Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucsd!brian
From: brian@ucsd.Edu (Brian Kantor)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.time.ntp
Subject: Re: Glossary of Technical Words Required
Message-ID: <15113@ucsd.Edu>
Date: 6 Jul 90 03:57:17 GMT
References: <1990Jul5.044200.3261@comspec.uucp>
Organization: The Avant-Garde of the Now, Ltd.
Lines: 29

There is a nice NBS monograph #129 in many libraries (ours here at ucsd
had it) that describes Loran-C in a LOT of detail and will explain many
of the technical terms you were curious about.

Much of the rest of the terms you were questioning were simply Dr.
Mills being excessively cute;  although fun to read, it can take some
effort to decrypt.  Let me assure you, it's usually worth the effort.
(Sorry, Dave, but it does get a bit thick at times.)

A shorthand and only somewhat-accurate explanation of Loran-C:  Loran-C
is transmitted on a radio frequency of 100kHz in the form of pulses.
There are "chains" of stations sending pulses at the same rate within a
chain and differing rates between chains; by observing the repetition
rate and delays between pulses it is possible to derive the distance
between yourself and the transmitting stations.  Since the stations are
at known locations, hyperbolic geometry can be used to figure out the
location of the receiving station to some small degree of error.

The timing of the Loran-C transmissions is quite precise.  Although
Loran pulses do not encode time in the sense of you being able to read
hours minutes and seconds from the pulse train directly, they do
represent a nice reasonably-stable timebase - and it's quite easy to
receive them.  Thus it may be possible for time freaks such as myself
to cobble up something that uses the received Loran signal as a
timebase to keep a clock ticking at precise intervals, with the actual
setting of the clock being done by other means, such as a WWV receiver.

That's not a terribly accurate explanation, but it may help.
	- Brian