Too bad you blocked my posts. You might find this useful:

CG To Mariners: No GPS June 11-20
Boaters will be unable to rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment
and possibly cell phones, because of scheduled disruptions from Friday, June
11 to Sunday, June 20 that will affect mariners transiting the waters of
North Carolina and parts of Florida.

GPS interference-testing conducted during an exercise by Department of
Defense will make the GPS signal unreliable and may affect cell phone
signals from about 50 to 60 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. and
approximately 80 miles out between Jacksonville and Melbourne, Fla.
Disruptions along the North Carolina coast will affect Albemarle Sound,
Pamlico Sound and the coastal North Carolina area from Currituck Beach Light
to Cape Lookout and the Intracoastal Waterways of North Carolina.

"The Coast Guard fully supports the efforts of the Department of Defense
during this important exercise," said Rear Admiral Sally Brice -O'Hara,
Commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District. "But, we must get the word out
to impacted mariners so they can take the necessary precautions to keep
themselves safe during this busy boating season."

Mariners should not rely on GPS or cell phones from June 11th to the 20th.
Plan ahead and use VHF radios to communicate on the water. A cell phone is a
good backup communications device, but out on the open water, it is no
substitute for a VHF marine radio.

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

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 22:26:21 -0400, "NOYB" wrote:

Gene - read this!

Too bad you blocked my posts. You might find this useful:

CG To Mariners: No GPS June 11-20
Boaters will be unable to rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment
and possibly cell phones, because of scheduled disruptions from Friday, June
11 to Sunday, June 20 that will affect mariners transiting the waters of
North Carolina and parts of Florida.

GPS interference-testing conducted during an exercise by Department of
Defense will make the GPS signal unreliable and may affect cell phone
signals from about 50 to 60 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. and
approximately 80 miles out between Jacksonville and Melbourne, Fla.
Disruptions along the North Carolina coast will affect Albemarle Sound,
Pamlico Sound and the coastal North Carolina area from Currituck Beach Light
to Cape Lookout and the Intracoastal Waterways of North Carolina.

"The Coast Guard fully supports the efforts of the Department of Defense
during this important exercise," said Rear Admiral Sally Brice -O'Hara,
Commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District. "But, we must get the word out
to impacted mariners so they can take the necessary precautions to keep
themselves safe during this busy boating season."

Mariners should not rely on GPS or cell phones from June 11th to the 20th.
Plan ahead and use VHF radios to communicate on the water. A cell phone is a
good backup communications device, but out on the open water, it is no
substitute for a VHF marine radio.

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



Maybe if I pass it on he'll get the news. Unless he's blocked me too. For which
I wouldn't blame him.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

John H wrote:
On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 22:26:21 -0400, "NOYB" wrote:

Gene - read this!


Too bad you blocked my posts. You might find this useful:

CG To Mariners: No GPS June 11-20
Boaters will be unable to rely on Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment
and possibly cell phones, because of scheduled disruptions from Friday, June
11 to Sunday, June 20 that will affect mariners transiting the waters of
North Carolina and parts of Florida.

GPS interference-testing conducted during an exercise by Department of
Defense will make the GPS signal unreliable and may affect cell phone
signals from about 50 to 60 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. and
approximately 80 miles out between Jacksonville and Melbourne, Fla.
Disruptions along the North Carolina coast will affect Albemarle Sound,
Pamlico Sound and the coastal North Carolina area from Currituck Beach Light
to Cape Lookout and the Intracoastal Waterways of North Carolina.

"The Coast Guard fully supports the efforts of the Department of Defense
during this important exercise," said Rear Admiral Sally Brice -O'Hara,
Commander of the Fifth Coast Guard District. "But, we must get the word out
to impacted mariners so they can take the necessary precautions to keep
themselves safe during this busy boating season."

Mariners should not rely on GPS or cell phones from June 11th to the 20th.
Plan ahead and use VHF radios to communicate on the water. A cell phone is a
good backup communications device, but out on the open water, it is no
substitute for a VHF marine radio.

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




Maybe if I pass it on he'll get the news. Unless he's blocked me too. For which
I wouldn't blame him.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!


Gotta wonder just what the Department of Defense is screwing up now...

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.

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 17:01:00 -0400, "Gene Kearns" wrote:

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 07:19:47 -0400, John H
wrote:

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 22:26:21 -0400, "NOYB" wrote:

Gene - read this!

Too bad you blocked my posts. You might find this useful:


To explain.....

After realizing that trying to reason out some self control and self
policing with those proliferating OT drivel was totally useless, I
first blocked posts that were identified as off topic by being
identified as so. Such as:

Subject: OT: The other political party sucks.

That didn't do the trick, because some people *never* identify their
OT as OT..... (some always do.)

I then blocked posts referring to political parties, politician's
names, and other items I felt were pretty indicative of off topic
posting. That, too, let a lot of chaff through.

Finally, as a method of last resort, I resorted to blocking posters
that got through the other filters, but had a disproportionately high
signal to noise ratio.

I blocked some posters that freely admitted that they came here only
to argue off-topic points of view and had no interest in discussing
boating in rec.boats. Some even went so far as to recommend venues
other than rec.boats to discuss boating... apparently, their wish was
to make this solely a battleground between extremists of differing
views.

I blocked other people that might occasionally contribute something of
value... even great value, but it just wasn't worth wading through the
enormous piles of manure to find the one gem that might be in there.

Since I blocked a few words, a few subjects, a few threads, and a few
posters, my rec.boats experience has been much more enjoyable..... and
certainly... much more ON topic....

I highly recommend filters.

I think you're right. I will give it them a shot also. I think it will be good
for my serenity not to see some of the bull**** that shows up here. Thanks.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

John H wrote:

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 17:01:00 -0400, "Gene Kearns" wrote:


I think you're right. I will give it them a shot also. I think it will be good
for my serenity not to see some of the bull**** that shows up here. Thanks.


John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!


Just keep them on...you won't much be liking the news for the next six
months, either.

Break out those charts.

Dust of the compass.

Gene Kearns wrote:

On 14 Jun 2004 02:00:54 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:


Break out those charts.

Dust of the compass.


That isn't very useful to the charter and head boat operators that
have accurately marked spots out of sight of land. You might find
your way home with the map and compass, but you'll play hell finding
those three holes 5 miles apart...... 30 miles off shore....


No LORAN backup?

That isn't very useful to the charter and head boat operators that
have accurately marked spots out of sight of land. You might find
your way home with the map and compass, but you'll play hell finding
those three holes 5 miles apart...... 30 miles off shore....



1. Transfer coordinates from GPS screen to chart.

2. Draw a rhumbline from current position to the coordinates

3. Taking current into account, follow course at known speed for amount of time
required to reach fishing hole.

At least this *used* to work, before GPS. :-)

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
That isn't very useful to the charter and head boat operators that
have accurately marked spots out of sight of land. You might find
your way home with the map and compass, but you'll play hell finding
those three holes 5 miles apart...... 30 miles off shore....



1. Transfer coordinates from GPS screen to chart.

2. Draw a rhumbline from current position to the coordinates

3. Taking current into account, follow course at known speed for amount of
time
required to reach fishing hole.

At least this *used* to work, before GPS. :-)

Sure, Chuck. It's sometimes hard to consistently find the same structure on
the Gulf floor even with differential and WAAS. Try to find the exact 15
foot wide piece of structure with 2 feet fo relief in 60 feet without GPS.
It ain't gonna happen.