Solar flare, GPS wipeout and new Loran RX

[jfoster]

Those who enjoy Ham Radio communications look forward to the beginning of the newest sunspot cycle with delicious anticipation.

A major solar flare might be a real problem in the 2008 SSS Transpac and a more serious problem in the 2010 Transpac.

Loran anyone?.....(grin)....

<http://64.70.221.24/DiscBoard/viewtopic.php?t=5208&sid=5ee2c58cca5c2fb39cfcc5cd322c39d7>

SNIP
From the ARRL weekly newsletter:==> CYCLE 24 HERE, EXPERTS SAY

With the appearance of Sunspot 981 -- a high-latitude, reversed polarity
sunspot -- on Friday, January 4, experts at NASA and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that Cycle 24 is now
here. "This sunspot is like the first robin of spring," said solar
physicist Douglas Biesecker of the Space Weather Prediction Center
(SWPC), part of NOAA. "In this case, it's an early omen of solar storms
that will gradually increase over the next few years."
SNIP
By all accounts its apparently going to be best sunspot cycle ever recorded.

If it peaks beyond the 1959/1960 Peak its really going to be an awesome event. Back then 10 meters was open 24/7 and you could work the world on a bedspring. The 1979 peak was also a great one.
SNIP
<http://www.panbo.com/archives/2008/01/gps_solar_flares_a_real_problem.html>
SNIP
on Dec. 5, 2006–the huge flare seen above caused a burst powerful enough to “swamp GPS receivers over the entire sunlit side of Earth”

See also a 2002 column on Loran as a backup

<http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/electronics/0402electronics/index.aspx>

 

[sleddog]

While it is true that GPS is vulnerable to both solar flares and man-made degradation, LORAN as a backup navigation system is only feasible in near coastal North American waters. Offshore, it isn't much good. And certainly not for crossing to Hawaii in the'08 SHTP.

For those racing to Hawaii, having a redundant means of finding the Islands in the event of GPS failure is prudent. Celestial immediately comes to mind, and one can learn to find approximate latitude in less than an hour. If you know your latitude, and have kept even a rudimentary DR log of your speed/mileage, you can find Hawaii.

Failing that, there are always the jet contrails that come into view in the last third of the race. Just don't follow the SF-Sydney vapor trail. ;-)