LORAN Station Listing

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi all,

We are now finished adding stations, so this is the final list. Thanks to Robert and Jorge for helping out.

Matched means that the station pair's delay values in the gauge have been calibrated to match an online chart. Links to those charts have been posted at the link below, but links will also be included in the final documentation. Thanks to Bill who has done all the matching so far. No Chart means there is no chart to match.

calclassic.proboards.com/thread/10968/loran-chart-links

The stations added to the gauge (from the 1954 Coverage map included with the gauge):

North Atlantic Chain West
Most were matched to the 1954 North Atlantic chart. 1H0 and the far north matched to the 1955 NOAA North Atlantic chart.
1H0 Sandy Hook/Nantucket
1L4 Frederiksdal /Battle Harbor
1L3 Bona Vista/Battle Harbor

US/Canada East Coast Chain
Matched to the 1954 North Atlantic chart.
1H1 Deming/Port Aux Basques
1H2 Deming/Baccaro
1H3 Nantucket/Baccaro
1H4 Nantucket/Cape Hatteras
1H6 Folly Island/Cape Hatteras
1H7 Folly Island/Hobe Sound

North Atlantic Chain East
Matched to the 1954 North Atlantic and the 1955 North Atlantic charts.
1L5 Skuvanes/Vik
IL6 Skuvanes/Magersta

Marshall Island Chain
No chart available.
1L0 Eniwetok/Wake
1L1 Eniwetok/Kwajalein

US Gulf Coast Chain
No chart available.
1L0 Cape San Blas/Venice
1L2 Cape San Blas/Biloxi

Alaska Coastal Chain
Matched to the 1956 North Pacific and 1965 Eastern Pacific charts.
1L2 Yakutat/Sitka
1L3 Yakutat/Kodiak

Aleutian Chain
Matched to the 1956 North Pacific and 1965 Eastern Pacific charts.
1L6 Adak/Cape Sarichef
1l7 Adak/Attu

North American West Coast Chain
Matched to the 1965 Eastern Pacific charts.
2H2 Point Arena/Point Arguello
2H3 Point Arena/Cape Blanco
2H4 Point Grenville/Cape Blanco
2H5 Point Grenville/Spring Island

Marianas Island Chain
No chart available.
2L1 Ulithi/Palau
2L2 Ulithi/Guam
2L3 Saipan/Guam

East Philippine Chain
No chart available.
1L4 Miyako Jima/Batan Is.
1L5 Catanduanes/Batan Is.

South China Sea Chain
No chart available.
1L6 Naulo/Talampulan
1L7 Tarumpitao/Talampulan

Hawaiian Chain
Matched to the 1965 Eastern Pacific chart. On this chart 2L6 is our 2L4 and 2L4 is our 2L6.
2L4 French Frigate Shoals/Kauai
2L5 Molokai/Kauai
2L6 Molokai/Hawaii

Japan/Korea Chain
Stations 2H0, 2H3, 2H5, and 2H6 have been matched to the 1956 North Pacific chart. The others have no chart available.
2H0 Niigata/Matsumae
2H1 Niigata/Miho
2H2 Pusan/Miho
2H3 Nomaike/Pusan
2H4 Nomaike/Okinawa
2H5 Iwo Jima/Okinawa
2H6 Iwo Jima/Oshima


The next posts will include instructions on how to add new stations. You can add other stations not included in the default gauge yourself (i.e. stations present in the 40's or 60's but not in 1954). Back up your current xml files first though!

[Tom/CalClassic]

HOW TO ADD STATIONS TO THE LORAN GAUGES

There are three gauges that need to be edited, LORAN_STA.xml, LORAN_GUI.xml, and LORAN_SYS.xml. Copy all three and paste them back into the folder, creating backups.

First check the 1954 coverage map included in the Maps folder inside the LORAN folder (in your Gauges folder). Find stations you want to add that are not listed above.
SM= single master
DM= double master
SS= single slave
DS= double slave

Send me a private message (click Tom/CalClassic in this message, then click the Send Message button in the upper right). Tell me which stations you want to add. I will send a message back saying OK.

NOTE: You will not be able to save these XML files while the panel is loaded. Switch to another aircraft without LORAN, save the files, and switch back.

