Loran-C

Common card · No. 318946

Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to provide a signal that was both long-range and highly accurate, features that had been incompatible. Its disadvantage was the expense of the equipment needed to interpret the signals, which meant that Loran-C was used primarily by militaries after it was introduced in 1957. By the 1970s, the cost, weight and size of electronics needed to implement Loran-C had been dramatically reduced because of the introduction of solid-state electronics and, from the mid-1970s, early microcontrollers to process the signal. Low-cost and easy-to-use Loran-C units became common from the late 1970s, especially in the early 1980s, and the earlier LORAN system was discontinued in favor of installing more Loran-C stations around the world. Loran-C became one of the most common...

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