[Milsurplus] Re:Loran C

[Bob Camp]

Hi

Our fine friends in Russia have been selling suitcase sized GPS jammers 
for quite a while now. They are fairly cheap from what I recall. I 
don't think you can take out a Loran chain with anything quite that 
small. Both GPS and Loran have similar capabilities in terms of 
operation without the master control being up and running.

Security of both systems is less than perfect. Loran has equipment you 
can smash up so you need site security. GPS has very low level signals 
so you can overpower them without a lot of gear. GPS is a US based 
system Loran is international. If I was the Chinese government I would 
be less than enthusiastic about the security of GPS.

Navigation is to important to trust to a single system. Most people 
understand this and at least the regulations reflect this. The nasty 
thing is that a lot of communications systems now rely on GPS timing. 
No timing = no system. I have yet to see a single one of them designed 
with redundancy.

So the question - have any of the list members actually *seen* one of 
the GPS jammers outside an exhibit at a show?

	Take Care!

		Bob Camp
		KB8TQ


On Oct 2, 2004, at 11:44 AM, D C Macdonald wrote:

> Sabotaging a Loran chain (or several) would be simpler
> and far less expensive than sabotaging the GPS satellites.
> Far more possible saboteurs, also.
>
> Mac, K2GKK/5
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Barry Hauser <barry at hausernet.com>
> Reply-To: Barry Hauser <barry at hausernet.com>
> To: BOEING377 at aol.com, milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Re:Loran C
> Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 10:27:43 -0400
>
> Reminds me ...
>
> A few years ago I was on a cruise and took the tour of the bridge.  The
> young officer spent quite a bit of time on the GPS system.
>
> There was an old Loran unit -- turned off.  I asked the officer about 
> it and
> he said something, like -- "Oh, that.  We don't use it anymore.  I 
> don't
> know much about it."
>
> Hopefully they'll come up with an equivalent integrated marine unit, 
> so if
> the GPS gets faulty it will automatically switch over if possible.  Or 
> at
> least it should have  have a button on the screen labeled "Help" -- not
> "Loran"   -- the kid on the bridge might not know what it means.
>
> Or is Loran kaput for maritime use?
>
> Barry
>
>
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