GPS shutdown

[11.4]

In case you hadn't heard, the military is jamming all GPS for a huge military exercise centered in Nevada, so they can test functionality in a GPS-less environment. This starts today. Jamming may be intermittent -- the military won't say -- but it will affect both American and Russian systems and is expected at least to interfere with GPS reception over several Western states including parts of California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, and so on.

Here's a link on an article about it. So don't trust your Strava or your GPS mapping for the next few days, folks.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/17987/usaf-is-jamming-gps-in-the-western-u-s-for-largest-ever-red-flag-air-war-exercise

[vqdriver]

time to bust out that old thomas guide when driving

[gdw]

Cool, old time navigation. I wonder if my tech addicted neighbor will be able to find her way home after work.

[11.4]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/C-Plath-Traditional-Sextant-Brass-arch-SN-64XXX-Excellent-Used-Condition/182738382000?hash=item2a8c0e6cb0:g:-1sAAOSw~RNZpX04

[weisan]

https://img.maximummedia.ie/joe_ie/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvbWVkaW Etam9lLm1heGltdW1tZWRpYS5pZS5zMy5hbWF6b25hd3MuY29t XFxcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcXFwvdXBsb2Fkc1xcXC8yMDEzXFxcLz A0XFxcL3NfMzZfMzkzX18zNjM5My14bGFyZ2UuanBnXCIsXCJ3 aWR0aFwiOjY0NyxcImhlaWdodFwiOjM0MCxcImRlZmF1bHRcIj pcImh0dHBzOlxcXC9cXFwvd3d3LmpvZS5pZVxcXC9hc3NldHNc XFwvaW1hZ2VzXFxcL2pvZVxcXC9uby1pbWFnZS5wbmc_dj00XC J9IiwiaGFzaCI6ImIzZjZiMjFmYmM4M2E0MmFhNmIzNDZlYmE5 ZDcyZWZmZjlhZTgwODgifQ==/s-36-393-36393-xlarge.jpg

[Mark McM]

Jamming may be intermittent -- the military won't say -- but it will affect both American and Russian systems and is expected at least to interfere with GPS reception over several Western states including parts of California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, and so on.

Well, I hope they tell at least some agencies. More and more, air traffic control and navigation systems are relying on using GPS. Most aircraft (and certainly all commercial aircraft) have back up systems, but the loss of GPS is certain to create problems and delays in air traffic sequencing.

(In days past, air navigation was based on ground based radio beacons and radar, but the increasing prevalence of GPS is being used as an excuse to de-commission ground based radio navigation systems. I hope we don't come to a day when there is no longer any practical backup to GPS systems.)

Maybe this means that this weekend pilots will have to break out their old paper charts and E6B flight computer slide http://abload.de/img/img_0232y1xhv.jpgrules!

[oldpotatoe]

https://img.maximummedia.ie/joe_ie/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvbWVkaW Etam9lLm1heGltdW1tZWRpYS5pZS5zMy5hbWF6b25hd3MuY29t XFxcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcXFwvdXBsb2Fkc1xcXC8yMDEzXFxcLz A0XFxcL3NfMzZfMzkzX18zNjM5My14bGFyZ2UuanBnXCIsXCJ3 aWR0aFwiOjY0NyxcImhlaWdodFwiOjM0MCxcImRlZmF1bHRcIj pcImh0dHBzOlxcXC9cXFwvd3d3LmpvZS5pZVxcXC9hc3NldHNc XFwvaW1hZ2VzXFxcL2pvZVxcXC9uby1pbWFnZS5wbmc_dj00XC J9IiwiaGFzaCI6ImIzZjZiMjFmYmM4M2E0MmFhNmIzNDZlYmE5 ZDcyZWZmZjlhZTgwODgifQ==/s-36-393-36393-xlarge.jpg

Somebody got a haircut!:)

For right above, I learned how to fly IFR, I Follow Roads...I still have my nav wheel and stuff.

[glepore]

no worries, FAA has notices out on this, of course

[sg8357]

GPS signals will be jammed, they will also be spoofed.
So yep your Garmin will work, you will just be 20 miles to the left of
where you your Garmin thinks you are. Admittedly Garmins seem
to spoofed most every ride I'm on, must be space aliens.
So set your Garmin to Glonass, use the navigation satellites
of our glorious socialist allies.

[AngryScientist]

interesting.

uber and lyft are the first things that came to my mind and how reliant they are on gps.

[11.4]

Well, I hope they tell at least some agencies. More and more, air traffic control and navigation systems are relying on using GPS. Most aircraft (and certainly all commercial aircraft) have back up systems, but the loss of GPS is certain to create problems and delays in air traffic sequencing.

(In days past, air navigation was based on ground based radio beacons and radar, but the increasing prevalence of GPS is being used as an excuse to de-commission ground based radio navigation systems. I hope we don't come to a day when there is no longer any practical backup to GPS systems.)

Maybe this means that this weekend pilots will have to break out their old paper charts and E6B flight computer slide http://abload.de/img/img_0232y1xhv.jpgrules!

This actually popped up first as aviation safety notices from FAA. It's getting attention in flight circles. I assume people like Uber are up to speed. But a lot of us can really get screwed if we don't know. Fire stations don't have an alternative to use, and there are significant issues for marine users. Above all if it's that Strava record you're three seconds away from and this is your big weekend.

[likebikes]

working just fine for me, no problems and i'm in one of the western states listed.

[oldpotatoe]

no worries, FAA has notices out on this, of course

Haven't flown for a while but isn't NAV still pretty much TACAN/NDB/INS? Under positive radar control and all? I'd think GPS, on airways NAV, with more traditional NAV as backup..(?)...

I also wonder if they still teach airspeed/heading/time...type stuff. I had 50-60 hours in bug smashers before I even turned the ADF or transponder on...(1970)...yup, old fart.

[rounder]

I am working in Baton Rouge this week and was using my phone for directions to the laundromat. Some of the directions wanted me to turn the wrong way on one way streets.

[gdw]

I am working in Baton Rouge this week and was using my phone for directions to the laundromat. Some of the directions wanted me to turn the wrong way on one way streets.

That's a database, map, issue. It's not that common nowadays but was in the past when the maps were more primitive and updated infrequently. Some of the early database products didn't show over/underpasses as well.

[likebikes]

anyone notice their gps down?

[GregL]

I also wonder if they still teach airspeed/heading/time...type stuff. I had 50-60 hours in bug smashers before I even turned the ADF or transponder on...(1970)...yup, old fart.
Same experience here! I didn't start to regularly use navaids until after I had my PPL. Dead reckoning navigation experience was a great skill to have. Years later, I had a VLF/Omega nav unit fail on a long overwater leg. Used good old fashioned dead reckoning to navigate the remaining overwater route segments with no problem and hit the last fix within 30 seconds of my estimate. While GPS and FMS are great, I couldn't imaging NOT having good backup skills.

If you ever have a chance, read the book Blue Moon over Cuba (https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Moon-over-Cuba-Reconnaissance/dp/1780960719). It's a very well researched account of the US Navy's low-level reconnaissance flights over Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis. Those pilots made precision photo runs at high speed using nothing more than a map, compass, and sharp eyes! An actual mission photo is linked below.

Greg

http://www.vfp62.com/IMAGES_9/crusader_over_cuba.jpg

[bicycletricycle]

time to bust out that old thomas guide when driving

Ha! thomas guide!!!!!!!!!!