except for someone gutting the electronics out of them and repurposing them for other projects. The only thing that could be 'switched back on' is an even older and spottier satellite nav system. A bonus for the eloran, is that it also can transmit differential GPS vectors embedded in the signal for reducing the circle of probability for a position. USCG was getting ready to roll that out when the previous administration canned the Loran-C system. Nobody thought that someone would have the knowhow, will and equipment to spoof or jam GPS at that time. - Stumbling

I did some research on this. The funding bill that was passed in June had I think around $170 million for eLoran, a followup to Loran-C, as a backup for navigation on the continental US. Unfortunately, it will not be backwards compatible with Loran-C. I looked at the transmitter sites that were related to GRI7980, the loran chain that supported the Southeast of the US. While the buildings were shown in Google maps as still there, the antenna towers are all removed. Some sites show the tower segments stacked up on the ground. I doubt the transmitter equipment is still in the buildings, after 8 years of being decommissioned. The Coast Guard managed the Loran-C system. Unless they put the new antennas in the exact same spots as the originals and set up the original cesium atomic clocks to manage the timing, the datums programmed in the old Loran receivers will be useless to convert TDs (time differences) to Lat/Long. Loran was great for returning to the same spot that was saved, but less than stellar about matching up to the Lat/Long on the charts. We will have to have all new Loran receivers to use the new system, once it is in place. That will probably be in at least 3 years from now, probably 5 years. It would be easier to spin up the really old Transit satellites to enable those old systems to operate than to try and get the Loran-C systems put back together, even if they still own the original transmitter properties. They are still orbiting and the last I read, running to monitor the ionosphere. All those Magnavox 4102s could then be bought off of eBay and put back in operation! Transit would have the same weaknesses as GPS to being able to be spoofed, with partial global coverage, resulting in hours between times of getting a fix. - Stumbling

So thats where the vessels from Disney Worlds 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea went when they closed the ride! - Stumbling

The Jolly Green Giant says to The Incredible Hulk: Ho, Ho, Ho! Make a wish and pull! - Stumbling

Finally, a boat that tries to be everything: Its a monohull, its a catamaran, its a spaceship, its a submarine. This looks like someone pulled it off of Johnny Quest cartoon show. The OmniCraft! I especially appreciate the keel that is so thick and deep, it houses an observation deck. - Stumbling