consolans

[kellyo]

I've never piloted a transoceanic flight. Are their oceanic flight charts that depict cosolans? Is there special receiver equipment to use consolans? What frequency range do consolans transmit on? Where can I find info on consolans?

 

[Pilawt]

Back in the '60s, I lived near Los Angeles, and had an air-band radio that received both VHF and LF. I remember hearing the San Francisco consolan station on the LF band. It was charted on the sectional, I think near Point Reyes. It must have been high power, because it blasted in day and night from over 300 miles away. It sounded like carrier-wave pulses of progressively-increasing, then progressively-decreasing length; the pattern occasionally interrupted by the morse code identifier. That's all I know about it.

-- Pilawt

 

[kellyo]

Back in the '60s, I lived near Los Angeles, and had an air-band radio that received both VHF and LF. I remember hearing the San Francisco consolan station on the LF band. It was charted on the sectional, I think near Point Reyes. It must have been high power, because it blasted in day and night from over 300 miles away. It sounded like carrier-wave pulses of progressively-increasing, then progressively-decreasing length; the pattern occasionally interrupted by the morse code identifier. That's all I know about it.

-- Pilawt

Thats more info then I could Google. Can't find nuthing on these transmitters when I google it.

 

[Henning]

Thats more info then I could Google. Can't find nuthing on these transmitters when I google it.

The North Atlantic flight requires you to have an HF radio, used to be 2 ADFs, though now I imagine GPS will do the job, and a Gumby suit along with flairs.... A life raft is a good idea if you can afford the weight.

There are some companies who will rent you the ferry equipment (tanks, radios, survival equip, ferry permit and all), Ganders comes to mind as well as an outfit in Santa Barbara for Pacific crossings. Atlantic requires 725nm range though with 1300 you can skip Greenland. Pacific however requires 2500 as there is nothing between CA & HI, and that is one long leg.

 

[gismo]

This is the most informative reference I could find on the web (fron a LORAN discussion):

Other hyperbolic systems were in use before and during LORAN system operation. The Chayka system was of Soviet origin and is still in operation under Russian sponsorship. These were similar, but based on different configurations and technical details. LORAC (LOng RAnge Accuracy) was a comparatively short range system composed of a master and two slave stations using phase comparison of beat frequencies. This system was often used as a semi portable one for local surveys, particularly in oil exploration. British hyperbolic systems were deployed and one, the Decca Navigation System, was often deployed by private firms in a portable form for such operations as oil exploration. Another British system was named Gee. The British Consol system was an early hyperbolic system based on the German Sonne and earlier Elektra systems. Though "hyperbolic" this aspect was not generally used and it was used as a directional system based on its dot/dash sectors. A United states Version was known as Consolan was deployed for a time. Both these systems were more used for air than surface navigation. Omega was a very low frequency system intended for world wide coverage. It had low accuracy, but provided useful navigational information in areas uncovered by any other system.