View Full Version : GPS Outages
Genghis the Engineer
3rd Apr 2009, 17:13
Out of interest, has anybody suffered any odd GPS outages flying in England over the last few days.
I've had two, both in perfectly good conditions, both about 20 minutes. One was flying near Swindon early on Wednesday evening with a Garmin 55, and one was in my car on country roads in Hampshire on Thursday evening with a Garmin Nuvi.
No significant cloud cover either evening, and nothing NOTAMed that I could spot.
G
Sir George Cayley
3rd Apr 2009, 21:35
You need nano.aero - Report navigation anomalies and help make flying safer (http://www.nano.aero) - they look after this kind of thing
Sir George Cayley
Mariner9
4th Apr 2009, 10:05
I was told by another pilot of GPS outages being NOTAMmed last weekend, though I didn't have any problems and nothing appeared in my narrow route brief (Cardiff to Boston)
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
4th Apr 2009, 10:15
Interesting thread. I've been using GPS on the ground for 10+years on almost a daily basis and never experienced an "outage" and wasn't aware that such events occurred. GPS jamming does occur; it is NOTAMed and usually in a remote area well aware from busy cities, etc.
Cloud cover should not produce an "outage".
Genghis the Engineer
5th Apr 2009, 11:38
Interesting thread. I've been using GPS on the ground for 10+years on almost a daily basis and never experienced an "outage" and wasn't aware that such events occurred. GPS jamming does occur; it is NOTAMed and usually in a remote area well aware from busy cities, etc.
Cloud cover should not produce an "outage".
No, it *shouldn't*, but I've seen it a number of times with handheld sets in both enclosed and open cockpits, flying just below an overcast.
G
flybymike
5th Apr 2009, 15:42
Several others, including myself, have remarked on "outages" in heavy cloud cover. Whether this is coincidence I have no idea.
Gertrude the Wombat
5th Apr 2009, 18:00
Several others, including myself, have remarked on "outages" in heavy cloud cover. Whether this is coincidence I have no idea.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the power budget on the downlink can get a bit marginal, particularly to an "indoors" receiver (handheld in a closed cockpit with no external antenna), which would suggest that it wouldn't be astonishing if sufficient cloud were to tip some receivers over the edge. But you need a proper radio professional for proper advice.
A couple of years ago, flying from KFFZ in Arizona, my Bendix-King KLN89B starts acting up, map page all skewed, inop time/distance data, so I tell the tower.
They make a telephone call.
Yup, it's TRW again, with their test signals.
The FBI is called.
Their chief engineer on site is propmptly arrested and read his Miranda rights.
No problems since.
Nobody f***s with my GPS signal.
Period.
If they try, I know just whom to call.:E
A completely true story.
The FBI takes unwarranted GPS interferrance very seriously in the USA...jail time for the perps, make no mistake.
flybymike
5th Apr 2009, 22:18
Who or what is TRW?
Who or what is TRW?
TRW - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRW)
The TRW engineer-in-charge received six months in the local jail, next time, five years in the Federal pen.
The FBI means business with GPS attempted (or inadverent, in this case) interferrence.
silverelise
6th Apr 2009, 11:32
Was the GPS playing silly devils at about the time Mr.Obama would have been out and about in Airforce One by any chance?