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Re: Hercules



To sum it all up, then, Eureka was calling to airmen, not mariners, which
was the cause of my initial confusion. I once used LORAN, now replaced by
GPS, as an ajunct to coastal and celestial navigation. Blue water sailors
are taught to rely on such tried and true visual fixes, not on
gremlin-infested electronic systems.

poj

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Whatcott" <inet@INTELLISYS.NET>
To: <PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu>
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2001 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: Hercules


I am not surprised - my clue was very faint. Eureka was a WWII transponder
system that delayed and replied to airborne interrogations, so that a
slant
distance reading could be found by an airplane - the aerial voyager in
question.
TACAN - Tactical Air Navigation - is a military pulse system that
provides bearing and distance from a beacon. The FAA - Federal Aviation
Administration - preferred VOR - VHF Omni directional Range - an analog
bearing system instead, but used the distance finding element of TACAN as
civil DME - distance measuring equipment.

Now, the serious cost of all these navaids - VOR DME ILS (Instrument
Landing System), LORAN (Long Range Navigation), NDB (Non Directional
Beacon) is being questioned with the commercial success of the GPS -
Global Positioning System, and the Russian GloNAS which offers much the
same service; though the latter is not ostensibly threatened with loss of
precision to further our wartime needs (but certainly would be switched
off
if the circumstances warranted it, I expect.)

You will recall the sirens lured sailors onto the rocks - and in this
context, the mixed use airfield is just north of the Rock and at sea level
- familiar from the insurance company logo, which represents a view from
the north west, perhaps from Algeciras Bay.

Brian W