On Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:36:53 -0800 (PST), North Star
wrote:

On Dec 15, 12:15*pm, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:54:01 -0800 (PST), North Star





wrote:
On Dec 15, 11:12*am, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:56:56 -0500, X ` Man

wrote:
How will it end? The usual way: another corporate takeover of an area
that should be tightly regulated to protect the public's interest. And
we'll all probably have to subscribe for payment to some future
commercial GPS service.

===

That seems overly pessimistic. * If there is enough grass roots
opposition, the proposal as it presently exists will be defeated.
That's why it is important that everyone write.

My best guess is that eventually Lightspeed will be forced to barter
with the FCC to get the use of some other frequencies.

I hope you are successful... what happens to you will happen to us.
Here on the coast, a good GPS can be a life saver...... *especially
now that most boaters have been spoiled and probably rely too heavily
on the service.

===

A lot of folks have forgotten what it was like "in the good old days"
when we thought we were doing OK to know our position within a mile or
so. * LORAN-C was such a huge improvement that most of us rushed out
to buy one as soon as they became affordable because that usually
improved our accuracy to plus or minus100 yards. * LORAN is gone now
because GPS was another vast improvement, and without it, we'd be back
to hand bearing compass, dead reckoning and Radio Direction Finders
(extra points awarded if you understand that). *I still have our
original RDF purchased back in the early 1970s. *It was crude but
after sailing offshore all day in the fog it was a lot better than
nothing.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Every fall or winter when I might get bored, I think about buying a
sextant and taking the Jr Navigator & Navigation courses from our
local Power & Sail Squadron
Then I realize it's probably cheaper to invest in a 2nd maping GPS and
the urge fades.

===

It's worthwhile to take the course if you're at all interested in
navigation as a science. There's no doubt however that GPS is
cheaper, easier and a lot more accurate. It's my understanding that
celestial nav is no longer being taught to naval officers. Prior to
the mid 80s no one could call themselves a serious offshore cruiser
unless they knew celestial and were halfway decent at it.