NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: sight reduction tables
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2007 Oct 5, 19:24 -0400
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2007 Oct 5, 19:24 -0400
Lu, > That class or book trained us > in one particular sight reduction > method. Sociology tells us that people > will not change a way of doing > things unless they perceive some significant reward This is not always so:-) As a person who does this just for fun (as most of us do, I suppose) I learned several reduction methods, almost all commonly used methods. Except special navigation computers:-) I find using tables just a little bit faster than using a calculator. The speed and the number of blunders with both methods depends VERY much on how frequently you practice. That's the main reason why I would use ONE method during a single trip. Calculator gives you some extra accuracy which is not important. It also has several other uses, besides sight reduction:-) Of the tables I like very much the Complete on Board, because it contains much more than sight reduction tables and almanac, in a very small, convenient package. The main disadvantage from my point of view is that you cannot do the Lunars with Complete on Board. Much depends on which method of sight reduction gives you more fun. I imagine that some people do not enjoy the process of sight reduction, especially plotting the position lines. To them I would recommend a special navigation computer which probably does all math for you and just spits your co-ordinates out:-) Alex. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---