solar flares

[+Wile E. Dragonfly]

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/...rflare_gps.html

 

What do you know... a reason that the gps leads me astray some days! Solar flares! Now I have a good reason! Well, at least some times...

[+x_Marks_the_spot]

I'm kinda surprised that this is only just now becoming news. It seems so obvious to me. Solar flares screw everything else up, why would GPS be any different?

[+Confucius' Cat]

It's kinda funny. I have been in the two-way radio business for many years and one of the things often cited for random unexplained troubles is "sun spots". While there is some validity to it, most times it was just used as an excuse to quit looking for the real problem when it became evident that it would not be easily found and was not likely to recur.

 

I have noticed on several occasions that my mobile GPSr will suddenly show my location a hundred miles away and return in a second or so. This often results in a "speed warning" with my ground speed showing several huindred MPH- darn good for a Ford Explorer!

 

I think my "world land speed record" is somehwere around 2500 MPH.

 

I have noticed that a lot of these anomolies are caused by buildings and bridges which cause random multipath reflections, skewing the internal math.

 

I have had several that could not be so easily explained. Perhaps it really IS solar flares. I had not considered this.

 

Thanks for the link.

[+EScout]

Solar flares strong enough to interfere with GPS are very rare. And since our use is not critical, we should not worry.

[+Confucius' Cat]

Solar flares strong enough to interfere with GPS are very rare. And since our use is not critical, we should not worry.

[+edscott]

Dont' think I'll notice it at all.. except maybe I'll start to gain some ground on some of the professional cachers...

[+Girls Phind Squirrels]

Drats! I had already convinced my SO that we needed a new GPS because ours has been erratic for the last two weeks.

[RexBloodman]

On one of the news wires there is a report of solar flares and radiation heading our way. GPSr's will probably be affected again.

 

Here is some more info I just found about it

 

http://www.spaceweather.com/

[+Airmapper]

......

I have noticed on several occasions that my mobile GPSr will suddenly show my location a hundred miles away and return in a second or so. This often results in a "speed warning" with my ground speed showing several huindred MPH- darn good for a Ford Explorer!

 

I think my "world land speed record" is somehwere around 2500 MPH.

........

 

Yeah yeah, we all know your ramping that Explorer through every one of these you see......

[+olbluesguy]

Giant solar flares are expected to have an effect on earth for the next four days.

How is this effecting your geocaching where you are?

[+nekom]

You know that hadn't even occured to me. I had some caching planned this weekend, hope the signal doesn't get nuked. The size of this one isn't unprecidented, though, I don't recall any troubles in the past with them.

[+Wayfinders]

Shouldn't really effect us, but yes.....they can cause disruptions.

Check this out

[+mtn-man]

I merged the new topic into the old topic that was bumped yesterday on the same subject.

[+nekom]

Shouldn't really effect us, but yes.....they can cause disruptions.

Check this out

 

That headline: Solar flares cause GPS failures, possibly devastating for jets and distress calls, Cornell researchers warn

 

I guess not being able to find an ammo box in the woods seems kind of trivial by comparison.

[+OHMIKY]

solar flares are those things you put outside when your starship breaks down as a warning to other pilots that there is an obstruction here?

[+BlueDeuce]

We've got 'Northern Lights' here in Eastern Iowa.

 

You might want to go check the sky.

 

Very cool.

Edited December 15, 2006 by BlueDeuce

[+nekom]

wow too bad I moved away from the boonies, too much light pollution but I remember seeing the northern lights here in southwest Pennsylvania a few years back. Nowhere near as elaborate as the photos I've seen of them up north, more like a subtle red haze shifting slowly in the sky, but still a sight to behold.

[RexBloodman]

I merged the new topic into the old topic that was bumped yesterday on the same subject.

Thank you mtn-man. I was the one who bumped the old thread because of reading about the flare. at least I searched and found a forum that existed already.