Keep those paper charts handy!
 

Now that 99% of boats in which any formal navigation occurs depend
heavily on GPS, paper charts are becoming pretty scarce. Sure, we all
keep nodding and agreeing whenever anybody reminds us to have paper
charts aboard for a backup- but pretty soon it begins to sound like
"Make sure you wear your PFD"- advice that most will agree is sound
but far fewer follow in practice.

In the news this morning, China launched a missle that flew into space
and destroyed a (Chinese) satellite. Omnious.

In any confrontation where a higher-tech country invaded a lower-tech
country, taking out the GPS system would give the defenders, more
familiar with the geography and terrain, some serious advantages. I
believe that taking out the GPS system would interfere with the
function of many of our "smart" weapons, drones, etc. Eliminating the
high tech advantages would reduce the conflict closer to a point where
the country with the greatest number of people in the army had a better
chance of winning. (oops)

So let's be careful to maintain peaceful relations with China. If we
grump 'em off too badly, our GPS system will be an early casualty.

People who laugh at me for keeping a paper chart on the chart table
immediately below my Simrad plotter will be asking me to loan them a
chart or two if we get tangled up with the Chinese. :-)

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

Chuck Gould wrote:

Now that 99% of boats in which any formal navigation occurs depend
heavily on GPS, paper charts are becoming pretty scarce. Sure, we all
keep nodding and agreeing whenever anybody reminds us to have paper
charts aboard for a backup- but pretty soon it begins to sound like
"Make sure you wear your PFD"- advice that most will agree is sound
but far fewer follow in practice.

In the news this morning, China launched a missle that flew into space
and destroyed a (Chinese) satellite. Omnious.

In any confrontation where a higher-tech country invaded a lower-tech
country, taking out the GPS system would give the defenders, more
familiar with the geography and terrain, some serious advantages. I
believe that taking out the GPS system would interfere with the
function of many of our "smart" weapons, drones, etc. Eliminating the
high tech advantages would reduce the conflict closer to a point where
the country with the greatest number of people in the army had a better
chance of winning. (oops)

Yeah, only 6 orbits, well under geosynch so 6 rockets with a payload of
small needles or ball bearings could take the lot down. Any country
with its own ICBMs could do it with no real difficulty, but it would be
an act of war so unless the US is still feeling feisty, we are *fairly*
safe


So let's be careful to maintain peaceful relations with China. If we
grump 'em off too badly, our GPS system will be an early casualty.

People who laugh at me for keeping a paper chart on the chart table
immediately below my Simrad plotter will be asking me to loan them a
chart or two if we get tangled up with the Chinese. :-)

A working Loran receiver would be worth having as backup, and a plotter
that uses an *EXTERNAL* NMEA0183 input for the GPS would be nice.

We dont run a screen based plotter on our yacht. A Yeoman plotter
http://www.yeomanuk.co.uk/
is much better at surviving the rather rugged conditions on board even
at the chart table and lets me continue to work on paper charts.

A cockpit repeater and a pre-programmed 'string' of Yeoman derived
waypoints give *most* of the advantages of a coachroof mounted plotter,
and for close in stuff, a chart in a waterproof sleeve with the intended
route drawn in and a couple of critical waypoints to *AVOID* make up for
the rest.

The Yeoman *can* be dropped back to dead reckoning mode and accepts
course, speed, set and drift. The DR position is maintained concurrently
with the GPS fix so if used, it guards against GPS 'spoofing'.

Thanks, Chuck, for the advisory. I'll make sure I have a laminated copy
of the Yeoman DR instructions onboard next season and if going further
than a coastal hop will put the sextant, a current astro almanac extract
and condensed tables onboard as well. I could use the practice.

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


Can't you use the electronic things to just view the maps, but ignore GPS
and focus on your compass instead, as you would with paper maps?

Not on most plotters that I'm familiar with. The plotter needs geo
coordinates to know which
chart to "draw" on the screen.

It would be possible to store images of charts on a PC system and bring
them up manually as needed. That's going to be far more common in the
future, now that we have the privilege to download charts directly from
NOAA. PC Nav functions that place an icon of the vessel on the screen
or automatically select the proper chart from a library based on GPS
information would be as useless as a GPS plotter if somebody took out
the satellites.

