Improving Loran Coverage at Minimum Cost

Walter N. Dean

Abstract:	The Loran-e system has been in operation for over 25 years, initially for purely military service, but in recent years, civil use of the system has expanded to a remarkable degree. The chains were initally established solely to provide marine navigation, and the expansion to the continental U.S. in the 1970's was specifically designed to serve the coastal confluence. Recent developments in microelectronics have made practical the airborne loran navigation set, and it is estimated that there are 25,000 sets in aircraft at: present. The location of the loran stations to serve the coastal confl??uence of the U.S. has had the result that overland navigation is not well served in all areas of North America. Two areas have been identified where coverage can be greatly improved without construction of additional transmitting stations. One of these is Anchorage - Fairbanks area in Alaska, where dual rating the Port Clarence station to the Gulf of Alaska chain can greatly improve performance. The second area is central Texas, where dual rating the Raymondville station to the Great Lakes chain can provide considerably enhanced operation. Numerous suggestions have been made for filling the "midcontinent gap" with various numbers and locations of loran transmitters. Presented here is a minimum proposal in which six new stations will both fill the 'gap' and add coverage to most of Canada south of 60 degrees.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1986 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 21 - 23, 1986 Long Beach, CA
Pages:	95 - 99
Cite this article:	Dean, Walter N., "Improving Loran Coverage at Minimum Cost," Proceedings of the 1986 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Long Beach, CA, January 1986, pp. 95-99.
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