FAA Warns of Ongoing GPS Issues in Southeastern US Due to Defense Department 'Tests'

[RTB]

I have some Texas friends making their way down the Florida West Coast right now. They will be crossing to the Bahamas eventually. Has anyone in south Florida, or the Bahamas been experiencing GPS issues with this testing?

Thanks,
Ralph

[RayW]

Here is a copy of an email I just received that might help clear this up...

FLIGHT ADVISORY GPS Testing
...
From:"Russell, John" <russellj@dot.state.al.us>
...
Add to ContactsTo:"Russell, John" <russellj@dot.state.al.us>

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I hope the email yesterday morning did not cause too much alarm. Below is an edited response from someone a little more familiar with those type warnings. I was suspicious of the original article when it did not show up on the Coast Guard’s NANU email notifications.


"This is a NOTAM, the FAA issues them every single day. This particular one was picked up by a ____ writer on a tech blog...

Right now today there are 5 of these NOTAM's out for the US

https://pilotweb.nas.faa.gov/PilotWe...tType=DOMESTIC

There is always a few especially in the southwest around AZ and NM. They are for high altitude GPS users.

This is nothing out of the ordinary.

[RTB]

There was a LOCAL NOTICE TO MARINERS yesterday, which is why I was asking if anyone has had an issue with GPS. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm07042011.pdf

[hellosailor]

You know what it says on the charts about "The Prudent Navigator"...so if the same government that runs the gps systrem, says the gps system may be messing around with you for a couple of days, better to presume your gps IS in fact lying, until and unless confirmed otherwise.

The cell phone and GPS jammers that you can mail order all have very limited ranges, typically 20' to 100'. And there's a nice stiff penalty ($5000+) for using one. So they're unlikely to be a big domestic problem.

And as the folks at alt2600 pointed out some years ago, the nice thing about a gps jammer is that it sends out a strong active gps signal. Which will promptly be targeted by a weapons system if it pisses the wrong people off.