I was thinking about the costs side as well. From the 2010 budget info I
have been able to find, "The savings could top $36 million in 2010", with
something like $190M over the following 5 years.
I think that the GPS birds are far more than that to maintain and replace. I
found the following in a May 2009 article which indicates there may even be
some question on the GPS service quality in the near future.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has identified that the USAF-run
GPS satellite constellation is in trouble. There are currently 30 satellites
in orbit, the 24 needed for the system and six spares, which sounds like
enough to run the system. The problem is that many of the satellites are
getting old and will need replacing soon or will fail. The USAF has a
program to replace the satellites, but it is US$1B over budget and almost
three years behind schedule.
U.S. Government Accountability Office recently said that it "is uncertain
whether the air force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to
maintain current GPS service without interruption...there will be an
increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the
overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required
to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to."
Why not keep LORAN and drop one spare bird.
----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Forster" <j...@quik.com>
To: "Don Latham" <d...@montana.com>
Cc: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement"
<time-nuts@febo.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] The Demise of LORAN (was Re: Reference oscillator
accuracy)
OK, so who is in a position to MAKE them care? How about those who
understand this is a Homeland Security (among other) issue? Perhaps FOX
news?
Likely LORAN costs about as much a year as a mile of fence along the
Mexican border, probably less.
FWIW,
-John
================
You've hit it on the nose. NONE of them are interested in anything but
social issues. LORAN will not get any of them re-elected, and that's all
any of 'em care about.
Don
J. Forster
Does anybody know who in Congress might take the lead in reversing the
decision? None of the reps in this state are at all likely to give a
damn.
Their interest is apparently only in social issues.
-John
=====================
AOPA is pushing congress to repristinate funding for LORAN. General
aviation is probably the heaviest user on this Nav system. The
aviation user community would love to see Nav systems with integrated
LORAN and GPS capabilty, but the industry has done little in this
area, due to lack of government commitment to LORAN. The FAA knows the
GPS can be easily jammed, but has done nothing do push LORAN as the
GPS backup system.
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 14, 2009, at 2:40 PM, Christopher Hoover <c...@murgatroid.com>
wrote:
David I. Emery wrote:
I have emailed my brother in law who is a rear admiral (I think
now called a vice admiral) and currently CFO of the USCG (and as a
note
re your alma mater a MIT Sloan grad) and rather loudly said so
myself. He most likely was part of the group that made the
decision... I intend
to ask him why they did it when I next see him.
David,
I see three possibilities: a) modernization (E-LORAN), b) maintain
existing service and capabilities, c) shut it down.
It would be helpful to know if USCG supports the plan to shut the
system down.
If USCG does not, those of us who are US citizens can lobby Congress
to restore funding for the service. There's an educational piece
here to do.
-ch
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--
Dr. Don Latham AJ7LL
Six Mile Systems LLP
17850 Six Mile Road
POB 134
Huson, MT, 59846
VOX 406-626-4304
www.lightningforensics.com
www.sixmilesystems.com
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