NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Nav-L Survey Results
From: Dan Hogan
Date: 2001 Jun 13, 6:43 AM
From: Dan Hogan
Date: 2001 Jun 13, 6:43 AM
All: This is the survey result. As you would expect those with more experience or a technical interest in navigation tend to use more than one method. There was not enough response to make any significant analysis. A couple of people replied twice. I included any new material in their survey replies. So take a look and lets create some discussion. Dead Reckoning - Just about all the Sailings are used, both calculated and in tables. Sight Reduction - Also no clear favorite method, other than the trend toward electronic calculation. Plotting - The big favorite seems to be the Universal Plotting Sheets. Bowditch - 1995 Edition is a major reference, probably because of its low cost and availability. Commercial Almanac- Is a favorite probably for low cost. Which is why I use it. Next popular is computer program generated almanacs. Members: 182 Survey Response: 21 Percentage: 11.5% *************************************************** Navigation-L Survey a) Dead Reckoning What is the method used most? Mid-Latitude-----: 7 Mercator Sailing-: 7 Rhumb Line-------: 8 Other(Name?)-----: 2 Great Circle, 1 Cockpit Plotter, 1 Trig Tables 1 Bowditch Tables, 1 Traverse Table, 1 Navigator Lt., 1 D = T x S, 1 Nories Tables b) Sight Reduction Which is your primary Sight reduction method? Computer Program(Name?)--------: 2 self design, 1 Navig96b, 1 Spreadsheet 2 Navigator Lt., 1 The Cap'n, 1 Sightmaster III Calculator(Name?)--------------: 4 HP-48, 4 Scientific, 1 StarPilot, 1 non-programmable, 1 HP38 Short Navigation Tables H.O. 211 etc.(Name?)-------: 6 211, 1 208, 1 Air Tables(?) Standard (Inspection) Navigation Tables 229, 214 etc.(Name?)-------: 3 229, 1 214, 1 229, 1 229 SmallBoat, 4 249, 1 ABC Tables Other(Name?)-------------------: 1 Nautical Almanac Tables, 1 Lunars, 1 cosine-haversine c) Plotting How do you do your plotting? Computer Program(Name?)---: 1 Self Design, 1 Navig96b, 1 xfig, 1 Davis Astro Navigator, 1 The Cap'n Universal Plotting Sheets-: 8 Manoeuvring Board---------: 4 Radar Plotting Sheets-----: 1 Home Made(Describe)-------: 3 Lined Paper, 1 QED d) Navigation Manuals Name your main reference manual: Bowditch 1995 Ed.-----------------------: 9 Bowditch (pre-1995)---------------------: 6 Mixter (Primer of Navigation)-----------: 6 Chapman's-------------------------------: 3 Celestial Navigation for Yachtsman------: 4 Shute-----------------------------------: 1 Shirk-----------------------------------: 1 Porter----------------------------------: 1 Hemenway--------------------------------: 1 Dutton's--------------------------------: 4 Hobbs-----------------------------------: 1 Turner - Celestial for the Cruising Nav.: 1 Admiralty Manual, Vol. II---------------: 1 Name a manual/book that helped you the most: W.F. Buckley @ Airborne/Video----------: 1 Dutton---------------------------------: 3 Le Cours des Glenans-------------------: 1 Bowditch-1995--------------------------: 5 Bowditch-pre 1995----------------------: 2 Practical Celestial Navigation(HO 229)-: 3 Self-Contained Celestial Navigation----: 2 Mariner's Celestial Navigation---------: 2 Navigation Afloat----------------------: 1 Cruising Under Sail (E. Hiscock)-------: 3 Shute----------------------------------: 1 Williams - Geometery of Navigation-----: 1 Shirk----------------------------------: 1 Porter---------------------------------: 1 Hemenway-------------------------------: 1 Mixter---------------------------------: 2 USPS-----------------------------------: 1 Turner, Celestial for the Cruising Nav.: 1 e) Do you use the Nautical Almanac? Commercial-----------: 10 USNO-----------------: 3 Self-design Software-: 2 Computer-------------: 5 USNO Web Site--------: 2 I.C.E.---------------: 2 Dan Hogan WA6PBY C27 "Gacha" dhhogan@verimail.com Nav-L Page: http://www.wa6pby.com