Posted on 04/06/2011 4:41:56 AM PDT by Jonah Hex
>>>So no one was paying attention at the FCC?
They were bought.
I been involved in specifying GPS receivers for DoD systems. You have to scratch you head and wonder how anyone can offer one for less than a hundred bucks, until realize that they are essentially toys. The consequences of mission failure are a wrong turn on the interstate. Still, the low cost cell phone on your belt has more dynamic range than anyone would have thought possible at any price a few decades ago.
A few dollars in each pocket should be assurance enough, one would think.
Not to mention ATMS and the electric grid.
Yup, you read the latter right. Grid generators, I learned last week, use GPS as the clock source for their "synchrophasors," which synchronise generators across the grid. FOr reasons not known to me, they require sampling at microsecond intervals, +/1 500 nS, and they use GPS to get that accuracy.
GPS is more a part of our daily lives than most of us know.
Probably no one. It would likely have to be done as product recalls / warranty service which may provide work for some people but is more likely to simply result in lost productivity instead.
Assuming it can be done at all.
“You have to scratch you head and wonder how anyone can offer one for less than a hundred bucks, until realize that they are essentially toys. “
Indeed. You can do a lot with signal processing, especially with CDMA, but at some point, you need to actually limit adjacent band energy - and doing that costs money.
Jamming military GPS is not a trivial endeavor (as you know - that’s probably in your specs), but when you’ve got a wide-open front end, as the consumer-grade GPS units do - it’s begging to be unintentionally jammed - heaven forbid should somebody want to do it intentionally.
“Yup, you read the latter right. Grid generators, I learned last week, use GPS as the clock source for their “synchrophasors,” which synchronise generators across the grid.”
Scary. So we COMPLETELY RELY on a satellite system that’s 22,000 miles above the Earth, and can be turned off at ANY TIME.
And why would it be turned off? It provides a great way for Iranian or North Korean missiles to find their targets.
There is a reason why DOD owns the system and they will shut it off, AND KEEP IT OFF, if it is used against us.
“Sounds like you have an addiction to other peoples business. I wish you luck staying healthy.”
http://store.randmcnally.com/us-maps.html
But you do have to know how to read to use these paper things.
“Knucklehead!
GPS is NOT just for personal vehicles!
Package shipping, Air Traffic (new system), Emergency Responders, oh....and NATIONAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS!!!!!”
Scary. So we COMPLETELY RELY on a satellite system that’s 22,000 miles above the Earth, and can be turned off at ANY TIME.
And why would it be turned off? It provides a great way for Iranian or North Korean missiles to find their targets.
There is a reason why DOD owns the system and they will shut it off, AND KEEP IT OFF, if it is used against us.
I sure hope our masters are thinking about these things. I have a friend who works in a gas station - when people stop in with failed GPS’s, they BARELY know what state their in, much less what town, or what part of the town. It scares the hell out of me to see Americans so DUMBED DOWN.
(but I don’t want to hurt the feelings of people that rely on it)
“Yeah, because it was so much better relying on outdated maps and piles of papers with directions and landmarks. “
Speak for yourself. I make a point of using updated maps and teaching my kids how to get around WITHOUT a GPS.
But, yea, you can rely on a system that’s 22,000 miles overhead and can (and may well be) shut off with a single command from the ground. I will be able to get home, my kids will be able to get home, and you will be lucky to find your way out of your driveway.
Thank you. It seems clear that A LOT of people, perhaps a majority of this country has NO CLUE where they are driving.
They simply follow that little thing on the dashboard.
I know, lots of people don’t care. They don’t care that kids can’t multiply 9 x 7, because there are calculators.
But the bottom line is that we’re getting less and less able to survive in an ANALOG world, where calculators just may not be there (unless they’re stored in a Faraday cage) and people will have to take on this world without ANY help.
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