EDITING THE STA FILE

1. Open the LORAN_STA.xml file by double clicking it. If if asks which program to use, choose Notepad or Wordpad.
2. A station entry looks like this: Note that the && at the end of some lines will look different in the XML file; the forum software changes it. Leave it as it is in the xml file.

<!-- Station Pair 2L4 -->

2 (L:Channel_set, number) ==
1 (L:PRR_set, number) == &&  <!-- L = 1, H = 2 -->
4 (L:Sta_Select_set, number) == &&

if{
<!-- French Frigate Shoals M -->
23.86411111 (>L:Lat_StationA, number)
-166.2879166 (>L:Lon_StationA, number)
<!-- Kauai S -->
21.869275 (>L:Lat_StationB, number)
-159.4442 (>L:Lon_StationB, number)

<!-- STATION PAIR DELAY VALUES - refer to detailed instructions in the first station above.  -->

          (L:Station2, bool) ! if{
1000 (>L:Sta1_min, number) 2853 (>L:Sta1_zero, number) 5913 (>L:Sta1_max, number)
}
els{
1000 (>L:Sta2_min, number) 2853 (>L:Sta2_zero, number) 5913 (>L:Sta2_max, number)
}
}



It starts with a description comment and finishes with a single closing curly bracket. I put a blank line under that.

2. Copy an existing section and paste it just above the line that says </Update> near the bottom of the file. Make SURE you have the comment and the ending curly bracket.

3. Edit the comment to match the station pair designation (i.e. Station Pair 2L6). If this is a new chain, you can add a chain comment as well above that (see the existing comments).

4. Now change the the numbers that start the next three lines to match the new station designation. Example, 2L6 would be 2, then 1 (1 = L, 2 = H), then 6.

5. Edit the master (M) and slave (S) name comments in the next section below

6. Go to the LORAN History site and find the master station on the list in the gray bar at the left and click the link. Repeat this for the slave station.

www.loran-history.info/

5. Search that page and find the latitude and longitude information, usually just below a STATION OPERATIONS LORAN-A heading.

6. Convert the latitude and longitude format to decimal degrees.
N and E are positive
S and W are negative

Example:

58 43 29.34 N
123 12 52.07 W

29.34 divided by 60 = 0.489 + 43 = 43.489 divided by 60 = 0.7248166 + 58 = 58.7248166

52.07 / 60 = 0.8678333 + 12 = 12.8678333 / 60 = 0.2144638 + 123 = 123.2144638, but West is negative so -123.2144638

6. Enter these values in the lines below the station names. Latitude on top, Longitude on the bottom. Do not alter the rest of those lines!

7. Now we need to determine the station pair delay values. You can see that there are two lines of code that contain the same 3 numbers. We need to edit those numbers (nothing else!). Use the same three numbers in both lines of code.

a. If there is no LORAN chart for the chain, we will calculate the distance between the two stations of the pair, and calculate the largest number from that. To calculate the distance enter the two latitude and longitude values into the NOAA distance calculator, using NM as the units:

www.nhc.noaa.gov/gccalc.shtml

Multiply the resulting distance by 12.5 and add 1000. For the small number use 1000, and for the middle number calculate it as in step cc below. They will be quite close. If a chart is found they will not match perfectly, though.

b. If there is a chart, we'll use it to get a close estimate for these three numbers.

aa. Look for dotted lines that extend beyond the station pair, extending a hypothetical line between the stations *beyond* the stations. This is sometime called the Base Line Extension. The line extending from the slave should have a printed value close to 1000. That is our first number. If you cannot find a dotted line, estimate what it would be as the lines get closer to the slave station. What would that number be if you flew to that hypothetical line extension on the far side of the slave station? It should be close to 1000, as I've said.

bb. If you find the dotted line extending from the master station, it should have a value somewhere between 2000 and 8000. That will be our last number. If you can't find it estimate it as we did for the first number.

cc. For the middle number, take the last number, subtract 1000, divide it in two, and add 1000. I used 1000 here but it really should be the first number if it is different.
Example: first number 1000, last number 4954
4954 - 1000 = 3954 divided by 2 = 1977 + 1000 = 2977. That would be your middle number.

So the code in this example would look like:


1000 (>L:Sta1_min, number) 2977 (>L:Sta1_zero, number) 4954 (>L:Sta1_max, number)
}
els{
1000 (>L:Sta2_min, number) 2977 (>L:Sta2_zero, number) 4954 (>L:Sta2_max, number)
}

8. Save the file.

Continued in next post.

