NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Francis Upchurch
Date: 2015 Jul 17, 23:28 -0700
John,
You asked about line of sight nav aids for boats.
On a clear night I often get a bearing from a lighthouse 20 miles or so away.
In the 80's we had RDF, pretty inaccurate "cocked hat" to about 5 miles, but all the beacons closed down late 90's I think after Decca, Loran and then GPS arrived.
Last year I put new batteries in my old RDF and discovered that some small "local" airports still broadcast NDB signals for aviation approach navigation.
I managed to get a few resonable fixes from my garden and intend to try at sea in a few weeks.
No idea how long these NDBs will stay operational. I think they do not re[place them when they break down!
Last year I could find Ireland via Radio RTE channel 1 still broadcasting on 252 Khz, but that closed down in October! (the RDF only covers about 250-550 Khz)
Oh well.
Francis
