Not Loran but eLoran
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
The early Loran was later termed Loran A, so the later kit was Loran A/C capable of receiving both types.
Later, late 70s, Omega was introduced at VLF and with microprocessors could correct of changes in transmission speeds over different terrain and present your position as lat and long, real time position and no plotting on lattice charts.
Later, late 70s, Omega was introduced at VLF and with microprocessors could correct of changes in transmission speeds over different terrain and present your position as lat and long, real time position and no plotting on lattice charts.
Costal used Loran A on Shacklebombers and Loran A/C on the Nimrod, Mk1's anyway.
Also Shacks fitted with GEE III. Last GEE/AMES 7000 ground stations were switched off in 1971 I believe.
pm575
Also Shacks fitted with GEE III. Last GEE/AMES 7000 ground stations were switched off in 1971 I believe.
pm575
The Apollo ADL604 LORAN bolted beneath the Nav's radar was a very accurate system in GW1 but as we got the cheap version it tended to have fits of the vapours above 150 kts.
And there was no pilot display.
And all the information was displayed on a couple of lines of green LED dots.
And there was no training other than the Nav reading the 400 page manual.
And it was an utter bastard to use...
But apart from that, what have the Romans ever done for us?
And there was no pilot display.
And all the information was displayed on a couple of lines of green LED dots.
And there was no training other than the Nav reading the 400 page manual.
And it was an utter bastard to use...
But apart from that, what have the Romans ever done for us?
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I was a little late to the GW1 party; I seem to recall the primary purpose of Apollo when I was on 'ercs was to leave rude messages for the next nav on mct/cpt sorties.
Never got the hang of that either.
I could play a good game of 'find the fish' though. Still remember my first pond crossing; not realising nav screen had gone off somewhere I proceded to change chains. Having (successfully) done so said screen returned to flight deck and instructed me to change back to the original chains and then to the new ones as he hadn't observed me doing it previously. Arse.
Never got the hang of that either.
I could play a good game of 'find the fish' though. Still remember my first pond crossing; not realising nav screen had gone off somewhere I proceded to change chains. Having (successfully) done so said screen returned to flight deck and instructed me to change back to the original chains and then to the new ones as he hadn't observed me doing it previously. Arse.
Loran continued in use on the Nimrod MR2 up until - eerm mid 90's? Gave the route nav a toy to play with and tweak during those quiet momemts of boredom. On its day, it could be very good.
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@ian16th...
Sorry but Loran? Secondary Radar?? Hardly!
Loran in either its A or C variants was / is a LF Hyperbolic Radio System. Primary or secondary it had absolutely nothing to do with radar.
Prior to rejoining the civvy world it was my dubious pleasure to be one of the very few trained 2nd / 3rd line techs at RAF Sealand 30MU responsible for the servicing and repair of the ADL-21 Airborne receivers... when it was good, it was very very good... but a rogue receiver (and s/n 222 comes to mind... temperature sensitive motherboard) could be a real pig.
More info about Loran A and C available here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_navigation#LORAN-C
Superceded generally by Omega and then later by GPS...
Problem was that coverage was not worldwide IIRC
HH
This will always be so with any 'secondary' radar. The definition of secondary radar means that it is dependent upon a second piece of kit. In some cases on the ground, in others in the a/c.
Look at the MH370 thread, many people have been educated as to how the civil authorities are almost totally dependent upon the a/c side of these systems being serviceable and used correctly. No 'squawk' and the a/c was invisible!
Just about all of the primary ground based radars are in the hands of the military.
HH
This will always be so with any 'secondary' radar. The definition of secondary radar means that it is dependent upon a second piece of kit. In some cases on the ground, in others in the a/c.
Look at the MH370 thread, many people have been educated as to how the civil authorities are almost totally dependent upon the a/c side of these systems being serviceable and used correctly. No 'squawk' and the a/c was invisible!
Just about all of the primary ground based radars are in the hands of the military.
Loran in either its A or C variants was / is a LF Hyperbolic Radio System. Primary or secondary it had absolutely nothing to do with radar.
Prior to rejoining the civvy world it was my dubious pleasure to be one of the very few trained 2nd / 3rd line techs at RAF Sealand 30MU responsible for the servicing and repair of the ADL-21 Airborne receivers... when it was good, it was very very good... but a rogue receiver (and s/n 222 comes to mind... temperature sensitive motherboard) could be a real pig.
More info about Loran A and C available here...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_navigation#LORAN-C
Superceded generally by Omega and then later by GPS...
Last edited by Phalconphixer; 5th Jul 2015 at 12:52.
The decommissioning of Loran started in the US and Canada from about 2009 with many of the transmitters being turned off. However, the Europeans being a bit suspicious of the US control of GPS upgraded their chains to eLORAN. The Americans thought this was a good idea and have started to convert their existing chains to eLoran.
The advantage of eLoran over SATNAV is that the transmissions are much more powerful and less susceptible to jamming. And SATNAV GBAS enhancement can be transmitted on the eLoran signal.
Combine eLoran and GPS receivers have been available for marine use for a couple of years, and now the US Army want to buy 50,000 eLoran sets.
Loran is not dead!
The advantage of eLoran over SATNAV is that the transmissions are much more powerful and less susceptible to jamming. And SATNAV GBAS enhancement can be transmitted on the eLoran signal.
Combine eLoran and GPS receivers have been available for marine use for a couple of years, and now the US Army want to buy 50,000 eLoran sets.
Loran is not dead!