[Tom/CalClassic]

EDITING THE GUI FILE

1. Open the LORAN_GUI.xml file.

2. Find the code near the top of the file starting something like:

<Macro Name="Station_Name_A">
'None'
@1 113 == if{ @2 if{ 'Bona Vista' } els{ 'RANGE' } }
@1 114 == if{ @2 if{ 'Frederiksdal' } els{ 'RANGE' } }
@1 115 == if{ @2 if{ 'Skuvanes' } els{ 'RANGE' } }

there will be a lot more lines below this (and some above), with the same format (unless I need to check longitude values to sort out duplicates). I'm just using a small portion as an example. Station Name A is the master station.

3. Determine the station number. The simplest way is to look at the STA entry you just made. The three lines just below the station pair designation comment is the station number. So 2L6 is station number 216.

4. Copy one of these lines and paste it back in so the numbers (113, 114, 115, etc.) will be in consecutive order. For example if your new station is 1L6 (station 116), paste it in directly below 115.

5. Edit the number to your station number, and edit the station name to the master station name of this pair. You MUST keep the apostrophes (') around it, and it cannot be longer than any of the names already there (or it will not fit on the notepad).

6. Copy the line you just created.

7. Now look for the code starting:

<Macro Name="Station_Name_B">
'None'
@1 113 == if{ @2 if{ 'Battle Harbr' } els{ 'RANGE' } }
@1 114 == if{ @2 if{ 'Battle Harbr' } els{ 'RANGE' } }
@1 115 == if{ @2 if{ 'Vik' } els{ 'RANGE' } }

These are the slave station names.

8. Paste your line into this code, so the numbers are consecutive.

9. Edit the name to the slave station name. Don't forget the apostrophes! Not too long, remember.

10. Save the file.

Continued in next post.

[Tom/CalClassic]

EDITING THE SYS FILE

1. Open the LORAN_SYS.xml file.
2. Look for the code starting: Note that the && at the end of each line will look different in the XML file; the forum software changes it. Leave it as it is in the xml file.

<!-- Station Pair 1 -->
(L:Station_Setting, number) 113 !=
(L:Station_Setting, number) 114 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 115 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 116 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 117 != &&

3. Copy and paste one of these lines back into the file, in the same way as we did in the GUI file, so it will end up in consecutive order. Edit the number to your station number. Note that the first line is different from all other lines; keep this intact.

4. Select and copy your new line.

5. Look for the code starting:

<!-- Station Pair 2 -->
(L:Station_Setting, number) 113 !=
(L:Station_Setting, number) 114 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 115 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 116 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 117 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 120 != &&
(L:Station_Setting, number) 121 != &&

6. Paste your line into this code, so the number is consecutive.

7. Save this file.

Now start FS and try out your new station!

If the LORAN gauge does not appear at all, does not work properly, or the station you added does not work properly (or other stations do not) then you have probably made an error. Check that the ONLY things you changed were the numbers and names, nothing else. One little added or deleted character can cause the code to fail.

[Tom/CalClassic]

HOW TO TWEAK STATION PAIRS

While these generic (no chart) or estimated (LORAN chart) delay values will work fine and give you an accurate latitude and longitude printed on the map included in the gauge, if you instead want to use a real LORAN chart to determine your position from the two delay values you will need to test your new station, and tweak those three delay values so the errors are very low (less than 40 usec and hopefully less than 20 usec).

To determine logical places to test your station, I use this priority:
Approaching an isolated island far from land
Major airline routes
The remaining areas

1. Put your plane into slew mode (Y) and use View/Map to move to a latitude and longitude that is within range of the station pair. Doing this at night doubles your range.
NOTE: The FS9 lat/lon entry in Map View is very touchy, and doesn't like you to create invalid numbers. So always keep a valid number in each spot (0 is valid). So to change from 53 to 40, delete the 3, type in a 0 in its place, and then delete the 5 and type in a 4. We normally test using even degrees, with 0 minutes.

2. Use the LORAN gauge to determine the delay times.

3. Find the same latitude and longitude on the map, and determine the delay values for these two station pairs by interpolating between the printed lines.

4. If the two delay values vary by more than 40 usec, try improving this by editing the station delay numbers for that station pair. A typical set would be 1000, 2853, and 4913 (from the example code above).

