Great Circle Antenna Pointing Question
Hello:
A bit confused over Great Circle directions.
I believe that if one is traveling from Boston to London via air along
the
great circle connecting these two cities, he would Constantly have to
adjust
his heading; e.g., one compass
heading the whole way won't do it.
Is this correct ?
Yep.. If you left Boston with the autopilot on a direct
heading to London, it would constantly adjust the heading
as you fly. The heading would slowly increase as you
fly east. You might leave Boston heading appx 070,
but be about 110 or so by the time you got to London.
You'll go from heading northeast, to heading southeast
after you get to the highest lattitude near the pole.
So, now to my real question"
Let's say that there is an omni broadcast station in London, and that
its
broadcast goes out in all directions.
I believe radio waves follow great circles when considering a spherical
globe.
True ?
yep.
Then, how would the chap in Boston, assuming he has an extremely
directional
antenna, point his antenna ?
About 69-70 degrees or so.
Would it just be the final angle along the great circle when it crosses
Boston ?
I suppose. Would be the same as laying a string across a globe
from London to Boston. The string would pass near Greenland, etc.
Looked, but surprisingly couldn't find any good links to any great
circle
direction programs on the web.
Lots that calculate distances, but couldn't locate any that show
distances,
etc., relative to my questions above.
Anyone happen to know of any ?
Someone showed a few links. If you want a map, the ARRL map
is laid out so you can get beam headings. Also should be beam
heading calculator programs out there somewhere. . I can use my
flight simulator and do that using the GPS... :/ Sitting at Logan
in Boston in my trusty Lear 31a, the heading to London Heathrow
is 69 degrees according to the GPS. 2827 nautical miles...
MK
|