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Head’s up: There’s
finally a neat electronic solution to the GPS vulnerability problem which
was noted here some time back (“The Dark Side of GPS,” April
2002), but which fortunately has not materialized...yet. Si-Tex is about
to ship e-Loran, which not only backs up GPS with a modernized, and fiddle-free,
version of LORAN, but also delivers better than one-degree heading accuracy,
even to a stopped boat. At first, this $1,000 sensor will only work with
certain Si-Tex plotters and PC software, but other manufacturers are supposedly
free to develop compatibility. The technology sounds like it will offer
navigators real belt-and-suspender position plotting, plus relatively
inexpensive, nonmagnetic heading for autopilots, radar overlay, etc.;
I look forward to trying it. Si-Tex, incidentally, is a fine example of
the source/brand complications discussed in the column. As the U.S. arm
of major behind-the-scenes player Koden, it markets that company’s
radar scanners and other gear both directly under its own name and indirectly
via several other brands; and the Si-Tex line also includes gear manufactured
by unrelated companies, like C-Map, which may go out under different logos
in other countries, even in this one!
Si-Tex ((727)
576-5734. www.si-tex.com.
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