WWA Info Exchange

If you have a GPS you rely on here's something you might want to be aware of: http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/25.95.html

Partial excerpt:

The BBC reports (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8533157.stm)
on the growing threat of jamming to satellite navigation systems. The
fundamental vulnerability of all the systems - GPS, the Russian Glonass, and
the European Galileo - is the very low power of the transmissions. (Nice
analogy: A satellite puts out less power than a car headlight, illuminating
more than a third of the Earth's surface from 20,000 kilometers.) Jammers -
which simply overwhelm the satellite signal - are increasingly available
on-line. According to the article, low-powered hand-held versions cost less
than £100, run for hours on a battery, and can confuse receivers tens of
kilometers away.

The newer threat is from spoofers, which can project a false location. This
still costs "thousands", but the price will inevitably come down.

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Speaking of 'spoofers', what about the cellphone app that 'spoofs' your cellphone number? I didn't know about it until I got a call from my own cellphone .
Not trying to hijack the thread, but this is one to watch out for also.

_________________
Chance

I'm not lost, I'm just exploring a different route.
200 posts finally on 11-1-07 @5:15pm

Good info. I don't rely on mine but it sure comes in handy sometimes. I know some people say they have no use for them and a map will do just fine. We had never been to our son's place in Albuquerque but it took us right to it. I was wandering around a huge neighborhood in the Woodlands outside Houston and forgot how we got deep into it. I just punched in Home and it took us right on out a short way I had no idea was there. We were visiting a small town in Arkansas and my wife decided she wanted to visit an old high school friend in Little Rock she had not seen in years and had no idea where she lived. Typed in the address and no problem. These are the kinds of things that make them useful to me. But, rely on it? No way.

One of the issues that the article mentioned in relation to the spoofer type is that of redirecting trucks, etc. to facilitate a hijack for example. Probably wouldn't be very effective unless the driver was not paying attention to his preplanned route, but the potential is there.

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

I think alot of people do things like that just because they can. They think that it makes them "big" or "important"...Their 15 minutes of fame if you will.
If the media didn't make such a big deal out of it, it wouldn't BE important. The old "There is one in every crowd" that ruins things for everyone like a gradeschool bully that gets the whole class in trouble.

Rog

_________________
Dont badmouth no strangers, they just friends you aint met yet.

An ounce of responsibility is worth a pound of State and Federal laws.

I spent most of my money on woodworking
tools and beer, the rest I just wasted.

One of the benefits of having the device in the truck, in conjunction with a tracking device, is that the driver can receive directions for an additional pickup, or avoid weigh stations, etc, by getting rerouting information from "home."

Good sense would dictate confirmation by some secondary means, of course.

Must be a bunch of those old Crows out there having some fun now that their job's mostly automated.

I've never had much need for a GPS, TomTom, and other similar gadgets. I learned as a kid to read maps and use a compass, and I always pick out land marks along the way. I've never been lost.








Mighty confused for a few hours, but never lost.

_________________
Frank
WWACOAUX#1
"I love the smell of Sawdust in the morning, it smells like, victory."
WWA'ers I've met: Popeye, Ed Avery, Stephen Wolf, Rockfish, Rodedon

[quote="Ice Pirate"
Mighty confused for a few hours, but never lost. [/quote]


I may get lost but, I always make good time.

Rog

_________________
Dont badmouth no strangers, they just friends you aint met yet.

An ounce of responsibility is worth a pound of State and Federal laws.

I spent most of my money on woodworking
tools and beer, the rest I just wasted.

Not sure I know the reason for jamming. Sure, there are a lot of pointless things people do. However, at 1.5GHz, the effect would be very localized unless they put out a TON of power over a broad enough bandwidth.

Also, the system would need to be on a high point (Tower or hill) to have any real effect over any distance.

Seems like a lot of work for minimal and questionable results.

Also on travel in CO and really appreciating the GPS!!