Keep those paper charts handy!
Now that 99% of boats in which any formal navigation occurs depend
heavily on GPS, paper charts are becoming pretty scarce. Sure, we all
keep nodding and agreeing whenever anybody reminds us to have paper
charts aboard for a backup- but pretty soon it begins to sound like
"Make sure you wear your PFD"- advice that most will agree is sound
but far fewer follow in practice.In the news this morning, China launched a missle that flew into space
and destroyed a (Chinese) satellite. Omnious. In any confrontation where a higher-tech country invaded a lower-tech
country, taking out the GPS system would give the defenders, more
familiar with the geography and terrain, some serious advantages. I
believe that taking out the GPS system would interfere with the
function of many of our "smart" weapons, drones, etc. Eliminating the
high tech advantages would reduce the conflict closer to a point where
the country with the greatest number of people in the army had a better
chance of winning. (oops) So let's be careful to maintain peaceful relations with China. If we
grump 'em off too badly, our GPS system will be an early casualty. People who laugh at me for keeping a paper chart on the chart table
immediately below my Simrad plotter will be asking me to loan them a
chart or two if we get tangled up with the Chinese. :-) |
Chuck
Jan 19
|
| Does my placemat from Anthonys showing the whole of Puget Sound count?
I'm *sure* I could nav to Lopez with it :)
JR
|
JR
Jan 19
|
| With the Simrad it is possible to look at charted areas anywhere that
is on the inserted chip. What you cannot do with my unit would be to
decide to look at Chart #184XX and pull it up as a separate unit. With
PC Nav, you can get to a distinct chart from a library, but with my
plotter all the charts just "run together", and you either need to
scroll along on the screen or zoom out, select a different sector, and
then zoom back in again. |
Chuck
Jan 19
|
| Really? That's interesting. On my RC400 I can pick a chart, go to a menu, pick another and that's
a handheld. And as I remember it, the C system I had on the Contender would allow
me to do the same thing. |
Short
Jan 20
|
| Maybe so, but once there I wouldn't want to attempt the entrance to
Fisherman Bay with an official placemat from Anthony's. :-) Be aware that the little spot in the corner that you think is a rock is
really just a gravy stain.
The spot in the other corner that you're sure is a gravy stain? *That*
will be the rock. |
Chuck
Jan 19
|
| So you're saying you had an inventory or charts sorted by offical
number, and it wasn't a PC based nav system? |
Chuck
Jan 19
|
| Paper charts aren't special. Just like all other essential functions there
should be a redundant system with no shared failure modalities. Alternate to
a dedicated chart plotter could just as easily be a PC-based system. The chap that mentioned Loran patient realized that this was the case. "Chuck Gould" <chuckgould.chuck@gmail.com> wrote in message |
Dave
Jan 20
|
| For smaller boats like mine, a PC is impossible. Paper is the miracle
alternative. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jan 20
|
| That I need to check as I'm not sure about that, but I think so. I'll
go out to the garage in a little bit and pull up the screen on the
RC400 and check that to make sure. In any case, to pick a chart on a GPS even one that's disabled is a
little silly as the rollover is automatic from one chart to another. For example, this summer when the Air Force and Navy were testing the
GPS constellation, I was on the CT River when service dropped out. My
electronic CT River map is sectioned into three pieces and I was right
around Haddam when I lost signal. I just shrunk the view, moved the
cursor up to the next chart and that was that - new chart. I take your point about paper charts - it's always good to have a set
of paper charts with you because you never know about electronics -
they have the propensity to become inert pieces of plastic at the
oddest times. However, I think it's more important to be able to use a chart, do
some dead reckoning exercises once in a while and be prepared in case
the GPS drops out. Seriously, when was the last time you actually did an entire cruise
using only charts, dead reckoning and waypoints on paper instead of
using your Simrad? I do it at least once a summer, usually two just
to keep my hand in. |
Short
Jan 20
|
| My Raymarine E-80 will let you view charts without a GPS lock. I had to do
it twice this past summer when the GPS sender went out. I've since added a
second sender. |
Bill
Jan 20
|
| How do you get the parallel rulers to sit against the little screen? (Wait...more coffee needed here). :-) |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jan 20
|
| Not on most plotters that I'm familiar with. The plotter needs geo
coordinates to know which
chart to "draw" on the screen. It would be possible to store images of charts on a PC system and bring
them up manually as needed. That's going to be far more common in the
future, now that we have the privilege to download charts directly from
NOAA. PC Nav functions that place an icon of the vessel on the screen
or automatically select the proper chart from a library based on GPS
information would be as useless as a GPS plotter if somebody took out
the satellites. I suspect the US and maybe one or two traditionally friendly countries
have had the technology to take down a satellite for rather a while
now, but remembering that Chinese strategic planning works in decades
and generations (rather than in fiscal quarters) I remain slightly ill
at ease with the Chinese capablity to render our nav systems useless-
to say nothing of the other high tech advances becoming available to
their military. For now the Chinese plan appears to be to buy us,
rather than conquer us. :-) |
Chuck
Jan 19
|
| I find it odd that none of the toys allow you to simply view a chart that
you've already downloaded. What a dumb omission. Let the user use the
controls to designate a chart already loaded into the toy. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jan 19
|
| Most plotters have a DEMO MODE, its what thbey use to sell them at
boatshows. :-) The question is, which brands will work with real
downloaded charts, not the demo one of Gilligan's Island or equivalent
that many seem to come with. I know older Garmins will as I have used
the feature before when testing an autopilot alongside the dock. You
can even set course and speed to the nearest degree and knot ant they
will do DR for you. Trouble is they WILL align the corse gradually to an
active roule or goto if they are in a similar direction so you cant
trust it. as the manual says: *NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION*
|
Ian
Jan 19
|
| I like paper. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jan 19
|
| I can view all of the charts on both of my Garmins without a satellite
signal. GPSMAP76s and 276c CWM |
Charlie
Jan 19
|
| That makes more sense. It allows for the possibility that even if the
satellites vanish, the buoys and landmarks still remain. I don't use any GPS
navigation thing on my yacht, but miraculously, I'm still able to get home
at night using sightings of 3 antenna towers, and huge string of lights on a
roller coaster at the water's edge. |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jan 19
|
| Um...no? You can pull up a chart, have zoom functions, set waypoints and have
the data handy to navigate. What it won't do is tell you where you
are and for that you need to be able to do dead reckoning. You will
need to be able to lay a course, figure set and drift, etc., which
would be handier on a paper chart, but you can certainly still use the
chart and use it. If you can't do that on your Simrad, you need to upgrade. |
Short
Jan 19
|
| They do. |
Short
Jan 19
|
| Yeah, only 6 orbits, well under geosynch so 6 rockets with a payload of |
Ian
Jan 19
|
| Can't you use the electronic things to just view the maps, but ignore GPS
and focus on your compass instead, as you would with paper maps? |
JoeSpareBedroom
Jan 19
|
