On Mon, 5 Jan 2009 09:00:32 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Jan 5, 9:40*am, Dave Brown wrote:
wrote:
On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 19:06:23 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

Being somewhat of a "high Tech Luddite", *I also prefer my compass to
GPS and would pack it before the GPS. *I can almost instantly use the
compass to take a bearing on something to be sure I have cleared a
potential obstacle. *Being a trigonometry geek, I just think
navigating with a compass and taking bearings is just elegant.
BTW, also being a caver, GPS doesnt work in caves, compass does.

A GPS really doesn't even work that well in the woods. I have 2 and I
always carry them on vacation (Idaho, Alaska, the Dakotas and Wyoming)
but you have to climb a tree to get enough satellites to establish a
fix. My wife was constantly making fun of me waving these in the air
trying to get 3 satellites.
They do work OK in the desert.

Does anyone have any experience with working the GPS from the centre of
a moving vehicle? Does it need to be near glass to receive signals?

--
Regards,
* * * Dave Brown
* * * Brown's Marina Ltd
* * *http://brownsmarina.com/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Dave, they do need to be near glass if they only have an internal
antenna. There are models that have a connector for an external, and
the external itself costs around $25. There are also units made that
have the external already with it. Especially on trips to places I've
never been, I don't know how I ever got along without a GPS. And
before Mapquest, how did I EVER know where I was?

Heh - good one.

Funny story. When we redid the 911 system and turned it into the
E-911 system, I (and a couple of other radio enthusiasts on the
rebuild committee) fought tooth and nail to get GPS incorporated into
the system. We even worked up a deal with Garmin who would provide
the GPS units at cost for all eleven departments to equip every
vehicle with a unit.

Coulnd't get that one past the local chiefs - they just coulnd't wrap
their collective brains around the concept of exact locations. :)

Eventually though, we won.

--

"Every normal man must be tempted at times
to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag,
and begin to slit throats."

H. L. Mencken