Posted on 06/11/2004 11:38:19 AM PDT by Constitution Day
Military exercise will test GPS jamming, affect boaters
The Associated Press
June 11, 2004 8:16 am
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Boaters may have to rely on dead reckoning to get around for the coming week because a military exercise will test and evaluate a system designed to jam signals from navigation satellites.
The exercise starting Friday and continuing through most of next week will gauge the military's ability to interfere with global positioning systems from about 50 to 60 miles off the North Carolina coast and in parts of Florida.
Testing may affect cell phones as well and will take place during certain times of each of the seven days.
"It's one part of the Combined Joint Task Force exercise," said Marine Capt. Michael Armistead, spokesman for U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.
NATO forces have been training this week along the Atlantic coast. British troops have been training alongside Camp Lejeune Marines and sailors. Local Coast Guard stations are trying to get word out about the interference and are particularly concerned about boaters who do not keep up with mariner notices.
"Those people may not be as apt to be up on it," said Petty Officer First Class David Christensen with Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach. "What we kind of foresee happening is some confusion on the mariners' end."
Capt. Jordan Diemer of Pura Vida Charter Services in Wrightsville Beach began warning other mariners about the interference testing shortly after he saw the notice.
"I just found out about it this morning," Diemer said Thursday. "They didn't do a good job of getting the word out."
He plans to use alternatives to GPS, such as a compass and Loran, or Long Range Navigation, which serves as a navigational aid using radio frequencies.
He's concerned about the effects the interruptions will have on the upcoming Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament in Morehead City. He plans to fish the tournament, which begins Monday.
The Coast Guard urged boaters to tell a relative or marina their destination and the time they plan to return. Boaters also should have a working marine radio and up-to-date charts. Christensen said.
Links related to this article:
Coast Guard Navigation Center: www.navcen.uscg.gov.
Information from The Star-News,: starnewsonline.com
You mentioned this on the NC Freeper page.
Old Crows are a tight-lipped bunch.
/john
Thanks. Isn't there someone here with an aviation ping list?
I'll send AOPA a link.
Great. Thanks.
I'm reading that article thinking, how fast can a boat get lost? 5, 10 knots?
I can get lost at 175 knots! Yow!
Wonder what the airlines are gonna do about it?
Well, it will be a great exercise for all mariners who have come to rely way too much on electronic equipment such as GPS and chartplotters. Those ol' nautical charts will get a much needed workout.
it's not so much getting lost as finding an underwater obstacle! positioning is still important in the water!
is this a localized N C prob? or is my GPS at lake powell going to be junk this weekend?
need aviation ping
Real men don't need a GPS to navigate Lake Powell - just a cooler full of cold beer.
Ah. Roger your comment on positioning - sandbars, rocks, wrecks, etc...
From reading the article this seems like it will an East of the Mississippi problem.
You'll probably be fine, using totally different GPS satellites.
You don't know how to fly VOR to VOR? :-)
INS and IRS.
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