[ntp:questions] UK - GPS Jamming update

Joseph Gwinn joegwinn at comcast.net
Fri Apr 1 12:49:46 UTC 2011


In article 
<AANLkTi=JMmUyUfZKDJ6pdFHGpAdyhKEqkq-vQycjQ+ya at mail.gmail.com>,
 Dave Hart <davehart at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:27 PM, unruh <unruh at wormhole.physics.ubc.ca> wrote:
> >
> > I think this is a really bad idea. It conveys the impression that it is
> > OK to jam GPS-- "Even the government thinks it is OK to jam GPS." This
> > removes the (admittedly possibly small) moral argument that it is bad to
> > jam GPS because of the harm it could do.
> > This says "Taking GPS off the air for 18 hours is fine".
> 
> If you're within a few miles of one of the 40,000 planned LightSquared
> base stations, you'll likely lose GPS for good, if the FCC sticks to
> its current approval to repurpose a GPS-adjacent band allocated for
> space-based use for terrestrial broadband.  Search for LightSquared or
> see for example:
> 
> http://freegeographytools.com/2011/update-on-lightsquareds-gps-jamming-proposa
> l
> 
> These LightSquared guys apparently know their way around the DC
> beltway, managing to schedule an accelerated approval to coincide with
> Thanksgiving.  I can only suppose they bribed the right people.  Did I
> say bribed?  I'm sorry, expressed their first amendment rights via
> unlimited political donations!  Silly me.

The DoD has begun to push the FCC to protect GPS:

"Pentagon Raises Concerns About Lightsquared Wireless", Wall Street 
Journal, 31 March 2011.

Joe Gwinn




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