Help identifying this antenna?

[Michael Lynn]

Good morning all,

This is on the back of my recently purchased Hunter 23 and I'm not sure what it is. Anyone recognize? The wire from it goes into the cabin and terminates about under the step.

 

[FastOlson]

Looks like the base section of a standard LORAN antenna, but missing the rod or "whip" that used to screw into the top.

LB

 

[Michael Lynn]

Thank you I wasn't familiar with Loran. It looks like it is no longer in use in the US?

 

[dparilla]

LORAN was taken out of service in 2010. There are no plans to reinstate it, so that antenna can go away. It was a great alternative to GPS, but budget cuts and the cost for needed upgrades led to its demise.

I used it up to the end especially since it had some fantastic Chesapeake fishing locations stored by the previous owner. Plotted in both lat and long as well as LORAN TD.

 

[capejt]

Ahhh, yes.... LORAN. I remember during the early days of GPS, a buddy had LORAN on his boat. We were sailing through fog one night, navigating chiefly by LORAN. I'm not sure if it was the accuracy of his unit, or the quality of the LORAN service in the area, but I was overwhelmed by its accuracy. We were aiming for a buoy. we almost HIT it! It was just as accurate, if not more so, than my current GPS. I guess it's called progress, but I sometimes wish LORAN was still around.