On Thu, 7 May 2009 10:57:09 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

I always liked the reliability of LORAN.

It was a huge step forward at the time but had serious limitations if
you used it a lot.

Loran was/is highly susceptible to interference from alternators,
ignition systems and thunderstorms - frequently resulting in total
loss of signal at inopportune times. I ended up installing a switch
to disable the alternator on one of my old sailboats so that I could
get a reliable position fix when I really needed it.

There are other issues that appear when you are too close to one of
the transmitting stations like the one on Nantucket or Jupiter,
Florida, or the geometry of the crossing LOPs was less than optimal.

Going offshore we used to lose the signals completely about 400 miles
out, not quite far enough to navigate to Bermuda.

I got a GPS as soon as they became readily available in the early '90s
and have never looked back. In 1994 the boat I was on took a near hit
from a lightening strike about 300 miles offshore. It knocked out
all of the electronics on board. We continued on to Bermuda using
nothing but my pocket GPS which I had recently purchased just before
the trip.