Western US To Experience GPS Disruptions Due To USAF GPS Jamming Tests

Thanks for the head up on this...

Can't wait to read about all the people that are misdirected during this test period.

what about commercial air traffic?

I expect the times were chosen for the lightest traffic. 0400Z is 1900/2000 WST/MST.

That's un-freaking believable that a disruption in GPS service over such a large area is allowed to happen without our elected political weenies saying anything. Guess they are more scared of the military complex than those that elected them.

Nobody told them.

The 2nd links says what happens to commercial Flight, They may be grounded for a while

We only get to use it on loan. That's why it is not pin point accurate for civilian use.

Although the GPS system has been developed by military (USAF) since it's initial inception, the fact that it is so widely used in the civilian arena would make me think they should be a little worried about the collateral effect over such a widespread area, for a "military exercise". If something can go wrong, it will. Although suing the military would probably be an exercise in futility.

And as a side note, this year is scheduled for GPS to become more accurate, 30cm, or so if I remember correctly.

Here in New Mexico, GPS jamming tests have been carried out frequently from a site near Socorro for years (the NOTAMS are posted to public view). I believe those generally have employed a transmitter on the ground, with a widening cone of effect with rise in altitude.

Driving mostly near Albuquerque, and using GPS all the time I drive, I've never seen any effect from those tests. Nor have airplanes been falling out of our sky from the effects.

While the heavy-breathing may sound to some like a wide area outage, I strongly suspect that the truth is that they intend to operate point jammers at locations not disclosed in advance across the very broad areas mentioned.

It is remarkably easy to disrupt GPS locally (the signal is quite weak, and has only a few dB of margin for detection, so a nearby jammer does not need much power at all if it is pointing the right way). It is quite another matter to jam over a broad area.

Spoofing GPS is not difficult for the technically inclined. Yet folks still insist on relying on the civilian GPS signal without reservation for safety related needs.

Thanks for letting us know.

May have been affected by this testing yesterday in Arizona. Early in the morning I was traveling into Phoenix on Hwy 60 from the east valley and my DriveLuxe 50 lost satellite signal over and over to the point where it was unusable.

Today I drove the same route at about the same time and the GPS held a strong sat.signal for the whole trip.