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Old February 16th 04, 06:11 PM
KA9CAR
 
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Here in the U.S. I am familiar with a similar set of beacons.

I do not know if they still exist

I think they were called DECCA stations. [DECCA later ( WWII) built radar
sets for ships.] They were from the days before Loran (before GPS) and were
for ship navigation.

They ran in a ship band.

The ship had a goniometer (directional loop antenna) that was rotated
manually from the wheel house.
You nulled out the station, then marked the direction in degrees. Then move
to the next station and do the same.

This plotted your location.

It was demonstrated to me in 1980 on a old frieght ship as we sailed on Lake
Huron The Captain said it had not been used much since LORAN came out.


KA9CAR
John




"Paddy O'See" wrote in message
...
Back in the 1980's, these were called SLHFBs (Single Letter High
Frequency Beacons). There was quite a bit of speculation as to what they
were for. The best assessment was that they were some sort of a "last
chance" alert system for the soviet ballistic missile submarines. These
beacons were probably located near high priority targets. In the event a
missile sub was unable to raise higher authority, they would check for
the beacons. If ALL of them were off the air, the assmption was that an
attack had taken out the beacons as well as National Command, and the
subs were thus authorized to fire off their missiles.

"Peace is that brief moment in history when everybody stands around
reloading."
Rev. Skip Heitzig