# GPS will not work on August 5th?



## cadaveca (Aug 5, 2011)

Just an FYI...

[yt]-vx4fnRNSRQ[/yt]


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## remixedcat (Aug 5, 2011)

Ha ha! they've been saying this since 2006.... 

It's just we've been having extensive solar activity and it will be a tad overpowering but not as bad as the tinfoil hatters make it out to be. They get off on making people panic over nothing.


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## cadaveca (Aug 5, 2011)

remixedcat said:


> They get off on making people panic over nothing.



Note that the thread title is a question.  Pre-emptive strike...let's see what happens.


Who's got a GPS?


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## p_o_s_pc (Aug 5, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Note that the thread title is a question.  Pre-emptive strike...let's see what happens.
> 
> 
> Who's got a GPS?



I got gps on my droid,does that count?


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## cadaveca (Aug 5, 2011)

I dunno. I barely leave home. I'm not going to get lost. WTF do I need GPS for? 


I was actually hoping you guys would know.

What I do know is this is kinda neat, and I'm only interested for the "Northern Lights":


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## Easy Rhino (Aug 5, 2011)

the aliens will finally land and reclaim Earth!!!!!!!!!


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## mastrdrver (Aug 5, 2011)

Idk about anyone else but I think he's talking about sex.

So many euphemisms these days I'm loosing count.


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## assaulter_99 (Aug 5, 2011)

So this is the day Skynet comes online. I'm bracing myself in my basement lol.


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## n-ster (Aug 5, 2011)

hopefully I dont get lost, I need my GPS today xD


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## I see SPY! (Aug 5, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> the aliens will finally land and reclaim Earth!!!!!!!!!



And I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords


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## Kreij (Aug 5, 2011)

I see SPY! said:


> And I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords



"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile--hoping it will eat him last"--Winston Churchill

The coroberators will be the first against the wall when the resistance crushes the alien invasion.


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## p_o_s_pc (Aug 5, 2011)

Gps is still working on my droid so......
also I think you guys are watching too much syfy


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## remixedcat (Aug 5, 2011)

n-ster said:


> hopefully I dont get lost, I need my GPS today xD



there's always mapquest directions you can print off with the evil printer!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!


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## twicksisted (Aug 5, 2011)

so do you guys reccomend factor 30 lotion or a full welding visor?
shit like this has been happening recently for many years... im not gonna get scared by it


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## ShiBDiB (Aug 5, 2011)

Oooh NOAA, go predict hurricanes and stop wasting our money


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## brandonwh64 (Aug 5, 2011)

My OG droid says GPS is working. I just went from work to Mc Donalds.... YES IM A FATTY!


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## Sasqui (Aug 5, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Just an FYI...
> 
> [yt]-vx4fnRNSRQ[/yt]



My Droid X shows me right where I am (or I think I am, LOL)

Any link?  For some reason, I can't view the image you put in your post.


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## cadaveca (Aug 5, 2011)

Here ya go, Sasqui.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vx4fnRNSRQ

Just FYI, the second and third waves haven't hit yet. "Expected" service interruptions haven't happened yet.

Alerts for potential problems for sattelite providers and airlines can be seen here:

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/alerts_timeline.html

Also, the image I posted in post #5 auto-updates.


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## brandonwh64 (Aug 5, 2011)

Sasqui said:


> My Droid X shows me right where I am (or I think I am, LOL)
> 
> Any link?  For some reason, I can't view the image you put in your post.



Its a youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vx4fnRNSRQ&feature=player_embedded


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## newtekie1 (Aug 5, 2011)

Not that they said "High Accuracy" GPS users.  As in GPS that is accurate to a few inches.  Most GPS that consumers use, in phones and GPS units, tend to only be accurate within ~30ft with perfect reception and can be as far off as 1000ft with bad reception.

Most consumer level GPS units do a lot of assuming when it comes to your position.  Generally, it will get your location as close as possible and then assumes you are on the closest road.  I use a GPS unit almost daily when I'm going to client's, and the assumptions can be pretty obvious sometimes.  Like when it tells you to turn and you don't, it shows you turning and going down the road you were supposed to, but once you reach the edge of the inaccuracy, it suddenly snaps to the road you really are on.  Or when I'm travelling down a frontage road next to a major express way which I do every day on my way to and from my office, with my GPS on, it always kicks over and assumes I'm on the major express way which is ~50ft away from the frontage road I'm actually on.

Consume GPS won't be affected by these flares, but the high presision ones that have to be very accurate will suffer.


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## Sasqui (Aug 5, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> Here ya go, Sasqui.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vx4fnRNSRQ
> 
> ...



Cool info.  Regarding GPS, he's talking about degredation, not outages.  Signal degredation from GPS satellites themselves, and likely WAAS stations, to ground based CORs reference stations.

Hope the sky is clear tonight, I'll be looking for Northern Lights.


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## Exeodus (Aug 5, 2011)

Easy Rhino said:


> the aliens will finally land and reclaim Earth!!!!!!!!!



Well, once they land and find out who we have as a president, they will leave in search for "intelligent life"

/rant.  I feel better now.


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## n-ster (Aug 6, 2011)

Is it possible that my GPS was less accurate today? it was off by up to a 100~150 meters sometimes! for the most part it was fine though


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## cadaveca (Aug 6, 2011)

n-ster said:


> Is it possible that my GPS was less accurate today? it was off by up to a 100~150 meters sometimes! for the most part it was fine though



YES!!!


Actually, it should be worse right now.

One more wave to hit.

I guess i psoted the OP wrong..what I mean to say was the vid was an FYI from NOAA that GPS would be affected, and wanted to see what GPS users saw, so thanks alot. 


I've been trying to get video/pictures of the "Northern Lights" for many years now, but every time this happens, it's cloudy locally. Maybe tonight I'll be lucky.


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## n-ster (Aug 6, 2011)

cadaveca said:


> YES!!!
> 
> 
> Actually, it should be worse right now.
> ...



can we see them in Canada? the sky was super clear all day in Montreal, no "Northern Lights"


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## cadaveca (Aug 6, 2011)

Tonight, maybe.

coverage area(auto-updating):


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## mastrdrver (Aug 7, 2011)

newtekie1 said:


> Consume GPS won't be affected by these flares, but the high precision ones that have to be very accurate will suffer.



If I'm not mistaken they have to turn off the satellites and then turn them back on when the flares are past so the flares don't cause shorts in the circuits and take down the satellite.

Think of it kind of like causing an electronic pulse like a nuclear weapon does when they go off. It's not exactly like it, but similar in behavior when the circuits are on.


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## Steevo (Aug 19, 2011)

I work with precision GPS (sub centimeter). Thre is noting to worry about with either the WAAS or GPS constellation currently. 

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SWN/

Look at the graph for the past. It was worse, and as we add L5 we will only have better signal.


http://www.spaceweather.sflorg.com/

Solar radiation in itself is not harmful to the satellites, what is harmful is the drag caused by solar radiation expanding the ionosphere like a balloon being blown up and slowing  or altering the orbits, or geomagnetic events that cause issues with the earths polarity (magnetic VS true North) and lastly particle events, as the particles can penetrate the shielding and cause charging in the circuits and damage data or render the satellite inoperable.


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