Loran or GPS? What's your preference?

[Poida]

Mr Walrus
A GPS is also used for marking a spot as in fishing. Quite good at night.

It's a bit better than the Cornwall system of putting a mark on the side of the boat.

Poida

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Tim B

I see no advantage over GPS. I have a hand-held mapping GPS for my racing dinghy. Cost £120 and is about the same size as a mobile phone. for a larger yacht I think I'd prefer a GPS mouse (about £50) and some mapping software (prob. GPSDrive since it runs under Linux). It also has the advantage that you can set up a track-log and analyse the data on a PC.

Tim B.

Great,-- fantastic-- and later in the afternoon you could find time to do a bit of sailing.

[Poida]

Sorry Jack what was that again?

[safewalrus]

Jacks got the hiccups, happens at his age!

'Overboard hows about a generator and a radar on the top of the mast, could see for miles then!

Poida - you know about that system then? works quite well sometimes (us do 'ave problems if there's a 'y' in the day, other wise very accurate)

[smenkhare]

Originally Posted by Poida

G'day Jed

In Australia GPS is not a brand name. Here GPS stands for Global Positioning System.

We have two main brands Lowrance and Navman.
Poida

plus garmin and magellan. Both of which are extremely popular although more so garmin

[jeemboNC]

GPS systems took advantage of the evolution of Loran equipment, which uses Time Delay signals from ground based towers (arranged in 'chains') to triangulate position. Loran has pretty good repeatability - meaning it can return to an entered spot more accurately than if you enter the Lat/Lon or TD coordinates and go there. GPS is more accurate now that the DoD selectable 'dither' has been de-activated. It also has the advantage of not being affected by static charge (rain) like Loran. It does have to have a reasonably clear view of the sky (glass is okay). Loran will be de-commissioned soon, but for now it works just as always. I carry both types of navigation in my plane, in addition to the aviation-specific equipment (e.g. VORs). Add deduced reckoning and a map, and I have four means to get from A to B.

But in summary - GPS is the future and costs are continuing to decline (or capability increases at the same price).

My 2 cents.