Datamarine - American longevity
- Thread starter Skipper
- Start date
Our 1991 P42 has the original Autohelm ST50 set and all still work; water depth/temp, speed through the water/VMG, apparent wind speed/angle and 7000 linear drive autopilot/rudder sensor. Our 2004 Garmin 178C/Sounder is not quite as old, but remains dead on accurate. It also came with a Loran system that still works well, but it takes several minutes to acquire. Seldom use it, however.
Maybe a little off topic but concerns aging nav equipment.
Terry Cox mentioned that his Loran is still working on his boat. I thought that the Coast Guard had decommissioned all of the US coastal stations. Did some research and came up with this link: http://www.gps.gov/policy/legislation/loran-c/ . Seems that if the bill in congress is passed, the Loran E system will be used as a backup to the GPS system.
Terry Cox mentioned that his Loran is still working on his boat. I thought that the Coast Guard had decommissioned all of the US coastal stations. Did some research and came up with this link: http://www.gps.gov/policy/legislation/loran-c/ . Seems that if the bill in congress is passed, the Loran E system will be used as a backup to the GPS system.
That is interesting. Definitely start a new thread.
Too bad most don't have loran sets anymore. Although we do have WAAS-corrected GPS. Wouldn't WAAS work as a line-of-sight backup? Or is it dependent upon GPS data...
Maybe we will see GPS/Loran combo units from Garmin etc. if the law passes.
The latter. While the reference stations are clearly ground-based, WAAS ranging-deltas and QOS signaling is integrated directly into the GPS satellite transmission. If the birds don't talk WAAS offers nothing.
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