Boaters Stand to Lose GPS?

General Fishing Discussion
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NEWS From BoatUS
Boat Owners Association of The United States
880 S. Pickett St., Alexandria, VA 22304
BoatUS Press Room at http://www.BoatUS.com/pressroom

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: D. Scott Croft, 703-461-2864, SCroft@BoatUS.com
Photo Available at: http://www.BoatUS.com/pressroom/previewImg/hiRes/699.jpg
Photo Caption: Without reliable GPS to help boaters navigate, BoatUS fears more vessels could end up on the rocks like this sailboat, and put crew safety at risk.

Boaters Stand to Lose Critical GPS Navigational Aid

Voice Your Opinion: Comment Period Closes July 30

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 13, 2011 - As a result of a proposal by a private company to use radio frequency bandwidth right next to the existing GPS radio bandwidth, the future reliability of the GPS system across the United States is now in question. The nation’s largest recreational boaters group, BoatUS, says boaters could have a hard time avoiding treacherous shoals or simply finding their way home if GPS signals are interfered with, and is urging boaters to speak out during a 30-day comment period.

“This is a remarkably short comment period for an issue that has such dire consequences for America’s boaters and every other GPS user in the country,” said BoatUS Vice President of Government Affairs Margaret Podlich.

At issue is an unusual conditional waiver granted in January by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to a broadband wireless communications provider, LightSquared, to permit the dramatic expansion of land-based use of mobile satellite spectrum. This spectrum, or frequency bandwidth, is directly adjacent to the frequencies used for Global Positioning System (GPS) communications.

The company has proposed to build 40,000 ground stations. LightSquared’s high-powered ground-based transmissions from these stations have shown to cause interference in hundreds of millions of GPS receivers across a wide range of uses, including aviation, marine, emergency response and industrial users such as delivery

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Can’t be. If boaters loose GPS everyone looses GPS. Government gave GPS signal to the public sector for communication. ALL CDMA and most other telecommunications have to have GPS signaling for Timing. The only time we may have to worry is during a war time issue to keep an enemy from using our GPS to target U.S. locations.

The FCC will let no one fool with interfering with the transmission of the GPS.

On a side note with a few key strokes from our military and encryption added back to the GPS system the public sector would be back to the rotory phone and analog cellular service.

Thank good old Uncle Sam for giving us GPS access! One h@ll of a tool!

< Evil is simply the absence of God >

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I have news for you. Several years ago, Sprint/Nextel was allowed to “purchase” a certain segment of 800mhz bandwidth to improve cellular communications. This change necessitated that any LE, FIRE, EMS or other entity using the 800 mhz spectrum to communicate would have to upgrade equipment that would be rendered obsolete by these changes (they would have to move within teh 800 mhz spectrum). Sprint/Nextel had to set aside millions of dollars to pay for any costs incurred by anyone impacted by these changes (equipment, services, etc…). This process began almost 5 years ago. Sprint/Nextel is almost out of money and the whole rebanding process is less than halfway through. This rebanding has created a ton of additional work and travel for any entity effected (which is virtually all Fire/EMS/LE, etc…). Why did the FCC allow one telecommunications company to do this (AT&T wanted in on it and bid more but was left out) when it has created so many problems nationwide? Me thinks someone at the FCC got paid or somehow benefited from this. Do not think for a moment that the FCC will do what is best for the user. I am not a paranoid anti-govt. type but do I trust them to do the right/best thing? NO!

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quote:
Originally posted by DFreedom

I have news for you. Several years ago, Sprint/Nextel was allowed to “purchase” a certain segment of 800mhz bandwidth to improve cellular communications. This change necessitated that any LE, FIRE, EMS or other entity using the 800 mhz spectrum to communicate would have to upgrade equipment that would be rendered obsolete by these changes (they would have to move within teh 800 mhz spectrum). Sprint/Nextel had to set aside millions of dollars to pay for any costs incurred by anyone impacted by these changes (equipment, services, etc…). This process began almost 5 years ago. Sprint/Nextel is almost out of money and the whole rebanding process is less than halfway through. This rebanding has created a ton of additional work and travel for any entity effected (which is virtually all Fire/EMS/LE, etc…). Why did the FCC allow one telecommunications company to do this (AT&T wanted in on it and bid more but was left out) when it has created so many problems nationwide? Me thinks someone at the FCC got paid or somehow benefited from this. Do not think for a moment that the FCC will do what is best for the user. I am not a paranoid anti-govt. type but do I trust them to do the right/best thing? NO!

