FAA warns of ongoing GPS issues in southeastern US due to Defense Department 'tests'

Does this mean we should expect more mass bird die-offs?

 

The DOD can encrypt GPS so non-military receivers will not work or work with reduced accuracy. They call it Selective Availability.

It used to be that we civilians always got reduced accuracy. Then in 2000, they shared the good stuff with us.

They can still shut it off though (by region). That's probably what they're testing.

 

Encryption and Selective Availability are different, unrelated issues. The best stuff is always encrypted and not available to civilians, even when Selective Availability is turned off.

 

Only the ones that depend on GPS for navigation.

 

Hmmm...maybe so, but this just sounds "suspect" to me. For GPS not to work, satellite transponders would have to be turned off. If GPS isn't working, then cell phones would be disrupted also. Now, I could see "solar storms" or even a high concentration of radiation (from a nuclear weapon) causing some communication distortion. Nope, not buying the GPS disruption; not just yet. Although, I once "tested" my electrical circuit breaker and took down an entire wall of outlets!

Happy Motoring,

Tom

 

There are several ways to make the GPS system not work of work inaccurately without taking down transponders.

And the cell phone relationship? Other than not being able to use your phone as a navigation device or having your phone tattle on where you are, please explain.

 

I'm thinking of satellite cell phones that share communication space with transponders rather than cells that use towers.

Happy Motoring,

Tom

 

Hobbyists and businesses have built self guiding model airplanes that can navigate along a path to a target using GPS.

It would be wise to have a means of disabling GPS in a limited region on very short notice. If I had to make I bet on what the GPS test is all about, I would say it's a test of such a rapid response system.:cheer2:

 

The GPS sats are completely independent of the cell phone sats.

 

The precise location and general nature of the announcement makes it sound like an jamming or L-Band radar test of some sort. Most of the significant tests of this nature are done offshore on a barge or ship to get away from any land interference. The GPS signal is rather weak and it does not take much interference of the right sort to cause dropouts on receivers in close proximity. There was no mention of the signals being incorrect, just unavailable, quite a big difference.

 

It all sounds like a load of hooey to me. Since a lot of things depend on GPS now, it would not make since for it to be disrupted. I mean, airplanes, law enforcement, emergency response vehicles, farm equipment, ships, etc. depend on GPS.

I just have my extreme doubts that this is true. It also seems that if it were true, they would give everyone plenty of notice and it would be announced many times by the news.

 

Doh! Several of us should have been suspicious and checked it out.

I went to the FAA website and checked their NOTAMs, not a single mention of the rumored event.

Thanks for the reality check:rockon:

 

Obviously not, your brilliance.

 

I'm not an airman, but what is this FAA page? Ten items, half mention the very same longitude-latitude as the Engadet map, the other half mention a location over southeast California. Distances and flight levels also match up.

 

The western location is a ways northeast of the center of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center on Google maps.

 

This is only a test...