RDF anyone?

[Lepke]

You can find used RDFs on ebay. I'm an old, Navy trained navigator and still use RDF. GPS is not 100% accurate 100% of the time as advertising would make you think. On the ocean, it not too important, but in the NW passage, I've seen 40+ meter errors.
I think most of the beacons on lights and buoys are gone, but where the radio tower is on the chart, you can get a decent fix. Or combined with depth, bearing, etc.
Image is a screen capture, max zoom in OpenCPN, raster chart and the track left on for days at the dock. Dock is secured with pilings. 8' tide. Solid track area is 40 meters across. Open sky. I've duplicated this with OpenCPN and TZ Navigator programs and 3 receivers.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Lepke

You can find used RDFs on ebay. I'm an old, Navy trained navigator and still use RDF. GPS is not 100% accurate 100% of the time as advertising would make you think. On the ocean, it not too important, but in the NW passage, I've seen 40+ meter errors.
I think most of the beacons on lights and buoys are gone, but where the radio tower is on the chart, you can get a decent fix. Or combined with depth, bearing, etc.
Image is a screen capture, max zoom in OpenCPN, raster chart and the track left on for days at the dock. Dock is secured with pilings. 8' tide. Solid track area is 40 meters across. Open sky. I've duplicated this with OpenCPN and TZ Navigator programs and 3 receivers.

Are you finding up there that the tower locations on the charts are still accurate? Around here I am not so sure.

[gjordan]

In the 70s I used an RDF and compass and depth sounder with paper charts many times on the California coast. I had one south bound trip with 18 hours+ of zero-zero visibility and followed the 10 fathom curve and used RDF and almost ran into the end of the Santa Barbara pier. It was a wonderful piece of gear. I used it in the South Pacific on a night passage between two Islands in the Tuamotus. I used celestial, the RDF and the depth sounder and had one of the most beautiful sails of my life. Of course I had my bail-out course updated all of the time in case the weather changes, but the basics worked together and it was perfect. When GPS became affordable, I bought a simple one and pretty much retired my sextant, but I am now reviewing my celestial to get ready for my bucket list cruise. I will have GPS, but I will never completely trust it, and will always cross check it with other methods. Love paper charts. _____Grant.

[btrayfors]

I still have 5 RDF units: two aboard my boat, and three in my home.

On my basement wall is my beloved Sailor RDF radio with its Sestral hand-bearing compass/RDF antenna. I used these to navigate all the way up the Adriatic Sea to Dubrovnik in the 70's, traveling in thick fog and using back-bearings on Bari and Brindisi on the Italian coast.

Also in my home are two identical small Japanese-built RDF units. These were produced under several brand names. I have one in my dining room and one in my upstairs bedroom, and use them daily to listen to AM programs on ESPN radio. Good audio.

On my boat is the famed B&G Homer/Heron units which include a hand-held compass/RDF antenna. Also, I have a Ray Marine RDF unit with a digital readout which covers both AM and FM broadcast bands. Use these for listening to broadcast radio, sometimes, and not much for navigation these days. Still, they are there should everything else fail :-)

BTW, all of these except the Sailor/Sestral were found on eBay for very little money, and are in showroom condition.

Bill