With Loran-C decommissioning all but certain, perhaps it’s a good time for me to visit the US Coast Guard’s Loran-C station near Havre, Montana. This station is one that would be scheduled to shut down its Loran-C broadcasts sometime after February 8.

Havre, Montana, eh? Apparently, it’s only about a 14-hour drive from Seattle. [...]

Never mind the planned decommissioning of Loran-C , who’s going to keep my compass working?!? Bill Haimes has this item at Three Sheets Northwest:
The magnetic compass has been with us on the water for a thousand years or so. Recently, though, it has often been overshadowed by the near magic of GPS. For the serious [...]

[Hey, I guess if Navagear can publish a holiday gift guide, then why not the US Coast Guard? —Tim]
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard, as a public service to holiday gift shoppers, announced Friday its recommended gift ideas for 12 nautical days of Christmas.
The singularly most important gift for mariners this year is a [...]

Captain Richard Rodriguez has an interesting tale to tell over at his BitterEnd blog. We’ve discussed Loran a lot recently, and Rescue 21 periodically, as well. In this case, neither one was particularly effective!
The yellow line is the US – Canadian Boarder
An interesting set of circumstances made today’s call a bit like the old [...]

John Konrad has an update on eLoran over at his excellent gCaptain website. His focus is on commercial mariners, but the coverage of navigational technology such as GPS and Loran is equally relevant for recreational boaters.
Being generally of an impatient nature, I’ll skip right to his conclusion:
Next Steps
The mariner is facing a few critical battles [...]

An interesting item by Nicholas Thompson over at Wired magazine’s Epicenter blog:

There’s news bubbling up about a potential crisis in our GPS systems. According to a new GAO report, a bunch of the satellites up there guiding our cars, geo-shagging applications, and soldiers might go kaput soon. If they fall, the report implies, the sky [...]

I hope I’m not about to poke a stick into a hornet’s nest. Let’s be clear that I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. I don’t have any particular axe to grind here.
In case you’re confused, check out my original efforts to clarify the situation:

Whither Loran?
Whither Loran redux: Clarity from the Coast [...]

When I was writing my piece about Loran last month, it became obvious that I needed some guidance. In fact, that piece concludes with this: ‘I’m just really curious about why Loran seems to be so “Off again, on again, gone again.”’
So I contacted some high level navigation people I know at the Coast [...]

[Here's our MadMariner feature from a couple weeks back. —Tim]

Contradictory News Swirls Around the Old Technology. What’s the Story?
Are you confused? I’m confused. First I hear they’re going to shut down the old Loran system. Then I hear they’ve going to update it into a robust alternative and backup to GPS. But then I [...]

Read the entire piece over at MadMariner. It will show up here in a couple of weeks.

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