Are radio direction finders completely obsolete?

[Sailor Sailor]

Have radio direction finders become completely obsolete? Are any aircraft or vessels still using them? Are there still stations transmitting signals?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

Have radio direction finders become completely obsolete? Are any aircraft or vessels still using them? Are there still stations transmitting signals?

Yes is the answer they are obsolete.

[Wotname]

Obsolete - yes
Are there any transmitting stations still active - yes, many.

Many airports still have active NDB transmitters but they are getting phased out.
Many (most/all?) countries still have AM broadcast radio stations.

Both of these types of transmitters are used for radio direction finding.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Obsolete - yes
Are there any transmitting stations still active - yes, many.

Many airports still have active NDB transmitters but they are getting phased out.
Many (most/all?) countries still have AM broadcast radio stations.

Both of these types of transmitters are used for radio direction finding.

The problem with AM transmitters is that many are not located where you think they are located.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

The problem with AM transmitters navigators is that many are not located where you they think they are located.

Fixed it for you

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

Have radio direction finders become completely obsolete? Are any aircraft or vessels still using them? Are there still stations transmitting signals?

No, they are not obsolete.

They are a requirement for all the boats in the 2022 Golden Globe Race.

https://www.darglow.co.uk/featherstr...und-the-world/

Navigation will need to be done in the old way with a radio direction finder and sextants. They will also hand-write their logs and determine the weather for themselves. Only occasionally will they talk to loved ones and the outside world when long-range high frequency radios allow.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by thomm225

No, they are not obsolete.

They are a requirement for all the boats in the 2022 Golden Globe Race.

https://www.darglow.co.uk/featherstr...und-the-world/

Navigation will need to be done in the old way with a radio direction finder and sextants. They will also hand-write their logs and determine the weather for themselves. Only occasionally will they talk to loved ones and the outside world when long-range high frequency radios allow.

The race didn’t “require “ RDF nor did it say they could be actually operational.

That race itself could be regarded as ridiculous , unsafe and bizarre and “ obsolete “

Marine RDF is completely obsolete as the marine beacons have been switched of in most cases and nobody is making the receiver units.

Why in the name of god would anyone care given we have 4 GNSS systems to choose from

[El Pinguino]

Completely obsolete?
Lets try obsolecent.

NB the OP didn't use 'marine' in the OP but did mention aircraft - and also - any AM radio with a built in ferrite rod antenna is a makeshift radio direction finder.

[Sailor Sailor]

The different methods of navigation are not necessarily exclusive. I rely primarily on GPS, but I still enjoy traditional navigation.

There are some amazing accounts of survival navigation or seat-of-the-pants improvised navigation. There are stories of some (generally unprepared) sailors who have made it to Hawaii or Bermuda by following jet contrails or using an AM radio antenna. I am sure they would have appreciated a RDF unit.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Sailor Sailor

The different methods of navigation are not necessarily exclusive. I rely primarily on GPS, but I still enjoy traditional navigation.

There are some amazing accounts of survival navigation or seat-of-the-pants improvised navigation. There are stories of some (generally unprepared) sailors who have made it to Hawaii or Bermuda by following jet contrails or using an AM radio antenna. I am sure they would have appreciated a RDF unit.

Contrails are a bit yesterday as there are just too many aircraft. Its maybe 50 years since they stopped making 'westerns' in the US because they could not get a sky free of them - even in Montana.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The race didn’t “require “ RDF nor did it say they could be actually operational.

That race itself could be regarded as ridiculous , unsafe and bizarre and “ obsolete “

Marine RDF is completely obsolete as the marine beacons have been switched of in most cases and nobody is making the receiver units.

Why in the name of god would anyone care given we have 4 GNSS systems to choose from

Doesn't matter.

It's a requirement for the GGR 2022.

O. Communications Equipment, shall include


O5) A hand-held watertight transceiver operating on one or more aviation
frequencies including 121.5MHz. When not in use to be stowed in a grab bag.
O6) Marine RDF able to receive marine and aviation beacons for navigation
purposes.
O7) Personal AIS beacon (PAB)
O8) A GGR Special Production AIS ALARM unit from ciel-et-marine.com
O9) A GGR “Approved” AIS TRANSPONDER set to the entrant's yacht.
O10) A handheld GMDSS VHF radio with a long-life battery (stowed in grab

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Doesn't matter.

It's a requirement for the GGR 2022.

O. Communications Equipment, shall include


O5) A hand-held watertight transceiver operating on one or more aviation
frequencies including 121.5MHz. When not in use to be stowed in a grab bag.
O6) Marine RDF able to receive marine and aviation beacons for navigation
purposes.
O7) Personal AIS beacon (PAB)
O8) A GGR Special Production AIS ALARM unit from ciel-et-marine.com
O9) A GGR “Approved” AIS TRANSPONDER set to the entrant's yacht.
O10) A handheld GMDSS VHF radio with a long-life battery (stowed in grab

That doesn't make them any less obsolete. That's a race specifically intended to be done with obsolete equipment for historical purposes.

[Zanshin]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Doesn't matter.

It's a requirement for the GGR 2022.
...

I just checked - there are 32 boats registered in that race. That is an exceedingly small number of boats compared to the rest of the sailing world, which no longer uses RDF. I could argue that using "cubits" for distance measurements is also obsolete because there are probably more then 32 people left in the world who still use those units.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

That doesn't make them any less obsolete. That's a race specifically intended to be done with obsolete equipment for historical purposes.

The question was are Radio Direction Finders completely obsolete? Answer: No, they are not completely obsolete.

They are still available and there are beacons along the GGR Route.

Obsolete usually means not available.

RDF's are available and there are transmitters still sending out the required signal

I have worked in the Electronics/Computer Field since the 1970's. I am very familiar with obsolete equipment.

Computer Technology changes so fast it will make your head spin. So I am used to finding replacement parts but when they are obsolete we have to upgrade.

We just recently replaced our main frame, 386, and 486 computers. November 2019.

[rslifkin]

I guess technically a better term might be "deprecated". As in, we recommend you don't use it, you shouldn't install a new one, but it'll still work.