NavList:

Frank

Here are some comments about your lengthy post.......

In the 1970s I became interested in celestial navigation. How did it work? I purchased a vernier sextant off an ancient mariner (I still remember how he pronounced hoizon). I also visited a technical bookshop (when such things existed) and purchased volume ii of the Admiralry Manual of Navigation. But I did not understand CN.

Fast forward to the internet and phones with GPS eras. I discovered Navlist and joined the group. By asking questions and experimenting I gradually started to understand CN. I remember when I first realised that when practicing the intercept method it makes sense to make your GNSS  position your assumed position. The intercept is then your error. Anything over a few NM was ok to me. I also discovered that cooking oil is ideal for an artificial horizon.

With the internet I had access to AbeBooks and so started to buildup a book collection. Inman, Davis, Ageton, Driesenstock, Nicholls's,  Blackburne, Cloudy Weather, Hughes, Norie, Raper, various HOnns  etc. What I do not have is the book in which Lecky gives advice about lending someone a horse. I have stopped purchaing books because it is a specialist collection and I am concerned that on my demise the books will be binned.

Now to get back to your post..........

I continue to lurk in Navlist but to be honest 99% (or more)  of messages do not interest me. In many cases I do not understand them. I will continue to lurk and from time to time I may find a subject of interest. But that subject will not be how to determine position to small fractions of a MOA.

FWIIW we have just passed the Summer Solstice and an artificial horizon is not useable for much of the day (at lat 41).

David C