DECCA HIFIX
Decca Hi-Fix
Articles about Decca HiFix and related systems
DECCA HI_FIX
The Decca Hi-Fix MF Positioning System
Hi-Fix was a precision hyperbolic positioning system with a maximum accuracy of 1.5 metres at a range of 50 kilometres from the transmitters. It was originally intended as a portable system that could be deployed wherever survey operations were taking place but many installations remained in place for a very long time.
Anyone who listened to or worked the 160m amateur band or 'top band' is it is universally known, or indeed the marine frequencies around 2 Mc/s will likely remember the 'jingle bells' sound of these systems. In the UK, shore-based chains of stations operated in the MF range at around 1900 kc/s for HiFix, and 1800 and 2100 kc/s for HyperFix. For many, the sound is nostalgic; for others a reminder of a nuisance we were well rid of. Whichever way you look at it, this is a piece of our history and I hope that, through this web site, I have adequately recorded this fact.