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Instructions

In the General Navigation section below you have access to our custom set of USCG exam questions that you can use to build custom quizzes on any topic. For celestial nav, for example, select USCG category Navigation Problems and enter "amplitude" and you can study amplitude problems. Or enter Polaris... or enter "fire" in the Safety category.

Celestial

2102-D Star Finder Simulator
An online simulator of the 2102-D Star Finder developed by Professor Captain A. Charbonnel, with minor modifications and adaptions, used with permission with an added video tutorial on its usage.

Extra practice reading Vernier scale
Some of the pictures are not as clear as we might hope, but in a sense the principle of reading the dial might well overcome that limitation. We should still strive for 0.1' precision, which will call for judging if two adjacent alignments are off by an equal amount in the opposite directions.

Lunar Altitude example
This method is a way to find GMT from the moon using more or less normal sights and thus has an advantage over lunar distance method, which requires special sights and special sight reduction procedures. Note that both of these methods require very accurate sights and are best reduced using a calculator or PC program since multiple reductions are required with highest possible precision. You can use the sight reduction routine from the NIMA computers (decoratively called Pub 229) which you can download from the shareware section of the Library.

Real sextant sights
Discussion of sextant sights with links to Starpath articles on sight analysis, plastic sextants, reading vernier scales, and actual data of sights underway and on land... to large part motivated by a past discussion with Cruising World magazine. Sights were taken at sea and on land with both metal and plastic sextants. Plus data on measuring index correction with plastic sextants.

Ron Baker Sights
A full set of cel nav sights from Ron Baker, which can be analyzed for practice. All necessary data are included.

General navigation

Practice with DR
This pdf article covers all methods of doing numerical dead reckoning (as opposed to plotting) and provides extensive practice problems headed in all directions in all quadrants. It is useful in all phases of navigation. That is, given a Lat Lon position and a course and distance run (or speed and time run) what is your new Lat and Lon. These notes explain the best way of doing this.

Random question generator
With this function you can generate practice tests on any subject in marine navigation or weather based on the USCG License exam database. Just choose the general area (Nav rules, deck general, safety, navigation, etc) then the subject (fire extinguishers, barge lights, compass corrections, etc) and choose the number of questions 10,30, or 50. You will then be presented with the quiz to work online and after submitting, you will see the correct answers and receive your score.

If you wish to take part in this free service for WebCard holders, please post a request in one of the online discussion forums and we will unlock the service for you. If you would like longer access or support with the questions from our instructors, please sign up for any one of our online courses.