GPS Navigation May Fail Next Year

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Dirk

Guest
internet crash in 2012....what will we do with our spare time.....o yeah... fight aliens.
 
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DoctorPhate

Guest
actually guys this has been talked about for the past year or so on dailytech. It is a real possibility because the USA was hoping to rely on russia and chinas GPS sats. for now until it could upgrade in 2012 i believe it was. But with relations going down the toilet it doesnt seem like thats going to work. They are hoping that by combining with the europeans it may plug the holes for now but its looking more and more like even with the europeans there will be holes.
 

BillaVista

PrettyBoy
:lmao:

I think you'll find that:

a) The US militray doesn't "hope" in its strategic planning.
b) That the US military doesn't ever "rely" on the Russians and Chinese (the very suggestion is beyond ludicrous)
c) That the Russians and Chinese do not have GPS satellites (it's not like sat nav is just one big happy family).

Not trying to be a dick, just don't want anyone to be alarmed.

But what do I know!
 

2Greys

Insert title here
Club Member
Bill's right. (like there was a doubt)
My dad was involved with DND in getting Canada on Navstar back in the 80's. He gets a chuckle out of this
 
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DoctorPhate

Guest
China does have its own GPS sats. and they aren't linked to the NORAD ones(the ones we use here in Canada and in the USA).

No, the USA does not hope. They were told they could piggy back off the Europeans sats a few years ago while they develop better sats.(This leaves about a 1 year gap between the old sats. going down and the new sats. coming online.)

The US and Canadian military GPS systems will still work. They will be slightly less accurate but its not those that we are worried about. its the Aging ones that are used by the general public that are about to die. Those ones were to be piggy backed with the european ones to keep the signals up however the Euros aren't up to that anymore from what i've heard.

There are two TYPES of GPS Sats up there. the ones that the consumers use(which is the hand-me-downs from the US and Canadian military's previous gen) and the Military network which will be fine.

The US military and Canadian military use a different network then your garmin. Do you really think that your Garmin's ability to tell you "You're at 648 Clarence" while your in the parking lot of a building 3 doors down is good enough for the US or even Canada? The military grade ones are accurate to 2 feet i believe. The consumer ones are accurate to i believe 20 meters. Thats a big difference.

The reason there is a possibility of the consumer network going down is because the consumers sats are getting old and are about to die. The US is developing new sats to replace their current military ones. Once the new ones are sent up, the oldest of the military sats are given to the consumer network(public).

Its EXACTLY like getting a hand-me-down sweater. If your brother doesnt get a new sweater by june 19th as planned you dont still get to take his sweater. You get his sweater when he gets a new one.
 

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
Uh, I wouldn't start an argument on this with Bill. If anyone knows this subject, it's him.
But hey, if you're looking for one, be my guest....................:flipoff:
 
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kbrousseau

Guest
Could you imagine if people had to back to using those...ummm...what were they called again?........made of paper......folded up to fit in your glovebox.......MAPS!!! thats it! Could you imagine if people had to go back to using maps? How would they find their way around using those old things?:D
 
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NitroTy

Guest
My understanding was that there wouldn't be quite as much sky coverage, so you could have drop-outs in cities with tall buildings, but otherwise it would work just fine. Probably not much we would notice compared to usual operation.
 

Farm Boy

Bought the Farm
I'm with you Keith, I'll take a map any day. Hard to get a big enough picture on a 2x2 screen.

:stir:
 
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JeepJen

Guest
That's why we have a handheld that plugs into the laptop. A nice 13 inch screen :)
 
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