Comin' to a lighthouse near you...

In a cost-cuttin' move, our Point Loma lighthouse has been fitted with LED lighting. The result is a loss of ten miles of range, from 24 miles to 14 miles. Ain't progress great?

Without getting political, the CG *is* part of the federal gov't, and gov't spending isn't going UP any time soon.

You'd be amazed how much money it costs to maintain a long undersea cable to a remote lighthouse, set up and monitor an automated system to change bulbs as they burn out, maintain the mechanism, replace the bulbs, etc.

The LED lights are set-and-forget. They can be powered by solar cells.

I'm a bit of a purist. I still keep and sometimes even use up-to-date paper charts. I like to maintain my piloting skills. I still feel that lighthouses "should" be maintained in their original glory. But realistically, nobody really depends on them any more.

With AIS virtual aids to navigation, we may see traditional lighthouses go away altogether one day soon.

Virtual AtoN | Research and Radionavigation

Arch

Going the way of the caboose it would appear. Meh.

It took a private group to raise funds to relight and maintain ours (with LEDs too).

Dave

GonzoF1 said:

Going the way of the caboose it would appear. Meh.

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And Loran.

With virtual A to N maybe they'll get rid of day markers too!

timjet said:

And Loran.

With virtual A to N maybe they'll get rid of day markers too!

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If they keep cutting back on dredging the ICW, they might as well lose the markers!