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Fuzzy GPS reception


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Anyone know if there are any rocks or similar material that interfere with GPS reception such as preventing your GPS to get a good lock, or if you have a lock, will cause a shift in reading?

 

"The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the Creator."

- Louis Pasteur

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quote:
Originally posted by -=(GEO)=-:

Absolutely! In gorges, you'll often notice that GPS signal becomes very tricky. Sometimes, it's downright impossible to get a good reading. I have placed a few caches that use this natural defence mechanism to make it tougher to find the cache.

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/82972_1100.jpg


 

Magnetic rocks? I can't imagine any other kind that might cause interference. Or do you know something else?

 

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Wherever you go there you are.

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Hmmmm, ok, what i am trying to get at is, is there a type of rock, that due to its chemical or physical makeup, will interfere with your GPS readings? I know trees, and mountains, etc. can be a problem, but what about the composition of a rock perhaps?

 

I was out of state with a friend, and we took several readings at a location, however, when we returned to the same spot a month later, the readings suggested going 130 feet to the SW. We each re-marked the spot with each of our GPS's. We then decided to go look for another cache, and then come back to this spot to see if the GPS did the same thing with the new reading, and sure enough, it did the same thing, told us to go 130 ft SW. My friend recently went back up there, and had the same problem again. I was told that the area we were at has alot of igneous rock, would igneous rock or any other rock cause GPS readings to deflect like this?

 

"The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the Creator."

- Louis Pasteur

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The rocks shouldn't cause fuzzy readings. But I'll agree with everyone who said that tall rocks will! Everytime we go to one of our caches in the Bitterroot Valley, we lose reception for about a mile of the hike due to the mountains blocking most of the horizon. It happens every time, not just sometimes.

Igneous rocks Will show up weird on magnetometer readings and Gravitometer readings but since your reciever is picking up stuff from above, they shouldn't affect it. At least I don't see why they would be able to.

-Jennifer

 

Age does not bring wisdom, but it does give perspective.

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quote:
Originally posted by -=(GEO)=-:

It's not so much that the composition of the rock affects the signal, but the 'V' shape of a gorge or ravine will wreak havoc on the signal. My take is that the signal 'bounces' off the walls, affecting timing when/if the signal is received at all.

 

http://img.Groundspeak.com/user/82972_1100.jpg


 

Now I understand and I've seen this. I had a cache under tree cover, near a rock face and under High Voltage Transmission lines. People thought my coordinates were off. I'm not sure they figure out that mine proably were, but that theirs were off as well.

 

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Wherever you go there you are.

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