On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:52:41 +0100, (Steve Firth)
wrote:

Incorrect. I am claiming that it is unlikely that GPS is being jammed
by the Cuban government.

Well no, and you had to trim a lot from my post to cover up the mistakes
you made. FWIW, jamming is low tech and the Cuban government is probably
able to do it as well as the British government. OTOH if GPS is being
jammed near Cuba, I'd point the finger towards another government with a
rabid hatred of Cuba.

Have you ever looked at the age and detail level of the commonly
available Cuban charts? If so, you'd know that the problem is not
with GPS. I was cruising within 40 miles of the Cuban coast just a
month ago and our GPS was spot on with up to date electronic CMAP
charts of the area. Cruise ships and commercial shipping transit
within sight of the Cuban coast all of the time and they are having no
issues. What *is* happening, is that some, but by no means all,
cruisers are getting into trouble because of bad charts and/or
inattention. When that happens it is much less embarassing to blame
the whole incident on mysterious forces and conspiracy theories.

PS, no one in the US really hates Cuba except for a small number of
reactionaries who escaped after the Castro takeover.