I trust nothing federal. Nothing.

But don’t confuse the 800mhz-900mhz area transmitted by some phones with the 1.57542 GHz (L1 signal) and 1.2276 GHz (L2 signal) transmitted by all Satellite. (Which cellular uses for timing.) Don’t think we are using it… maybe military but we also have an L4 and L5 frequency set up for atmospheric interference for GPS. Government is still paranoid for loss of communication in the event of massive solar activity.

< Evil is simply the absence of God >

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Definitely not confusing the two, just an example of how the govt. allows things to get screwed up. Remember, the govt. is people who are sometimes in pay grades way over their heads. I know, I work for the state.

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I sent mine, NaClH20:angry:

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/general-reportedly-said-was-pressured-to-change-testimony-on-white-house-backed/

This will shed some light on the GPS story.

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Thanks for the information, Steve, and Gulfstream. I hope the American People don’t allow this to happen.

This President is officially out of control. Now President Obama is going to neuter our military’s ability to defend our homeland so he can pay off his capaign donor? Apparently, YES–as if Solyndra wasn’t enough.

But wait. Don’t people always say that the Republicans are the party in the pockets of big corporations? Hm, I guess they were wrong.

Unless I am mistaken, our military depends on GPS, and without it, if we ever had a largescale, widespread, organized foriegn/terrorist attack on our shores, the military’s ability to effectively defend our people would be seriosly hampered without a fully functional GPS system.

Then, there are all the people and private companies who not only depend on GPS for recreation, but for their livelihood. What happens to all those investmentors and companies making a living off of GPS? What happens to the million people who just bought a brand new GPS?

This one needs to be faught all the way to the Supreme Court.

Thanks for the post, Steve.

Man, I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I don’t understand why virtually no one is voicing any concern over this. Only 4 people responded to this thread, and where has all the national press been? Is it because the story is so outlandish that people just don’t believe it’s true or even possible? I must admit, I was tempted to dismiss it on those grounds myself–it’s almost to incredible of an abuse to believe could even happen in our country. Unfortunately, it’s real.

See this link, too: http://www.saveourgps.org/voice-your-concern.aspx

Gotcha Covered,
Lee Strickland
Strickland Marine Insurance Agency, Inc.
https://stricklandmarine.net
843-795-1000 / 800-446-1862

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http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=116421

Russ B. Formerly known here as “Top2Bottom1”
www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy

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“We understand that some in the telecom sector fear the challenges for their business model that LightSquared presents. It’s also ludicrous to suggest LightSquared’s success depends on political connections. This is a private company that has never taken one dollar in taxpayer money,” chief executive Sanjiv Ahuja said in a statement given to Fox News.

At the House subcommittee hearing Thursday, which focused on strategic forces and sustaining GPS for national security, Republican Chairman Michael Turner lashed out at the Obama administration for its acceptance of LightSquared proposals. He took aim at FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a longtime basketball buddy of President Obama, for not showing up at the hearing and for granting a waiver to LightSquared on Jan. 26.

"I trust Chairman Genachowski is doing something very important this morning if he couldn’t be here to discuss the significant harm to national security that may result from the FCC’s action, Turner said.

I’d rather fish than eat.

A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

In God We Trust

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Amazing that nothing came of the administration trying to get a general to change his view point on the subject in favor of lightsquared. Love the profile pic Fred BTW!

If everyone where a genious, there would be none.

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Wish I had seen this earlier too.

Umm, you gonna eat that?

Thousands have died to save my freedom. Only one has died to save my soul!