South Jersey Caching & Safety: Does your GPS seem to be having an off day?
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You know those days: you can't get accuracy better than 40 feet, the signal bounce seems extreme, or you can't get a good satellite lock? It may not be the batteries, or your unit! It may be something else all together - Solar Activity! Solar-Terrestrial Effects Episodic solar activity has a number of interesting effects. A radiation dose from energetic particles is an occasional hazard for astronauts and for electronics on satellites. Geomagnetic field disturbances may damage power systems, disrupt communications, degrade high-tech navigation systems, or create the spectacular aurora (Northern and Southern lights). The National Weather Service Space Environment Center provides warnings of these events and continues the solar monitoring that began 400 years ago with Galileo's invention of the telescope. Earth-Space Activities... disrupted by solar and geomagnetic events · Satellite operations · Navigation · Space Shuttle and Space Station activities · High-altitude polar flights · Electric power distribution · Long-line telephone communication · HF radio communication · Pipeline operations · Geophysical exploration So, the next time your unit is acting funky with no reasonable explanation, try looking here and see if there is a high level of geomagnetic activity. It may just save you a little frustration in the long run. |
Does your GPS seem to be having an off day? © copyright 2010 http://sjgeocaching.org/SJG