SA to be turned off?

[Hans]

GPS MILITARY SIGNALS WILL BE AVAILABLE TO ALL: The Clinton administration has decided to make military-quality signals available to civilian and commercial users of the satellite-based Global Positioning System. The decision, which is expected to be announced today and go into effect tonight, will mean a fivefold to tenfold increase in the accuracy of satellite-based navigation systems used by a range of consumers, from commercial truckers and shippers to fishermen, hikers, surveyors and emergency-response systems. The improved signal, which provides time as well as location coordinates, should also allow faster and cheaper data transmission. And it will help the cellular-telephone industry meet a new Federal Communications Commission requirement that it provide so-called E-911 services that allow police to pinpoint the location of emergency cellular-phone calls. Since the Pentagon launched the constellation of 24 satellites in 1989, the GPS has emitted two sets of signals of very different quality. The encrypted military signal can determine location within 10 to 20 meters (a meter equals 3.3 feet). Fearing that America's foes would use the system to improve the accuracy of weapons targeted at the U.S., the second unencrypted signal, which is available free of charge to anyone with a hand-held receiver, was intentionally distorted to degrade its accuracy to within 100 meters, or about the length of a football field. (Wall Street Journal)



--
"There is nothing; absolutely nothing; half so much worth doing,
as simply messing about in boats." :-)

[Hans]

LAST EDITED ON May-01-00 AT 01:53PM (CST)[p]Apparently it's true. Here's an another excerpt (this one from an NBC news article).

“It’s rare that someone can press a button and make something you already own worth more, but that’s exactly what’s happening today,” President Bill Clinton said in a statement. “As of midnight tonight, all the people who’ve bought GPS receivers for boats, cars, or recreation will find that they are ten times more accurate.”

Now how am I gonna break the news to the wife that I have less than two weeks to go out and reset all those hundreds of waypoints on my system, before walleye season opens?

Hans

[Mike M (Sask)]

That's great news Hans.

I currently don't own one but all of the sudden I feel a need building! Does anyone have any experience with handheld vs hardwired units? Is there any difference in accuracy? Brand preference?

Thanks and Good Fish'n
Mike M (Sask)

[Bob G.]

Great news, Hans. As far as the wife, well...,
do your best John Wayne schtick and tell her
"a man's gotta a do....",you know the rest.

BTW Hans, when are we going to be seeing T-Shirts and coffee mugs with your signature phrase? If these T-shirts go on the market, I'd like to see your phrase on the front, then *my* favorite boat
phrasiology on the back.

"That will be another thousand"

LOL.

[Joel B.]

I have an old hand held 2 channel Magellan GPS. Will my GPS be more accurate as well, or do I need a 12 channel receiver to see the incresed accuracy?

Thanks for any information,

Joel B.

[AquaMan]

Great info, Hans. I was always impressed with the technology before and should be really WOWed now.

I wonder why this is being released. Has the threat disapeared or is there a deeper technology that can do 1/2 inch accuracy?

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Hans]

One-half inch?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you! :-)

[Fish-on]

I got the information from a very reliable source that it will be turned off a midnight tonight.

The thing that amazes me is how Clinton manages to take credit for this when he had nothing to do with it. I doubt if he even knew what selective availabitly was until the defense department told him they were ready to turn it off. He's sure good at that. Amazing.

At any rate, I can't wait to go out and find out how much difference it really makes. By the way, I, too have one of those old Magellan handheld GPS units, and it should make that one a lot more effective.

[AquaMan]

Well..ya know what I mean.....

"but then I would have to keel yous and keel yous dawg"

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Boatnut]

Hans,
this is truly great news. I just feel sorry for everyone that has spent big bucks to get the DGPS receivers lately! Hard to believe they did this without more notice.
Mike(boatnut)

[Jeremy]

From what I have seen with two Garmin units gps38 and gps12 the only advantage of the 12channel parallel reciever is with obstructed satellite reception. If you use the gps only fishing on open water no real reason to buy a new one--hope you weren't using this forum to convince your wife to let you buy a new one!

[TerryK_OH]

Here's the full text of Clinton's message:

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT REGARDING THE UNITED STATES DECISION TO STOP DEGRADING GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM ACCURACY (5/1/00)


Today, I am pleased to announce that the United States will stop the intentional degradation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) signals available to the public beginning at midnight tonight. We call this degradation feature Selective Availability (SA). This will mean that civilian users of GPS will be able to pinpoint locations up to ten times more accurately than they do now. GPS is a dual-use, satellite-based system that provides accurate location and timing data to users
worldwide.

My March 1996 Presidential Decision Directive included in the goals for GPS to: encourage acceptance and integration of GPS into peaceful civil, commercial and scientific applications worldwide; and to encourage private sector investment in and use of U.S. GPS technologies and
services.? To meet these goals, I committed the U.S. to discontinuing the use of SA by 2006 with an annual assessment of its continued use beginning this year.

The decision to discontinue SA is the latest measure in an on-going effort to make GPS more responsive to civil and commercial users worldwide. Last year, Vice President Gore announced our plans to modernize GPS by adding two new civilian signals to enhance the civil and commercial service. This initiative is on-track and the budget further advances modernization by
incorporating some of the new features on up to 18 additional satellites that are already awaiting launch or are in production. We will continue to provide all of these capabilities to worldwide users free of charge.


My decision to discontinue SA was based upon a recommendation by the Secretary of Defense in coordination with the Departments of State, Transportation, Commerce, the Director of Central Intelligence, and other Executive Branch Departments and Agencies. They realized that
worldwide transportation safety, scientific, and commercial interests could best be served by discontinuation of SA. Along with our commitment to enhance GPS for peaceful applications, my administration is committed to preserving fully the military utility of GPS. The decision to discontinue SA is coupled with our continuing efforts to upgrade the military utility of our
systems that use GPS, and is supported by threat assessments which conclude that setting SA to zero at this time would have minimal impact on national security. Additionally, we have demonstrated the capability to selectively deny GPS signals on a regional basis when our national security is threatened. This regional approach to denying navigation services is consistent with the 1996 plan to discontinue the degradation of civil and commercial GPS service globally through the SA technique.

Originally developed by the Department of Defense as a military system, GPS has become a global utility. It benefits users around the world in many different applications, including air, road, marine, and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency response, oil exploration, mining, and many more. Civilian users will realize a dramatic improvement in GPS accuracy with the discontinuation of SA. For example, emergency teams responding to a cry for help can now determine what side of the highway they must respond to, thereby saving precious minutes. This increase in accuracy will allow new GPS applications to emerge and continue to enhance the lives of people around the world.

[GeneM]

Heard this on this news on the radio driving home from work. Have two questions;

1. Just how accurate will my LMS-350A be after
after this happens? I hear various mentions
of "10 times more accurate". What does this
mean in feet or yards?

2. Since the points stored in memory were
entered while the error was in place, is
it a good idea to try to locate those spots
and re-enter the way points? This has been
mentioned in other posts and would seem to
make sense.