My First Research Dive 1982, actually 1980

April 08, 2019, 02:36 PM

Southflorida-law

Found this old article from 1982 when I was at UF. Communication Sciences at UF was doing research and needed divers. So I volunteered. Fun day on a lake outside of the town of Keystone Heights, FL. The system worked pretty well except if you went past it, then you were totally lost. Sort of like the old Range Directional Finders. They put us on a marked trail to see our swim times then tow us out to the middle of the lake and start the test.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Southflorida-law, April 09, 2019 09:39 AM

April 08, 2019, 02:53 PM

walkinghorse

Nice Story, anymore details?
Personal experience trying out the method?
Do you know how much further it advanced?

April 08, 2019, 03:12 PM

Southflorida-law

quote:
Originally posted by walkinghorse:
Nice Story, anymore details?
Personal experience trying out the method?
Do you know how much further it advanced?

Never heard what came of the technology. Like I said, it was like a Range Directional finder. I do have a few friends working with Special Operations on navigational systems that are far more advanced, using GPS and computers.

I found it interesting, with a very quick learning curve. First time took a little bit, you would hear 3 separate "static" noises, and if you were on course the noise would sound like it was in the middle of your head. Off course and it would be in your right or left ear.

But if you happened to swim past the speakers you would just keep on swimming, it gave you no indication that you were past it unless you swam far enough that it got lest loud. But the lake was not that big.

April 09, 2019, 09:39 AM

Southflorida-law

the date of the article was nagging at me, 1982 didnt seem right for some reason, so I dug out my old dive log books, and, i was right, the dive I did for them was in October of 1980! So this project went at least 2 years or more.

April 09, 2019, 10:12 AM

slosig

quote:
Originally posted by Southflorida-law:
quote:
Originally posted by walkinghorse:
Nice Story, anymore details?
Personal experience trying out the method?
Do you know how much further it advanced?

Never heard what came of the technology. Like I said, it was like a Range Directional finder. I do have a few friends working with Special Operations on navigational systems that are far more advanced, using GPS and computers.

I found it interesting, with a very quick learning curve. First time took a little bit, you would hear 3 separate "static" noises, and if you were on course the noise would sound like it was in the middle of your head. Off course and it would be in your right or left ear.

But if you happened to swim past the speakers you would just keep on swimming, it gave you no indication that you were past it unless you swam far enough that it got lest loud. But the lake was not that big.

Sounds like the old AN ranges used before VORs for air navigation. If you were on one side you head A, on the other N. If dialed in the overlapped. Nope, I haven’t been flying that long, just since the ‘80s, but I’ve read about AN ranges. We may even have some SF folks who’ve flown them.

April 09, 2019, 11:48 AM

walkinghorse

Southfloridalaw thanks for the added details!
Murky water diving was one of the spookiest things to me, well next to cave diving in the 60's in Florida. Combine the two, hit the silt with a flipper, and my wet suit needed cleaning!