I suspect the US and maybe one or two traditionally friendly countries
have had the technology to take down a satellite for rather a while
now, but remembering that Chinese strategic planning works in decades
and generations (rather than in fiscal quarters) I remain slightly ill
at ease with the Chinese capablity to render our nav systems useless-
to say nothing of the other high tech advances becoming available to
their military. For now the Chinese plan appears to be to buy us,
rather than conquer us. :-)


I find it odd that none of the toys allow you to simply view a chart that
you've already downloaded. What a dumb omission. Let the user use the
controls to designate a chart already loaded into the toy.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


Can't you use the electronic things to just view the maps, but ignore GPS
and focus on your compass instead, as you would with paper maps?

Not on most plotters that I'm familiar with. The plotter needs geo
coordinates to know which
chart to "draw" on the screen.

It would be possible to store images of charts on a PC system and bring
them up manually as needed. That's going to be far more common in the
future, now that we have the privilege to download charts directly from
NOAA. PC Nav functions that place an icon of the vessel on the screen
or automatically select the proper chart from a library based on GPS
information would be as useless as a GPS plotter if somebody took out
the satellites.

I suspect the US and maybe one or two traditionally friendly countries
have had the technology to take down a satellite for rather a while
now, but remembering that Chinese strategic planning works in decades
and generations (rather than in fiscal quarters) I remain slightly ill
at ease with the Chinese capablity to render our nav systems useless-
to say nothing of the other high tech advances becoming available to
their military. For now the Chinese plan appears to be to buy us,
rather than conquer us. :-)



I find it odd that none of the toys allow you to simply view a chart that
you've already downloaded. What a dumb omission. Let the user use the
controls to designate a chart already loaded into the toy.


Most plotters have a DEMO MODE, its what thbey use to sell them at
boatshows. :-) The question is, which brands will work with real
downloaded charts, not the demo one of Gilligan's Island or equivalent
that many seem to come with. I know older Garmins will as I have used
the feature before when testing an autopilot alongside the dock. You
can even set course and speed to the nearest degree and knot ant they
will do DR for you. Trouble is they WILL align the corse gradually to an
active roule or goto if they are in a similar direction so you cant
trust it. as the manual says: *NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION*

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk
[at]=@, [dash]=- & [dot]=. *Warning* HTML & 32K emails -- NUL:
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Early 60's, Uffa Fox designed,
All varnished hot moulded wooden racing dinghy.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


Can't you use the electronic things to just view the maps, but ignore
GPS
and focus on your compass instead, as you would with paper maps?

Not on most plotters that I'm familiar with. The plotter needs geo
coordinates to know which
chart to "draw" on the screen.

It would be possible to store images of charts on a PC system and bring
them up manually as needed. That's going to be far more common in the
future, now that we have the privilege to download charts directly from
NOAA. PC Nav functions that place an icon of the vessel on the screen
or automatically select the proper chart from a library based on GPS
information would be as useless as a GPS plotter if somebody took out
the satellites.

I suspect the US and maybe one or two traditionally friendly countries
have had the technology to take down a satellite for rather a while
now, but remembering that Chinese strategic planning works in decades
and generations (rather than in fiscal quarters) I remain slightly ill
at ease with the Chinese capablity to render our nav systems useless-
to say nothing of the other high tech advances becoming available to
their military. For now the Chinese plan appears to be to buy us,
rather than conquer us. :-)



I find it odd that none of the toys allow you to simply view a chart that
you've already downloaded. What a dumb omission. Let the user use the
controls to designate a chart already loaded into the toy.
Most plotters have a DEMO MODE, its what thbey use to sell them at
boatshows. :-) The question is, which brands will work with real
downloaded charts, not the demo one of Gilligan's Island or equivalent
that many seem to come with. I know older Garmins will as I have used the
feature before when testing an autopilot alongside the dock. You can even
set course and speed to the nearest degree and knot ant they will do DR
for you. Trouble is they WILL align the corse gradually to an active roule
or goto if they are in a similar direction so you cant trust it. as the
manual says: *NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION*


I like paper.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

"Charlie Morgan" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:51:35 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
groups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


Can't you use the electronic things to just view the maps, but ignore
GPS
and focus on your compass instead, as you would with paper maps?

Not on most plotters that I'm familiar with. The plotter needs geo
coordinates to know which
chart to "draw" on the screen.

