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-- Re: HandyGPS Wouldn't You Know It (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=5360)

Hi Folks:

This is for all of us that are waiting for the HandyGPS or are GPS users in general. It seems that the US Military as of Midnight tonight (GMT) will stop degrading the commercial GPS signal. Their turning off Selective Availability (SA) forever. What this means is that as of Midnight GMT all commercial GPS units will be ~10 times more accurate.


Navicom, where is the HandyGPS??????

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000501/15/clinton-gps

http://www.msnbc.com/news/401984.asp

this is really a great news. actually, the inaccuracy was the #2 reason I didn't want to buy a GPS for my Visor (#1 reason is money...)
now, where is that HandyGPS??? it's already May!

Yet another promise date passes without a word from a Springboard manufacturer! I had the bucks set aside for this gadget, but now I am going to take my wife out for a great dinner instead!

Sorry Navicom, you snooze you lose!

Take a look at the press release: http://www.whitehouse.gov/library/P...&briefing=0
While all the news articles I see say that they have turned off SA as of midnight, the press release indicates that the US is "committed the U.S. to discontinuing the use of SA by
2006..."
This is a big difference - Is it today or in six years? Anyone know?

SA was shut off at 0400 UTC on May 2. My Garmin GPS's indicate the accuracy went up from 60 ft to 13 ft (typical readings).

Check the following sites out for a graphical presentation of what it meant to turn off SA.

http://jennifer.mehaffey.com/sa-on-off.html

http://www.cnde.iastate.edu/staff/s...ps/sa_trans.gif


Some what impressive.



------------------
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it
is because Fiction is obliged to stick
to possibilities; Truth isn't. -- Mark Twain

I work with satellites all the time and yet I still find it absolutely AMAZING how accurate the GPS system can be. The fact that the difference in how long one signal from a satellite reach you compared to another satellite's signal can result in such an accurate reading, especially since these signals travel at the speed of light, making that time difference so miniscule. It just blows my mind. And that the atomic clocks on these satellites are accurate within 3 billionths of a second. Crazy!

All that technology can be in any Joe Schmoe's hand for as cheap as $150!

[This message has been edited by Nhatman (edited 05-04-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Nhatman (edited 05-04-2000).]