The New and Improved Celestial Navigation Poll

[Astrid]

But I guess the iPhone and the sensors it has, is too unfamiliar for the sextant crowd in this thread...

good point. I for one didn't know about that.

[bobconnie]

Well we all use charts most of which were made with Sextants. at least in the Nice areas of the world LOL, come to think of it a lot of the world was found with equipment a lot older then sextants!! as Astrid and others have said!! GPS is one of if not the finest pieces of Nav equipment ever made ! and even I use it ! a lot LOL But I still take a nooner just to be sure! and maybe even a star site or planet! if the Almanac has a good one for me LOL but I also ck the wifes puter with the Capn softwear everyday and even sometimes more then that ! just like to able to do things without electrical help as I did on my first cruise to Hawiee LOL no jet streams in 1957 at least not many like now LOL Just an oldtimers Habits I guess ! I can't get as secure with the new stuff as Jedi do !! but he's right! Why do all that when at the end of the day you know where you are anyway?? just my 2 cents Bob and Connie

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Astrid

good point. I for one didn't know about that.

Me to, but i don't own an iphone either.....

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

Me to, but i don't own an iphone either.....

Well, with the iPhone you can shoot a star or moon, but you can't make a phone call with a sextant... easy choice

ciao!
Nick.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well, with the iPhone you can shoot a star or moon, but you can't make a phone call with a sextant... easy choice

ciao!
Nick.

Now that caught my interest! When I saw your first post I just assumed it was a nice graphic of a sextant and would just use the GPS to give lat and long. Are you saying for $0.99 my iphone can become with its camera and this added software, an electronic sextant and sight reduction tables?????

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well, with the iPhone you can shoot a star or moon, but you can't make a phone call with a sextant... easy choice

ciao!
Nick.

But i have a phone, i'm just not a slave to fashion.....

And my phone kicks iphones ass when it comes to making phone calls in remote areas. While crossing Bass Strait i am sitting snug in the bridge talking on my mobile while the iphone crowd are wandering the bridge wings offering up there iphones to the gods.......it's very sad to watch.....well not really, it's bloody hilarious

Johnno

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well, with the iPhone you can shoot a star or moon, but you can't make a phone call with a sextant... easy choice

ciao!
Nick.

Does this mean that you can make a phone call when 50 miles off shore??
Michael

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Now that caught my interest! When I saw your first post I just assumed it was a nice graphic of a sextant and would just use the GPS to give lat and long. Are you saying for $0.99 my iphone can become with its camera and this added software, an electronic sextant and sight reduction tables?????

Now Bob, no need for that.....

A great gift for anyone with a little Jack Sparrow blood.

Not recommended for actual navigation unless you're plotting a course for Worlds End.

Add it to your iPhone booty today matey!

Arrgh!

Johnno

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

Now Bob, no need for that.....





Johnno

Got me to look, and sure enough for $14.99 you do get everything you need, just add a sextant. BINGO, I will get it for the ipad. Plus it will display and name the stars and planets and their respective positions in relation to the horizon, so you shoot fast with your sextant. I knew the big ipad would come in handy for something.

For a 6 star sight, from first draw of finding and shooting, to drawing the last LOP would take me almost 30 minutes, with this app, maybe 5 minutes. Plus, no books to lug.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Got me to look, and sure enough for $14.99 you do get everything you need, just add a sextant. BINGO, I will get it for the ipad. Plus it will display and name the stars and planets and their respective positions in relation to the horizon, so you shoot fast with your sextant. I knew the big ipad would come in handy for something.

For a 6 star sight, from first draw of finding and shooting, to drawing the last LOP would take me almost 30 minutes, with this app, maybe 5 minutes. Plus, no books to lug.

Yep, lotsa software out there to use WITH a sextant, got some myself.....

But going cruising i still take the books, but thats a personal preference...

[s/v Jedi]

Well, Bob got the idea

But after using my iPhone as bubble level and compass, I think the sextant app might actually work well enough for emergency navigation. At some point it's about what you have with you, not about what you could have had with you. Looking along the edge of a phone you can never expect accuracy like from a real sextant, but with some practice it should result in rough positions I think. There is a whole range of emergency apps for the iPhone and for sailors almost every one is useful.

About range of cellphones: the story about the iPhone 4 "death grip" where your hand shields it's antenna is very old now. With the iPhone 4S it is fixed so you don't even have to remember how to hold your phone It outperforms every other phone I tried over here which is Samsung and Nokia.

ciao!
Nick.

[deckofficer]

Nick,

I really do get it, the accuracy of using a sextant and the convenience of a portable, handheld star and planet finder, sight reduction, I'll still draw my LOPs with pencil on a real chart. This allows me to teach anyone that wants to know how to use a sextant and generate LOPs in just one evening. But I don't think the $0.99 app does all that, but the $14.99 app sure does.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well, Bob got the idea

But after using my iPhone as bubble level and compass, I think the sextant app might actually work well enough for emergency navigation. At some point it's about what you have with you, not about what you could have had with you. Looking along the edge of a phone you can never expect accuracy like from a real sextant, but with some practice it should result in rough positions I think. There is a whole range of emergency apps for the iPhone and for sailors almost every one is useful.

About range of cellphones: the story about the iPhone 4 "death grip" where your hand shields it's antenna is very old now. With the iPhone 4S it is fixed so you don't even have to remember how to hold your phone It outperforms every other phone I tried over here which is Samsung and Nokia.

ciao!
Nick.

And what idea is that Nick?? was there some subliminal message there?? some revelation that i missed??

As far as the iphone death grip goes, yes we have even heard of that down here in Aus and no the 4S still does not out perform (signal reception) the remote area phones we have. These phones were specifically designed for the vast areas of emptiness that Australia is to give optimal reception.
No iphone to date comes close, otherwise there would be no need for the remote area ones, In fact a number of my crew have both, whats that tell ya.....

PS: Other than a cammera, the remote area phones do nothing more than make phone calls.......

Johnno

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

And what idea is that Nick?? was there some subliminal message there?? some revelation that i missed??

As far as the iphone death grip goes, yes we have even heard of that down here in Aus and no the 4S still does not out perform (signal reception) the remote area phones we have. These phones were specifically designed for the vast areas of emptiness that Australia is to give optimal reception.
No iphone to date comes close, otherwise there would be no need for the remote area ones, In fact a number of my crew have both, whats that tell ya.....

Remote area phones?! I thought you guys had tam-tams and didgeridoos for that I must admit I have never seen one over here, but they do have boosters for iPhones... some kind of cradle you put the iPhone in which couples it to an external amplifier and antenna etc.

About the iPhone & sextant: the thing is that an iPhone or even iPad has so many uses that hardly nobody thinks about. I meet scores of people who don't know that an iPad can also be a Kindle, buying the same books from Amazon etc. I have started to put manuals for boat gear on my iPad, thousands upon thousands of pages all in there like it's nothing. Almanacs and sight reduction tables have been available for some time now and while checking up on it I found that sextant app. The sextant is the easy part... the sight reduction tables etc. is the tough part for most people. This is where these apps can help a lot.

ciao!
Nick.

[Ex-Calif]

The US military citing, competition from God, is planning to shut off the stars at night in 2013 making celestial nav obsolete. They plan to launch a giant solar screen that will block out 90% of the sky globally. With them having control of the gps satellites and ability to encrypt and offset positions it will put the "evil doers" out of business. Only American citizens with a homeland security clearance will get unencrypted gps signals.

It is all true... I swear it... Take a look at paranoidconspiracytheories.com if you don't believe it.