It would be possible to store images of charts on a PC system and bring
them up manually as needed. That's going to be far more common in the
future, now that we have the privilege to download charts directly from
NOAA. PC Nav functions that place an icon of the vessel on the screen
or automatically select the proper chart from a library based on GPS
information would be as useless as a GPS plotter if somebody took out
the satellites.

I suspect the US and maybe one or two traditionally friendly countries
have had the technology to take down a satellite for rather a while
now, but remembering that Chinese strategic planning works in decades
and generations (rather than in fiscal quarters) I remain slightly ill
at ease with the Chinese capablity to render our nav systems useless-
to say nothing of the other high tech advances becoming available to
their military. For now the Chinese plan appears to be to buy us,
rather than conquer us. :-)


I find it odd that none of the toys allow you to simply view a chart that
you've already downloaded. What a dumb omission. Let the user use the
controls to designate a chart already loaded into the toy.


I can view all of the charts on both of my Garmins without a satellite
signal. GPSMAP76s and 276c

CWM

That makes more sense. It allows for the possibility that even if the
satellites vanish, the buoys and landmarks still remain. I don't use any GPS
navigation thing on my yacht, but miraculously, I'm still able to get home
at night using sightings of 3 antenna towers, and huge string of lights on a
roller coaster at the water's edge.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

Does my placemat from Anthonys showing the whole of Puget Sound count?
I'm *sure* I could nav to Lopez with it :)
JR

Chuck Gould wrote:
Now that 99% of boats in which any formal navigation occurs depend
heavily on GPS, paper charts are becoming pretty scarce. Sure, we all
keep nodding and agreeing whenever anybody reminds us to have paper
charts aboard for a backup- but pretty soon it begins to sound like
"Make sure you wear your PFD"- advice that most will agree is sound
but far fewer follow in practice.

In the news this morning, China launched a missle that flew into space
and destroyed a (Chinese) satellite. Omnious.

In any confrontation where a higher-tech country invaded a lower-tech
country, taking out the GPS system would give the defenders, more
familiar with the geography and terrain, some serious advantages. I
believe that taking out the GPS system would interfere with the
function of many of our "smart" weapons, drones, etc. Eliminating the
high tech advantages would reduce the conflict closer to a point where
the country with the greatest number of people in the army had a better
chance of winning. (oops)

So let's be careful to maintain peaceful relations with China. If we
grump 'em off too badly, our GPS system will be an early casualty.

People who laugh at me for keeping a paper chart on the chart table
immediately below my Simrad plotter will be asking me to loan them a
chart or two if we get tangled up with the Chinese. :-)



--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
."

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 19 Jan 2007 09:30:04 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:


JoeSpareBedroom wrote:


Can't you use the electronic things to just view the maps, but ignore GPS
and focus on your compass instead, as you would with paper maps?

Not on most plotters that I'm familiar with. The plotter needs geo
coordinates to know which chart to "draw" on the screen.

Um...no?

You can pull up a chart, have zoom functions, set waypoints and have
the data handy to navigate. What it won't do is tell you where you
are and for that you need to be able to do dead reckoning. You will
need to be able to lay a course, figure set and drift, etc., which
would be handier on a paper chart, but you can certainly still use the
chart and use it.

If you can't do that on your Simrad, you need to upgrade.

With the Simrad it is possible to look at charted areas anywhere that
is on the inserted chip. What you cannot do with my unit would be to
decide to look at Chart #184XX and pull it up as a separate unit. With
PC Nav, you can get to a distinct chart from a library, but with my
plotter all the charts just "run together", and you either need to
scroll along on the screen or zoom out, select a different sector, and
then zoom back in again.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

JR North wrote:
Does my placemat from Anthonys showing the whole of Puget Sound count?
I'm *sure* I could nav to Lopez with it :)
JR


Maybe so, but once there I wouldn't want to attempt the entrance to
Fisherman Bay with an official placemat from Anthony's. :-)

Be aware that the little spot in the corner that you think is a rock is
really just a gravy stain.
The spot in the other corner that you're sure is a gravy stain? *That*
will be the rock.

Keep those paper charts handy!
 

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:

Really? That's interesting.

On my RC400 I can pick a chart, go to a menu, pick another and that's
a handheld.

And as I remember it, the C system I had on the Contender would allow
me to do the same thing.

So you're saying you had an inventory or charts sorted by offical
number, and it wasn't a PC based nav system?