USA Coastguard to stop monitoring 2182 and 2187.5

[lenseman]

On 01 AUG 2013 the US Coast guard will terminate radio guard of the International voice distress, safety and calling frequency 2182 kHz and the International DSC distress frequency 2187.5 kHz.

Maritime information and weather broadcasts on 2670 kHz will terminate concurrently. Watchkeeping continues on existing voice and DSC frequencies in the 4/6/8/12 MHz bands as described on the US. Coastguard navigation centre website.







.

[John A]

They did this after extensive review and notification inviting comments and discussion for at least three years. I would expect that this was done with the knowledge and consent of the ICC.

It is my understanding that one can no longer use Morse code to contact the USCG either..

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by John A

They did this after extensive review and notification inviting comments and discussion for at least three years. I would expect that this was done with the knowledge and consent of the ICC.

It is my understanding that one can no longer use Morse code to contact the USCG either..

Another nail in the coffin for MF

Dave

[John A]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Another nail in the coffin for MF

Dave

This whole 21st century thing is a bummer.

Does the USCG still maintain the Loran system?.

[Tx J]

Originally Posted by John A

This whole 21st century thing is a bummer.

Does the USCG still maintain the Loran system?.

No, the US LORAN-C system was shut down beginning in February 2010, the Canadians followed in August 2010. A few others may still be operating (Russia?).

A lot of us were mighty ticked off since this action stranded a lot of expensive, useful LORAN equipment. Even if you got your stuff used on eBay it wasn't that cheap before shutdown, utterly worthless now. And I say that as an EE-rtd who has thought of a re-purpose of it: no way, no how. Few obsoleted devices are as completely useless as LORAN receivers are without those Coast Guard transmitters.

The system fell victim to a lot of political budgetary shenanigans in Congress. I suspect that losses incurred with the "Deepwater" fleet renewal program may have contributed to the sacrifice of LORAN ( Integrated Deepwater System Program - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Deepwater (IDSP) was a massively expensive f-up: politics, corruption, incompetence, etc.).

Prior to the relatively swift shutdown order process, system R&D investments were made to actually enhance operation of LORAN (as eLoran) and these improvements were progressing as a viable alternate to GPS/othersatnav systems (see Wiki link below).

Simply put, this is just one example of how having our Coast Guard entangled in the Department of 'Homeland Security', and expending more than half its budget on the so-called "War on Drugs" (longest, most expensive, losingest 'War' ever), negatively affects the Guards' traditional missions (and I have offspring serving active CG, so my cynical views are my own objective ones only).

LORAN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"
In November 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that the LORAN-C stations under its control would be closed down for budgetary reasons after January 4, 2010 provided the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security certified that LORAN is not needed as a backup for GPS.[19]
On 7 January 2010, Homeland Security published a notice of the permanent discontinuation of LORAN-C operation. Effective 2000 UTC 8 February 2010, the United States Coast Guard terminated all operation and broadcast of LORAN-C signals in the USA. The U.S. Coast Guard transmission of the Russian American CHAYKA signal was terminated on 1 August 2010. The transmission of Canadian LORAN-C signals was terminated on 3 August 2010.[20] "

[Capt Phil]

This is just a recent example of the insanity of placing what was once an accurate and very inexpensive maritime navigation system in the hands of politicos from Kansas who wouldn't know an oar if it was shoved up their ass!
Having the USCG under the direction of DHS is like having NASA run by Burger King... we are getting the same result.
The professional USCG types I know lament the loss of such a cheap to run and almost infallible system like LORAN. These men and women are the most dedicated, hard working group of folks in the government and to have them waste some much of their time in useless and nonproductive endeavors really chaps me! Phil

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

This is just a recent example of the insanity of placing what was once an accurate and very inexpensive maritime navigation system in the hands of politicos from Kansas who wouldn't know an oar if it was shoved up their ass!
Having the USCG under the direction of DHS is like having NASA run by Burger King... we are getting the same result.
The professional USCG types I know lament the loss of such a cheap to run and almost infallible system like LORAN. These men and women are the most dedicated, hard working group of folks in the government and to have them waste some much of their time in useless and nonproductive endeavors really chaps me! Phil

Not trying to be a jerk, but why would anyone use loran compared to even a cheap handheld gps ? The system maintenance seems like a rather low priority use of tax payer dollars.

[markpierce]

Anyone heard of GPS? ... I'm sure few will mourn the obsolescence of my 2GB digital camera. Shouldn't it be the same for your Loran?

[Tx J]

@ Phil- Heheh, "having NASA run by Burger King"; I tried to avoid ranting on the topic but we're sailing the same course (like that AC72 that pitchpoled I guess).

@ rebel heart- Most of us used both systems. LORAN has some technical strengths, served as a backup/match to GPS, etc. Plus I used the dang Raymondville LORAN tower as a land nav bearing point sometimes ;] .

@ markpierce- Apples to oranges comparison, used both at the same time.
I have a whole range of cameras too, most still usable (EG: the lower res are fine for some uses), but LORAN is deader than dead. If you still have, say, 8track/cassettes/beta video/etc, they're still usable to a degree. Not so for LORAN stuff, apart from reusing some coax or power wire it's $kaput$.

Now, if they kill the DGPS beacons I'll really, really be PO'ed.

[John A]

When I started in sailboats I used Loran because that's all there was. On the West coast, it was accurate out to about 600 miles, beyond that the earth curved to much From San Diego south there was no Loran.

Loran uses three radio signals from 3 different radio transmitting stations. The primary station was located on a mountain near Felon, Nev, and the secondary stations were from locations along the Pacific Coast. You had to change the frequency of the secondary stations as you traveled up and down the coast. The Loran unit would display the time that it took radio waves from the three stations to arrive at your boat. The signal was then converted to Lat/Lon which you then used with a paper chart.

Before Loran there was Radio Direction Finders, which worked if you could find a am/fm station..

Before GPS there was satellite navigation, which was nothing more than a electronic sextant.

Keep those conspiracy theory's coming!.

[rebel heart]

For the Loran issue, it cost ~$35 million a year to operate it. The HH60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter costs $17 million, so that's two extra choppers a year they could buy.

I'd rather have the extra Jayhawks buzzing around.

[bobconnie]

When both US and Canadian LORAN stations were working, useing them in to navigate PNW waters was way better then almost all GPS plotters today ! I had NorthStar unit for a while and it was dead on in all the areas from Seattle to Nome ! Just my 2 cents

[CPseudonym]

Got rid of the 25" Zenith for a 47" Vizio a few years back, technology is great folks.

Welcome to 2013

We don't sound depths with a lead line anymore either in this century.

[John A]

My first college data processing (IT) course thought me how to wire boards for a accounting machine.

The first computer I operated had a memory of 16k.. The first computer I programmed on had 64k.

Times change.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by John A

They did this after extensive review and notification inviting comments and discussion for at least three years. I would expect that this was done with the knowledge and consent of the ICC.

It is my understanding that one can no longer use Morse code to contact the USCG either..

I can understand dropping Morse, but what difference does it make to guard four rather than five frequencies in MF/HF? I understand 2182 is theoretically the least useful of them, but it's also the traditional main distress frequency.