NavList:

David C, you wrote:
"It seems to me that using a calculater rather than bulky 249 or 229 is the way to go. The cos formula for altitude is easy to remember but I must learn the azimuth formula. I admit that  that is where I cheat [...]"

Exactly but bypass the intercept method, and then you don't even need to cheat on azimuth. We only need azimuth if we force ourselves to use the intercept method. But if we're using a calculator, we don't have to do that and can generate our celestial lines of position as "two-point" geometric objects instead of "pont-slope" objects. In fact, you've written about this before, David C. It's a great idea! So "great" that this is one of the key methods that I teach in my "modern celestial navigation" workshops. As for the math, it's the same equation that we know for altitude (which is also identical to the standard great circle equation), arranged a bit differently, and you use it twice to generate longitude from two "assumed" latitudes. No need to learn or puzzle over a separate azimuth equation.

Frank Reed