On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 12:20:06 -0400, something compelled "Gene
Kearns" , to say:

someone else

GPS interference-testing conducted during an exercise by Department of
Defense will make the GPS signal unreliable and may affect cell phone
signals

"The Coast Guard fully supports the efforts of the Department of Defense
during this important exercise,"

Mariners should not rely on GPS or cell phones from June 11th to the 20th.

Questions regarding the GPS testing should be directed to Major Sandra Burr
at (703) 697-5131.

Now that might be a fun number.


rant

This is a MAJOR PITA for those trying to earn a living in the waters
off of NC. It compromises the safety of any person and/or property of
anybody on the ground, in the air, and at sea. It is absolutely
inexcusable for this to disrupt commerce and put person and property
at risk in this manner .... especially with the USCG's blessing.

Isn't the coast of North Carolina considered an Atlantic Ship
Graveyard? I mean, of all the places to disrupt navigation
services, this would have to be one of the worst.

NC is already peppered with restricted areas to the point that
airborne navigation in the eastern part of the state is like threading
a needle.... now we are going to disrupt GPS... the only means of
accurate navigation..... IDIOCY.

Well . . . people have been accurately navigating for hundreds of
years now, long before we had newfangled satellites and Map Inna
Box. Perhaps radio direction finders and hand bearing compasses,
along with a chart that doesn't require 12VDC to read still have
places?

Yes. Yes, I think so.

How many business and travelers rely on cellular communication?

Oh.... interesting that they didn't say *why*. According to the
report I heard on local radio.... it is a NATO exercise. Now *that*
is a good reason...... isn't it?

It may be a very good reason. I have no quarrel with the DOD
experimenting with their systems. They want GPS to be available
to them, while denying it to their enemies, and one must admit
that's a worthwhile goal. But to experiment with this in a
heavily traveled area during a busy recreational boating season
is a bad choice.

Recreational boaters have blown off learning how to navigate by
observation and instead rely upon the brain box to get them
hither and yon. And for the most part that works well, but
casual boaters have become dependent upon the box, not that I
blame them. It *is* a lot easier, and that's why it's so
popular. The DOD should have taken this into account when it
selected an area for their experiments, and gone to a part of the
world where the effects of this experiment would have had fewer
consequences for the very people they are to be protecting.

Blanking out France would have been my first choice.