If you are a cruising boater and want to invest in a loranocarter+Boise Loran-C Satellite System, there are a few reasons why it might be a good idea.
LORAN is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that uses multilateration principles to determine position by noting differences in time of reception of synchronized signals from widely spaced transmitting stations, master and secondary. LORAN-C improved upon this by combining phase shift with multilateration.
1. Accurate Positioning
The accuracy of positioning provided by a loranocarter+Boise Loran-C satellite system is quite impressive. This system uses a multilateration principle to determine positions by comparing accurately-synchronized powerful radio signals originating from different reference transmitter sites. This technique requires at least three LORAN stations to be located within a certain distance, which increases the accuracy of positioning over long ranges.
Unlike Global Positioning System (GPS), a loranocarter+Boise LORAN-C receiver can also provide accurate position information at short ranges as well. This makes it a very versatile navigation solution, especially for mariners who travel in areas where GPS and other electronic systems may not be available.
However, LORAN-C is not as precise or reliable as GPS due to some limitations and the fact that it can be degraded by land features and artificial structures such as tall buildings. This can be a major factor for mariners that want to use it in inland areas.
To ensure LORAN-C signal quality, a ship’s navigation chart should include Lines of Position (LOSP) that account for these differences. The LOSP is shown on the bottom of charts and can be used to determine the boat’s exact location when the LORAN-C signal is received.
During the 1970s, many military users began to switch from the older Loran-A receivers to more accurate Loran-C ones. Eventually, this transition was complete and Loran-C became more common among civilian receivers. By the late 1970s, many of these new receivers were already the size of a stereo receiver and they quickly replaced the earlier Loran-A units in both commercial and industrial applications.
2. Fast Navigation
The loran-C system was launched in 1974 and soon became the system of choice for civilian use. Unlike the Loran-A, which was limited to 600 miles of coverage (about 970 km) off the American coast, the LORAN-C system could provide accurate navigation over long ranges, including lakes and harbors.
The LORAN-C system was organized into chains of land-based radio beacons or “stations” with one “Master” and up to five or six “Secondary” stations, each radiating a sequence of brief radio frequency pulses. A pulse group from the Master station was followed by groups of pulses from each Secondary station in precise time intervals called “group repetition intervals,” or GRIs. The pulse bursts from the Master signal were also accompanied by an additional ninth pulse burst, for identification purposes.
Using multilateration principles, a receiver compared the difference in reception times of these signals and estimated its position by determining the TDs it observed along hyperbolic curves on charts. These TDs were demarcated on the chart as lines with a distinctive color and denoted by characteristic set of symbols. Later, most Loran receivers used computer algorithms to automatically convert TDs into more commonly used coordinates, such as Lat/Lon.
In addition, the LORAN-C system is prone to interference and propagation issues in inland areas where artificial structures such as tall buildings can be a problem. As a result, LORAN-C navigation charts are not printed with TD lines that extend into inland waterway areas.
Fortunately, there is an alternative to relying on a loranocarter+Boise Loran-C satellite system: Enhanced Loran, or eLoran. This new system uses shore-based transmitters to generate hyperbolic grids similar to the original Loran-C network, but with a number of improvements including added integrity, differential corrections, navigation messages, and other features. It has been tested at a former Coast Guard base in Lower Township, N.J., and is being tested throughout the country as a back-up positioning system in case GPS fails.
3. Safe Navigation
In the 1950s, Loran-C was developed to provide long-range navigation (over 2,000 miles away) and a higher degree of accuracy than the LORAN-A system that was in use at the time. Rather than requiring a receiver that could be installed in a single location, the new system used chains of transmitting stations several hundred miles apart to transmit radio pulses at precise time intervals. These pulses were then decoded and plotted on a LORAN chart, which provided mariners with accurate positions within a few hundreds of feet.
LORAN-C signals travel primarily through the air, but also over seawater. The propagation delay through the air is known as primary phase factor (PF), and the propagation delay over seawater is called secondary phase factor (SF). PF and SF are well-defined, while the additional secondary factors that travel through water and terrain are less known.
To compensate for these delays, LORAN-C uses differential eLoran reference station sites to provide corrections over the Loran data channel. These corrections, together with published ASF values for the area, can help a user receiver’s TOA measurements to meet eLoran accuracy requirements.
For instance, differential eLoran reference stations provide better than 10-meter positioning accuracy along the English and Scottish east coasts at seven ports and port approaches. This level of precision is achieved by measuring the difference in time between the first and second synchronized pulses received at each master transmitter in a chain of transmitters and the last pulse of the same group from a different secondary transmitter.
These systems are able to provide safe navigation when GPS is down, which is important for many navigation applications. This is especially true for navigation to and from ports, as well as for the safe movement of large vessels in or out of harbors. This is because eLoran’s signals can penetrate buildings and foliage, making it an ideal solution for these applications.
4. Remote Readouts
Top Reasons to Invest in a Loranocarter+Boise
A loranocarter+Boise is a marine radio receiver that is used to receive and process the signals from a loran-C satellite system. These signals are transmitted within the frequency range of 90 to 110 kHz, peaking at 100 kHz. A loran-C receiver must cover this frequency range to ensure accurate navigation, which may require several transmitters.
In addition to receiving the LORAN-C signal, your receiver must be able to process it to obtain accurate readings of the time difference. This is necessary to determine your position from Loran, which is used to plot your position as a line on a chart.
When selecting a receiver, you should consider a number of factors such as the display, the number of secondaries tracked, and the accuracy of the receiver’s directional antenna (antenna). You also need to consider how frequently the receiver updates the time differences.
Another factor is the level of noise that a receiver can tolerate, which is determined by the receiver’s frequency range. The higher the level of noise, the more difficult the receiver will be to read the time difference.
Some loran-C receivers use notch filters, which reduce the effect of ground waves, or signals that travel directly from transmitter to receiver. However, these filters can interfere with the receiver’s ability to process the signals from other sources, such as satellite navigation systems.
Additionally, a receiver’s frequency range may not be broad enough to receive the strongest Loran-C signals from multiple stations, so you need a converter or combination receiver if your location has strong Loran-C transmissions.
A final consideration is the presence of sky waves, which can interfere with your envelope time-difference measurement. These signals, which travel from a Loran-C transmitter to the receiver later than ground waves, can make the measurement confusing or even impossible. This is a problem that will soon be addressed by a new eLoran positioning system.
5. Easy Maintenance
Loran-C (also known as enhanced Loran or eLoran) is an alternative to GPS. It uses two-dimensional low-frequency signals that don’t provide altitude data but are 1.3 million times stronger than GPS. Because they are so strong, they’re less susceptible to spoofing or jamming than conventional GPS. They’re also more effective at pinpointing your position because they’re not affected by the ionosphere’s reaction to sunrise and sunset.
In the United States, Loran-C was the most common navigation system until it shut down in 2010. Today’s eLoran transmitter site equipment is smaller, lighter, requires less input power and generates significantly less waste heat than older Loran-C stations. In addition, eLoran is more secure than traditional GPS systems due to the additional information that it provides to receivers. This includes things like an emergency ID, health data and even information about how you’re feeling. You can learn more about eLoran and its benefits on the SafeNavigation website. If you’re considering using a navigation system, you should definitely consider a loranocarter+Boise Loran-C satellite system to help you find your way safely.
