Loran C was only accurate near the US Coast Guard stations that provided the corrections to each chain. The Correction stations were located where the lines of position crossed at near right angles. If you were near the end of the chain the errors could be in excess of 1/2 NM The use of differential Loran was popular before differential GPS which dialed out selective availability just as Loran corrections did for Loran errors. Loran was always an area navigation system. Good as it was in the center of its coverage it still only provided coastal navigation. GPS as it states is a global system you can use it anywhere in the World with good accuracy. Both of these systems were very good replacements for non-directional beacons in the 200KHz to 400KHz range that required Radio Direction Finding technology. In the 50's and 60's Fishing Vessels sailing out of Southern California could find the fishing grounds off of Guadalupe Island by using aircraft charts and Loran A signals 1H4 from San Pedro and 3H3 out of Galveston Texas on a Sky wave. Position was relative but got the fleet to the same place. Art, KC6UQH
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Howie DeFelice Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 3:03 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Good Night, Loran
Minor clarification, Loran-A was used from WW-2 until it was turned off in the 1980's I believe. The current system, Loran-C was in commercial use starting in the late 70's. When Loran-C was used for returning to a previously stored waypoint, it's accuracy was almost as good as current GPS and better than the early "dithered" commercial GPS service.
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