Saturday, July 30, 2011

Damn the Man, Save the GPS

I have said it before and I will say it again that the whole Light Squared thing will never happen.

The economic impact of such a thing is crazy.

I will be honest and tell you that I am unaware of all of the facts but it seems to me that other industries with have a lot to say as well.

Auto
Agriculture
Aeronautics
Machine control
Handheld
Marine
Surveying

and a whole lot more.

Light Squared is but a small piece of the puzzle. I see a lot of talk on a forum that I belong to but am not hearing of any action except for a sight called "saveourgps".

I am having a hard time believing that Light Squared has the lobbyists that can convince the government to over ride all of these industries when the others combined most likely have more.

These "save our" sites are neat, but the real action should come from the individual states with people contacting state senators and representatives with a mass amount of people putting together a big package that says "find a different frequency".

It's action like this that will get the governments attention. If they see each state and all of these businesses pitching a complaint they will think twice.

My 2 cents........

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Conspiracy???

This is an email from a surveyor that is one of the most common sense people I have ever conversed with.

He poses an interesting theory.

Someday we may have to pay a yearly due to use GPS. Just another cost of doing business.

See below.

"I see Light Squared and their proposal as a way to end the "free"
broadcasting of GPS DATA.  The FCC, by issuing this permit to Light
Squared sets up the eventuality of a "provider" to come in and setup
subscriptions to the new GPS transmissions or the Military channels.  Look at the
revenue generating potential for the GPS equipment providers at all levels, look
at the revenue generation potential for the signal "providers".  Finally
look at the revenue for the US Government, the Russians, the European Union,
and China.  I haven't heard anything from Magellan, Garmin, Delorme, Lieca,
Trimble, act.  Maybe they have voiced their objections but I believe
there are larger forces at play here.  And once again the truth is not forth
coming."

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Light Squared

OK. it is my personal opinion that the impending doom of the Light Squared thing is never going to happen.

I completely understand what they want to do, but they are way out of line on a Global scale.
They are obviously going to have to go to plan b.

If the governments allow this to happen they will be setting many sectors that rely on GPS back years. Essentially these sectors will have to revert back to time consuming and less accurate methods. The long term global cost will be astronomical.

Never going to happen. Sorry Light Squared.

Below is an article that was sent to me.


Europe Fights LightSquared

The European Commission has added its name to the long list of those opposed to LightSquared's plan to use satellite band frequencies for a ground network of broadband transmitters. The proposal, which is now before the Federal Communications Commission for comment, has been widely condemned by pro-GPS companies and organizations in the U.S. because it could disrupt GPS service. The European Commission is now officially worried the broadband signals will obliterate signals from its Galileo satellite-based navigation system, which will deploy in three years, and Heinz Zourek, the director general for enterprise and industry, says the signals may have an even greater impact on Galileo equipment than the interference being reported on GPS receivers. "Interference effects have been determined to occur in the range [of] 100 [meters] to almost 1,000 [kilometers]," Zourek said in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
The main concern is that Galileo receivers operating in the U.S. will be affected by the signals but Zourek notes GPS users will also be affected by the interference caused to Galileo signals. He said Galileo is designed to work hand-in-glove with GPS to improve accuracy and reliability. Zourek acknowledged that individual countries can allocate radio spectrum as they see fit but international conventions don't allow interference with the systems of other countries.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Return

I always feel a little dread when I have to go back to work after having a superb vacation.

I could honestly never do another survey again and be very happy.

However after being in the office for an hour or so I fell right back in and it all came together.

So there I am in Newport Beach driving out on the peninsula and what do I see but a survey crew. It occurred to me that surveying at the beach must be a great perk to the job.

How can you go wrong with all of the curvy scenery?? But then here comes the guy with the banana hammock and that makes the gun lens explode.

I think that surveyors are the same all over and depending on how they deal with their circumstance dicates how they survive.

Is life the hot G-string chick or is it the guy in the hammock.

Happy surveyor or unhappy surveyor?? I know which one I am. Do you?



                                            Todd the lens killer!!


Saturday, July 2, 2011

Holiday

OK Everyone it's the holiday weekend. Time for us to light the grill, slam a few beers and celebrate our country.

Please let's all take a moment to be grateful and proud to be an American. I always am.

If any of you need me I will be in Newport Beach all week doing the following below pic's (in any given order) so please refrain from contacting me.





Happy 4th to all and God bless America.