[inforoots] Loran C navigation receiver (Was: laptops)

[John C Green Jr]

At 09:15 AM 2/20/06, "George Trimble" <georgetrimble at ieee.org> wrote:

>I have a Radio Shack PC 100 Portable Computer that I bought sometime in the
>early1980s. There were "luggable" computers around but I wouldn't consider
>anything that heavy as portable. In fact, anything over 6 pounds was 
>out as far as
>I was concerned. At 3lb. 13oz. it was great to carry.

In 1971 Litcom, a division of Litton Industries got a
US Army contract to build a < 6 pound man carryable
Loran C navigation receiver (not counting battery which
was a contract that went to a battery company).  We failed
as had the two previous companies that attempted to
fulfill the contract.

To have a chance we needed a couple of custom hybrid
circuits.  But none of the few companies capable of
making hybrids would answer the phone.  I'll leave some
spoiler space so you can guess why before the answer is
revealed.
s
p
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w

s
p
o
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b
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Every company capable of building the hybrids we needed
was working on a digital watch design and wanted none of
the critical resources that were applied to that design
to be diverted to any other project.

Regards,
John Green