5. If the delay value you determined is near 1000, change that in the direction you need to reduce the error (in both lines of code). If it is near 2850 change the 2853 number. And if it is near 4900, change the 4913 number. If it is in between you may need to change two numbers.

6. Repeat this process for several (at least 3 or 4) locations, prioritized as above. Hopefully you will test low, middle, and high numbers. If you must compromise, use the priorities to do that.

Thanks,

[Jorge]

Tom,

For the coordinates, this is what I've done in the past for other stuff I've done.

1. Open Google Earth and go to "Tools" then "Options" at the bottom of the roll-out.
2. At the top left, make the coordinates to whatever format you have. For the LORAN info, just click "Degrees, Minutes, Seconds" then click "Apply" and "OK" and you're set.
3. Click on the yellow "pin" to place a pin.
4. In the "Latitde:" and "Longitude:" lines add the info from the LORAN info website.
5. Click "OK".
6. Go back to the "Tools" then "Options" and change to the decimal format. It's the next line up which reads "Decimal Degrees".
7. Click "Apply" then "OK".
8. Right click on the pin in the left pane which should still read "Untitled Placement" and click on "Properties".
9. The coordinates should be shown in the decimal format.
10. Remember that you can't copy the symbol, only the numbers (i.e. don't copy the little "o" thing to the right of the numbers which means degrees).

If someone is doing KMZ, this can also help with that. Just name the pin and we can later combine them for those that will want something for Google Earth.

Hope it helps!

Jorge
Miami, FL

[Tom/CalClassic]

Ken has done a kmz file for the Atlantic stations, I don’t know if it can be combined with others.

[Jorge]

Yea,

Ken and I had done some stuff with KMZ for the HFDF project a while back. You can "merge" files by just adding folders to other folders in Google Earth then making an updated KMZ file.

Just need to dust off the HFDF stuff once done with LORAN and we'll have long range navigation from about 1930-1975 pretty well covered!

Jorge
Miami, FL

[mrcapitalism]

6. Convert the latitude and longitude format to decimal degrees.

If, in your search you come across the location of the station in Google Maps (and I presume Google Earth), the coordinates will be presented in decimal degrees. You should be able to copy those coordinates directly into the gauge code.
Is there a limit to the decimal places in this value?

[Tom/CalClassic]

I don't think so, but beyond about 6 it will make little difference.

[Jorge]

Yes, Google Maps will give the coordinates in decimal.

The LORAN history website, however, has the traditional way of presenting them (Degrees, Minutes, Seconds), so you would have to convert if using their lat/lon values. You can use the way Tom said, or you can use the Google Earth method. Whichever you prefer. I just mentioned the latter since I know some folks prefer to fly with GE as their "map" for the flight, so I figured they'd kill two birds with one stone if they were working on the stations.

There's no way to change the 6-digit decimal places in Google Earth, but like Tom says, it's not that big a deal between 6 and 7 for our purposes.

Jorge
Miami, FL

[Jorge]

I have an Excel spreadsheet made using Tom's method above for coordinate conversion for anyone that wants to use it.

It converts/does the math for you if you're using the coordinates from the LORAN history website over to decimal degrees. All you have to do is copy the cells I already have and enter the degrees, decimals, and minutes for the stations you're working on. You can then copy the info to the xml files or over to Google Earth for use there.

Send me a PM if you want it, or I can link it here if Tom agrees.

Jorge
Miami, FL

[mrcapitalism]

Hi,

I only ended up adding 2 stations, but I noticed that the provided coordinates on the LORAN history website were not accurate. The first problem I had was that some coordinates were referenced to a different geodetic system that what (I assume) is current. My chosen stations gave their position in reference to "Mercury 1960" datum, or some sort of 1970 coordinate system. My assumption is that the aviation standard is World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS-1984). When I pasted my chosen coordinates into google map, the result was always offshore by a couple miles.

I used the images of my station to look for the modern location, and then used those coordinates instead. I did not verify these coordinates with the simulator scenery though...

Just something to think about.

[Tom/CalClassic]

The problem is that we don’t know what system was used for the charts that we are trying to match. What I do is use the loran history’s lat and lon values. Then if we can’t tweak them to the chart values I look at changing those values.

[mrcapitalism]

That's a really good point.