NavList:

   

Reply

Frank had asked about the availability of Navigational journals on CD, but 
though responding about the US journal "Navigation", I had been unable to 
discover details about that of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), 
"The Journal of Navigation". Now, I have.

The full contents of every issue of JoN since its inception in 1948 until a 
cut-off in 2005 have been digitised and are available, as either a pair of 
CDs, or more conveniently a single DVD. The cost to non-members is �80, and 
a bit less to members such as me. That cost includes posting to anywhere.

Contact the administrator, Colin Hatton, at
colin.hatton@rin.org.uk   or by phone, +44 207591 3130 (remembering the time 
difference; we're an hour ahead of GMT until end October).

Most convenient way to pay is by credit card.

From the celestial navigator's viewpoint, the missing years since 2005 are 
not a great loss, as the Journal is now mainly occupied with matrix 
mathematics and comminication theory, rather like its US counterpart. The 
glory-days of traditional navigation were the period up to the 1970's, when 
ships still travelled the World using sextant and compass, and commercial 
ocean flying was being developed. There's a fascinating range of stuff 
there, that it's fun to dip into.

Back then, the Editor of the Journal was Mike Richey, a familiar name to 
many. He took part in every Atlantic race in his junk-rigged Folkboat, 
Jester, 26 feet, enjoying such slow passages that he didn't arrive until 
weeks after everyone else had gone back home. I don't know how the Journal's 
production schedule coped with such long absences. At 93, he's still around, 
as far as I know.

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: 
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 2:07 AM
Subject: [NavList 10112] Re: Navigation journals on CD?



Thanks for the info, George!

You wrote:
"Near the foot of that page is the reference to the CD with over 270 papers
relevant to celestial navigation, carefully selected by David Burch. This is
NOT the "complete historical run" that Frank requests, but comprises all
papers that are likely to interest Navlist members."

Aha. That's a useful detail. In case anyone's wondering, I have avoided 
these little "journals" in recent years, but I discovered last week when I 
was in Mystic that, as it turns out, I used to read "Navigation" regularly 
thirty years ago. I dimly recalled a number of articles, including one that 
first got me interested in lunars (and led me to shoot some lunars way back 
in 1979), but I had no memory of the publication itself. I remembered it 
only as some 'interesting magazine with articles on navigation'. These were 
the private collection of one of the volunteers at Mystic Seaport. He used 
to bring them in and leave them in the office where I would browse them on 
quiet winter weekends. He donated them to the planetarium long ago when he 
died, and they have been sitting in the attic just collecting dust since 
then. I've borrowed a few (I probably read no more than five issues back 
then), and I've been having a grand old time reading articles which I read 
so long ago. There's one issue from the summer of 1978 devoted to the 
then-new GPS system. At the time, of course, I had no idea at all how 
revolutionary it was, and most of the articles were incomprehensible. I was 
just a 15-year-old kid at that time taking my first class in celestial 
navigation... I have to return the original volumes, of course. Hence my 
interest in getting a digital collection.

Of the British journal on CD, you wrote:
"I can't find any information about it on their website, but presume
that it's still available."

I wonder if it might be a 'members-only' item. Are you a member?

You noted,
"...my wife bought it for my birthday few years ago..."

That's great. Glad to see you followed through on your plan! (..two years 
ago, you had written, " that cost has put me off, though I know there's a 
wealth of stuff out there I would enjoy reading. Perhaps I'll drop some 
hints, nearer my birthday.")

Again, thanks for the info.

-FER






--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc
Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com
To , email NavList+@fer3.com
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

   

Reply