LORAN Station Tour Photos

Amateur Radio Operators got what may be a "last chance" to tour the US Coast Guard LORAN Transmitter site in Hobe Sound, FL. The station is officially called the Jupiter Inlet Facility as it was once located within Palm Beach county. The facility was moved to the present location at the north end of Jonathan Dickinson state park in Martin County around 1960. The fully modernized station is singled out as an "obsolete technology" and funding will disappear at the end of 2009. The move should save taxpayers about 7.2 million per year by eliminating the 24 stations in the US its territories according to the OMB. If their figures are correct, it costs about $30K per year for each station. European LORAN stations were turned over to their respective host countries decades ago and will continue to operate with expanded E-LORAN in the near future.
 


We are grateful for the hospitality extended by the Coast Guard, especially OIC Chief Chris Cannon and ET2 Justin Jemison, who conducted the tour. The tour was very informative and Mr. Jemison discussed the theory and operation of LORAN and the purpose of the Station. It was a blast to enter the interior of the station and the transmitter room.
 
The Hobe Sound station is a secondary or "slave" station which is part of a "Wye" chain of stations. The presentation given explained in detail the different configurations used, as well as the many locations for LORAN systems. LORAN is used today for land and sea navigation, as well as providing accurate timing signals in areas where a GPS signal cannot penetrate. LORAN-C has a carrier frequency of 100 KHz, versus GPS at 1.5GHz. LORAN signals can penetrate buildings and operate on ground wave versus GPS which must have a line of sight path. LORAN can operate in deep concrete canyons and inside buildings where normal GPS may not.
 
Thanks again to the Coast Guard staff for showing us the Station and explaining the automation in place today. In the 1970's there were 30 to 40 full time personnel at the station. Today there are only four people on-call doing the same job- thanks to automation and good old American know-how. By the way, many bank ATMs get timing signals from LORAN. Give it a thought the next time you make a withdrawal as you too are a LORAN user.  Enjoy the photos- there are some videos at the end of the slide show.

 This week's Local Events

 Subscribe to our mail lists

Subscribe to our news feed

Search

MCARA News

Tony Sale, engineer who led the rebuild of Colossus Computer, has died.
Brilliant engineer led the rebuild of the first modern computer which cracked Nazi code

Fort Pierce Hamfest 2011
Video and Photos

Antenna,Tower, and Tower Base Presentation
From 2008 showing Bill's old QTH setup

JTRG Jupiter Lighthouse Activation
International Lighthouse and Lightship Week

Browse Past Postings