Tony, since the satellite cannot tell direction of the Ping, only distance, the arcs have the same distance from the plane making up a half circle. You would need to sats to hear the plane, see where the two arcs cross to determine a location.
This is the same way seismic stations locate earthquakes.
Rick - WB3CSY
Sent from Rick's iPhone 5 "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" - Albert Einstein
On Mar 16, 2014, at 12:24 PM, "Anthony Japha" ajapha@earthlink.net wrote:
Those so-called arcs that are said to be possible routes for the plane look much like the outer edge of one of the Inmarsat footprints. Is there logic behind the arcs or is it oversimplified nonsense? They are said to be the result of the signals Inmarsat received. But then why wouldn’t it be possible for the plane to be anywhere in the footprint?
I’m sure many in our group have good ideas. I’m not trying to start a discussion of the entire mystery, only this one narrow, but possibly misleading, aspect related to our hobby.
73, Tony, N2UN LM 183
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