I'd been meaning to ask this question ever since I was in New Jersey last month and had trouble with my GPS. The device constantly gave me a "can't acquire satellites" error. It happened so frequently that my brother didn't believe me when I said it never happened back home. That's the truth though...so my questions is this...have you have the same trouble with a GPS unit? Are there just too many people sucking up the GPS signal up there in the North-East? It was cloudy a lot...are New Jersey clouds somehow able to interfere with the signal?
[I'm asking those questions in jest, but the overall question is real...what's up with the GPS? Do they work less well outside of the Southeast?]
What you are probably seeing on your GPS is interference from radio and microwave signals in the environment. The GPS signal is very weak and a lot of work has to be done to pull it out of the natural and man-made noise. Here in AL and most of the nation, GPS works fine. In a crowded region like the northeast there a many high power emitters of energy. For instance, accidental blockage can happen if you are in the main beam or side-splatter of some high power radars.
ReplyDeleteThanks dorki, that makes sense!
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