Fog horns...

Insomnia is a bummer. I was laying awake last night, trying to count sheep or something, when the fog apparently came in, 'cuz we suddenly had two different fog horns going off nearby. So I started counting the seconds between one of them sounding. Turned out to be about 150 seconds, give or take a lot. I also noticed that the other horn went off more often. With all of the nautical talk that has been going around here, this made me wonder. I assume that there is a book, chart, something, somewhere, that tells how often any particular fog horn sounds, so that a mariner could time the sound, guestimate the direction, and have a clue where he/she might be. Is this true, and if so, where would one find this information? Sleepy minds want to know...

on my way out the door, but, they are called aids to navigation (ATON) and come under the coast guard.

can be found on nautical charts, but only listed as 'horn'. no timing indicated.

someone, somewhere, may have this data in a book or on line...

lights are different. charts give height of the light, how far it can be seen, color and frequency.

horns can be deceiving, esp in the fog, which is when they run.

i know you have dial up, but you can readily find the sound of the golden gate horn online.

impressive!

add to your list of things to do when you come across broadband!

I could listen to it, even with the slowmo dialup! Sounds exactly like the two we listened to all night!

You want impressive, visit a lighthouse some day, and have them blow the horn with you standy nearby! Then imagine living there...

I grew up in San Francisco and although we lived well away from the water and were much higher in elevation than the Golden Gate Bridge, I remember listening to the Golden Gate Bridge foghorn many a time from my house. The current foghorn was installed sometime in the 80's and I don't particularly like it. The original fog horn was the stereotypical sound we think of--a deep, baritone high-then-low blast. For me, besides the tinkling sound of a cable car bell, that old foghorn is the "sound" of San Francisco to me.

sorry, couldn't remember this earlier, but there are a series of books called "coast pilot" from noaa. they are specific to areas around the country.

from the website:

http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/nsd/coastpilot.htm

"Issued in nine volumes, they contain supplemental information that is difficult to portray on a nautical chart.

Topics in the Coast Pilot include channel descriptions, anchorages, bridge and cable clearances, currents, tide and water levels, prominent features, pilotage, towage, weather, ice conditions, wharf descriptions, dangers, routes, traffic separation schemes, small-craft facilities, and Federal regulations applicable to navigation."

they might have fog horn frequencies and durations, i seem to remember that they do.

invaluable - along w/charts and gps - when sailing to areas unknown.

obg, don't know how dialup handles pdf files, but if you go here: Coast Pilot 7 (1989) and scroll down to california etc you can peruse a historic coast pilot of the west coast from 1989 that i'm sure includes where you are. obviously there are updated versions of this, but it will give you an idea about what kind of info they have.

i was wrong. they don't appear to have fog horn data. at least for my area.

Just took my CYA Basic Keelboat (Canadian Yachting Association ) exam yesterday. I'm not 100% but Im pretty sure these regs are international.

The regs state that you need to sound your horn in fog at least once every 2 minutes AND after you hear one.

If your sounding more frequently than 2 minutes then you should give adequate time to hear other horns in between your blasts.

Power boats should use one long blast of 4-6 seconds.
Sailing vessels should use one long blast(4-5 seconds) followed by 2 short blasts(1 second each).

FYI _ I don't remeber reading/hearing anyting about the horn frequencies...thus to my knowledge any horn will do.

Most regs require the horn to be audible 1 nm away.

it's in the 1972 ColRegs in the back next to lighting requirements.

Thanks. We are currently in WA, not CA. I will try to sift thru all that info you provided, just to see what I find...

"... Please tell me you were near water..."

Oh yeah. Elevation, 'bout 15 ft above sea level, distance to the water, maybe 100 yards. Near a point with a horn, another one within two miles...

San Francisco has changed much since I was stationed and then went to University in the Bay area.The first fog signal was a cannon fired manually.It was displayed at TRACEN ALAMEDA, Government Island, improperly mounted on a faux naval carriage.
The scrapping of the old foghorn was just one more insult to a lost culture of white gloved women and a clarity of public behaviour.

Um, "nautical mile"...

;-)

LOL! Love your spirit. Gettin' old here, too, so I'll try to keep up with ya...