planned GPS outage on the west coast

[agesilaus]

THe Navy is up to something--secret: POPMech

May not affect you too much on the ground unless you are near the Naval Weapons Station in the SoCal desert.

[harold1946]

SCVJeff wrote:

Us out West wrote:

harold1946 wrote:
Are there that many RVrs that travel at 40,000 feet or even 50

Exactly....not an RV topic but whatever. :S

I would think both of you desert guys would have some idea how flat the desert is, and GPS at 1.5GHz is line of sight. This test is in East Edwards which, if a true jammer, will wipe out anything on the 58 and 395. So I think that qualifies.

Anyone that needs a GPS within the test area radius on the 58 or 395 probably should not be driving. Even Ray Charles could have driven through that area and not gotten lost.
Has anyone ever gotten lost in the Isenhower tunnel when they lost GPS signal? :B

[JaxDad]

Tvov wrote:
I'm curious how you can "block" GPS only in the air, but not on the ground? Wouldn't anything blocking it in the air, prevent the signal from getting to the ground?

It's not just in the air, but because radio signals are easily blocked by things like trees or buildings it affects a far larger area in the air than it does on the ground.

[nomad_297]

For years, whenever I get to within a few miles of Andrews AFB in Maryland and a few miles of the White House, my GPS starts to lose satellite connections. Some days are worse than others.

Bruce

[Tvov]

I'm curious how you can "block" GPS only in the air, but not on the ground? Wouldn't anything blocking it in the air, prevent the signal from getting to the ground?

[SCVJeff]

Us out West wrote:

harold1946 wrote:
Are there that many RVrs that travel at 40,000 feet or even 50

Exactly....not an RV topic but whatever. :S

I would think both of you desert guys would have some idea how flat the desert is, and GPS at 1.5GHz is line of sight. This test is in East Edwards which, if a true jammer, will wipe out anything on the 58 and 395. So I think that qualifies.

[SCVJeff]

Oh great !
So I got a brand bakers dozen box of missles and a couple of rusted VW's in the desert, and now you tell me I can't aim em' ?

[Us_out_West]

harold1946 wrote:
Are there that many RVrs that travel at 40,000 feet or even 50

Exactly....not an RV topic but whatever. :S

[Dick_A]

Moved from General RV'ing forum.

[CavemanCharlie]

harold1946 wrote:
Are there that many RVrs that travel at 40,000 feet or even 50

Not that I know of,,, but, that would be COOl !! :C

[harold1946]

Are there that many RVrs that travel at 40,000 feet or even 50

[Gene_Ginny]

agesilaus wrote:
... You have to wonder why they don't try it out over Johnson Atoll or some other isolated spot. ...

Too hard to move the technology from China Lake. More info here.

China Lake, which tests weapons and avionics for tactical aircraft, encompasses 1.1 million acres, which makes it larger than Rhode Island.

Should only be a problem if your RV or car is 50 feet off the ground.

The testing centered at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division based in China Lake, Calif., could affect aircraft at least 50 feet off the ground within hundreds of miles of the base to as high as 40,000 feet above sea level nearly 550 miles away.

[NYCgrrl]

gbopp wrote:
I think the article said it will only be disabled for aircraft above 40,000 feet.

If they turned it off in a populated area, some people couldn't find their way to or from work.

Yes that's what the linked article said right at the beginning:

"Starting today and continuing intermittently until the 30th of June, the Navy is doing something that will knock out GPS signals in the Mojave Desert. They won't say what that something is, though.

The FAA has issued a warning to all "aircraft that rely on GPS," (your bi-plane is fine) that once someone gets around 40,000 feet in the air on the 7th, 9th, 21st, 23rd, 28th, and 30th of June, between 9:30am and 3:30pm, their GPS will not work."

[Bucky_Badger]

kalynzoo wrote:
So how many people will get lost? We depend on GPS now for so many daily functions, like tracking deliveries, tracking employee vehicles, tracking just about everything. Call for ERS and they track your phone location by GPS. I just hope the DOD knows what it is doing. 🙂

errrr, the sky is NOT falling

The FAA has issued a warning to all "aircraft that rely on GPS," (your bi-plane is fine) that once someone gets around 40,000 feet in the air on the 7th, 9th, 21st, 23rd, 28th, and 30th of June, between 9:30am and 3:30pm, their GPS will not work.

[gbopp]

I think the article said it will only be disabled for aircraft above 40,000 feet.

If they turned it off in a populated area, some people couldn't find their way to or from work.

[kalynzoo]

So how many people will get lost? We depend on GPS now for so many daily functions, like tracking deliveries, tracking employee vehicles, tracking just about everything. Call for ERS and they track your phone location by GPS. I just hope the DOD knows what it is doing. 🙂