Decca Navigator System - Other Applications

Other Applications

A more accurate system named Hi-Fix was developed using signalling in the 1.6 MHz range. It was used for specialised applications such as precision measurements involved with oil-drilling and by the Royal Navy for detailed mapping and surveying of coasts and harbours. The Hi-Fix equipment was leased for a period with temporary chains established to provide coverage of the area required, Hi-Fix was commercialised by Racal Survey in the early 1980s. An experimental chain was installed with coverage of central London and receivers placed in London buses and other vehicles to demonstrate an early vehicle location and tracking system. Each vehicle would report its location automatically via a conventional VHF two-way radio link, the data added to a voice channel. A forerunner to a system employed by London black cabs in the 1990s using GPS and now the widespread use of GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi geolocation applications.

An interesting characteristic of the Decca VLF signal discovered on BOAC, later British Airways, test flights to Moscow, was that the carrier switching could not be detected even though the carrier could be received with sufficient strength to provide navigation. Such testing, involving civilian aircraft, is quite common and may well not be in the knowledge of a pilot.

The 'low frequency' signalling of the Decca system also permitted its use on submarines. One 'enhancement' of the Decca system was to offer the potential of keying the signal, using Morse code, to signal the onset of nuclear war. This was never optioned by the UK government. Messages were clandestinely sent, however, between Decca stations thereby bypassing international telephone calls, especially in non-UK chains.

A long range trans North Atlantic system was in operation from the mid 1950s. It was called DECTRA. It utilised two stations in Newfoundland and two in Scotland. The transmissions used normal "pattern" transmitters of a much higher power than on standard DECCA frequencies. It was intended as an air navigational aid.