Conference vicki::boats

    I have an apelco 6100 which is basically the same as the 570. There
    is a PCB in the base of the antenna that has the coax attached at
    one end and the antenna coupler at the other. I would imagine this
    board has gone bad. It is easy to remove by unscewing the base of
    the coupler and disconecting the coax connection. Check you manaul
    to see if they have a part number for this board and if so you can
    order it and replace it yourself.
    
    Bruce

    Last Saturday morning I found my Loran was blind, as well. It acts
    like it did a couple of years ago, when the problem turned out to
    be a short in the antenna coupler (the PCB in the base of the antenna).
    Your reference to the storm is interesting- I wonder if there could
    have been some lightning damage?
                                                    TOM

Interesting!

Same thing happened to me a couple of days ago.  I turned the loran ( I 
have the RayNav 570) off/on a couple of times and its been ok since.

It's still under warranty...I'll check this out with Raytheon.  they have a 
pretty good customer service department in Hudson, NH.

Carl

    Loran antennas often have a preamp in the antenna base; this may
    have gotten zapped ...
    
    ...tom

Has anyone checked the "Local Notice to Mariners" lately? I can't be sure, but
I seem to recall that there was a service outage scheduled around this time.
Before you tear your system apart check with a boating neighbor to see if they
are able track the chain.

Jerry

    your problems may not be with the unit, regardless of the brand
    you own. the navy has a transmitter in norfolk virginia, which 
    is emmitting a signal which destroys your loran and its ability
    to perform. you can avoid this problem by having a filter installed
    (about $150). there is an 800 number to call if anyone wants it
    i will respond to this note again.  
    
    JIM.
    

    Re: .0 CECV03::FEINEN (RICH)
        .2 LESNET::SCIACCA (TOM)
        .3 SSGVAX::REDFIELD (CARL)
    
    Rich,Tom, & Carl......What was the general (or specific) consensus
    around the problems you all experienced with your loran units?
    
    I (we noters) assume your troubles have been overcome but how 'bout
    a recap. What did you guys find? Jim's last note was scary,...If
    this is truly the case I would think the Loran manufacturers would
    put pressure on the Navy (@#$@!!^&?) to avoid such a transmission
    or incorporate the filter in the design of their unit. ? .
    
    /MArk (Raynav 570 owner) 

re .6:

I rather strongly doubt that the Norfolk Navy transmitter could electrically
damage a loran (unless it were very, very close to the Navy transmitter).
Rather, it is my understanding at the Navy transmitters (there are other than
the one in Norfolk -- for example, there is one in Machias, ME) and other
sources of low frequency radio noise interfere with the loran signal to the
extent that the loran receiver cannot track properly. This is why most lorans
have built-in filters (as many as 9 or more) to reduce interference with the
loran signal. We have been within a few miles of the Machias transmitter (the
antenna is some 21 towers over 1000' high). The only effect we saw was a 10
microsecond error in our loran's displayed TDs. But then our loran was 
designed maybe 10 years ago (pre-historic times for lorans) and has only four 
filters. A more modern design might be less affected.

    correction to .6
    
    the second sentence shoud read "destroys your loran signal and
    its ability to perform" certainly couldn't destroy your loran.
    on filtering, doubtfully units that are 5 years or older,
    would have the filter required to block out the Norfolk
    transmitter. I would suggest that you call a "qualified
    service center" for your unit and discuss it with them
    if you are having a problem with reception, that is
    not related to a failure on your boat.
    
    jim.

I recently had an interesting experience with my loran that I wanted to share.

A few weeks ago, my Apelco DXL6300 stopped working - all it would give is
a continuous "No Signal" display. After talking with a helpful gentleman
at the Apelco repair center in Hudson, N.H. he confirmed my suspicion that
it was most likely either the active antenna coupler or the coax cable.

On the boat, it was dead, at home on a power supply (13.8v) it worked fine.
Back and forth 3 times between home and the boat - the same each time.

Sunday, when I brought the boat home from the lake in preparation for a month
of salt water adventures, I found it was working fine in the driveway off the
boat's battery. I looked for what was different. We had taken down the solar
cell from the stern rail and packed it in a compartment for trailering.
As soon as I got it out of the compartment (still wired to the battery)
the signal-to-noise numbers took a dive into the unusable range. As soon as
I covered the solar cell up, they come back to excellent values.

This was a small 5" "Solargizer" that I had picked up at an auction for $5.
The card it came on indicated that it "conditioned" batteries with a 
pulsating current. I should have been suspicious at that point. Anyhow,
with the loran and the Solargizer connected directly to the battery, 
there was so much electrical noise that the loran was unusable.
 I'm very glad that I did the troubleshooting myself rather than paying
Apelco $159 flat rate to "fix" a problem that didn't exist in the loran.

I'll probably keep the Solargizer, despite its rather meager output current,
but it will definitely have an on-off switch installed very soon.

Bill