Welcome to the NavList Message Boards.

NavList:

A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding

Compose Your Message

Message:αβγ
Message:abc
Add Images & Files
    Name or NavList Code:
    Email:
       
    Reply
    SUNSIGHT: free, open source TI-84 Plus program
    From: Rob M
    Date: 2026 Oct 12, 16:15 -0700

    Some of you may remember William Murdoch's March 1996 Cruising World
    article, with its TI-81 Sun-sight programs shoehorned into 2,259 bytes.
    I've written a modern, independent take on the same idea, called
    SUNSIGHT, for the plain monochrome TI-84 Plus, and released it open
    source (MIT):

    https://github.com/robmurray-avant/SUNSIGHT-TI84Plus

    What it does: enter date, UTC, DR position, Hs, limb, index error,
    height of eye, pressure, and temperature, and it returns intercept
    (to 0.1 NM) and azimuth — with cautions for a low Sun (below 5°),
    a Sun near the zenith (above 87°), and intercepts over 25 NM. It uses
    Meeus medium-precision solar algorithms, and I've validated it against
    USNO data (mean GHA difference 0.044' across a ten-case 2026–2036 set)
    plus the historical Cases A–D. Supported dates: 1900–2049.

    Why the TI-84 Plus: cheap second-hand, runs for ages on AAA batteries,
    no Wi-Fi, no updates, no phoning home. Its failure modes don't overlap
    with GPS or the boat's electrics, which is exactly what a backup is
    supposed to provide. And unlike Murdoch's readers, you don't key it in
    by hand — it loads via the free TI Connect CE software in a couple of
    minutes.

    I wrote up the story for my sailing club's magazine here:
    https://currents.bluewatercruising.org/article/sun-sights-without-the-almanac/

    Confession up front: liberal arts degree, no programming education; I
    built this with online tools and AI assistance, so any errors are mine
    alone. The repo includes the annotated source, test cases, and a
    standard acceptance test (Case A), and independent testing is very
    welcome — I'd genuinely like to hear where it breaks.

    Fair winds,
    Rob Murray
    SV Avant

       
    Reply
    Browse Files

    Drop Files

    NavList

    What is NavList?

    Join / Get NavList ID Code

    Name:
    (please, no nicknames or handles)
    Email:
    Do you want to receive all group messages by email?
    Yes No

    A NavList ID Code guarantees your identity in NavList posts and allows faster posting of messages.

    Retrieve a NavList ID Code

    Enter the email address associated with your NavList messages. Your NavList code will be emailed to you immediately.
    Email:

    Email Settings

    NavList ID Code:

    Custom Index

    Subject:
    Author:
    Start date: (yyyymm dd)
    End date: (yyyymm dd)

    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site
    Visit this site