A version of this paper was first presented at the European Navigation Conference 2006, held under the auspices of the RIN at Manchester on 8–10 May 2006.

This paper reviews the need for the GLAs to develop a strategy for the integration of radionavigation services around the British Isles. After investigating the recent trends and forecasts for shipping and with a view towards the need for e-Navigation, the strategy formation process and initial findings for the development of a radionavigation plan are outlined.

The proposal to develop an extensive North-West European Loran-C system, replacing many existing chains of the Decca Navigator System (DNS), has led to an intensive debate on the merits of the two navigation aids, especially in the United Kingdom. The paper reviews the principal sources of random and systematic position errors in the two systems. The wide range of DNS random errors, predominantly due to skywave interference, are compared with the Loran-C random errors, and typical coverage limits of acceptable repeatable accuracy are presented. The paper also identifies the factors which control the magnitudes of Loran-C and DNS systematic effects due to land paths. It demonstrates that differences between the two systems are substantially less than are predicted by simple models. Loran-C and DNS techniques for dealing with land paths are compared and the errors experienced by Loran users are shown to be reduced by modelling and publishing ASF values.

This paper is based on a presentation made by the author at a technical symposium of the Wild Goose Association.