Is bushfire smoke interfering with gps signal??

[chakar]

Hi
Running primo in a chinese 7 inch...Im in Wollongong and the last few days have been loosing satellites (all)...Next day fine...(intermittant)...Would the haze from the smoke affect loosing all sats?? or maybe the 7 incher is on its way out...I have changed antenna , checked plugs , bashed unit , nothing ....wake up next morn bingo!!?? Was thinking a dry joint as well as it was a hot day?? Any comments ?? thanks

[gordon_s1942]

While you wouldnt think so I guess its possible as you have to remember that there are particles in that smoke that vary considerably in size..
When we had a wind change here recently (State Fire, Lithgow) I found fine particles up to 3mm long like cotton threads on the tops of the garbage bins etc so if during the night they absorbed any moisture I guess they could form a barrier to the radio signals.
Heaven only knows what other material like wood ash, soot etc is in the smoke mix.

........................
I just remembered that the day following the start of the State Mine Fire, one of the TV channels Weathermen commented that the smoke was appearing on the weather Radar that was used to track storms so I see no reason why it couldnt interfere with a GPS signal

[lsemmens]

Our old Navman 310 used to lose signal if it was a mildly cloudy day so, I'd believe it.

[jwoegerbauer]

GPS signals operate on a microwave frequency because those are relatively immune to atmospheric interference. The system wouldn't work unless GPS signals could easily penetrate cloud cover, precipitation, smog, dust and smoke. The system was designed for military use; smoke and dust from explosions, bombings and artillery are common in combat zones, so the wavelength was chosen with that in mind.

[bazzle01]

Sorry but Yes it can. So can dense clouds and tree canopies. Also attenuates microwave signals (not same as gps)

Baz

[gordon_s1942]

GPS signals operate on a microwave frequency because those are relatively immune to atmospheric interference. The system wouldn't work unless GPS signals could easily penetrate cloud cover, precipitation, smog, dust and smoke. The system was designed for military use; smoke and dust from explosions, bombings and artillery are common in combat zones, so the wavelength was chosen with that in mind.

The words 'Relatively Immune' says it all.
One major difference is that the GPS signal comes from at least (hopefully) 3 differently placed Satellites,not one as PayTV does but with as many as 10 reduces the chance of a signal loss to make it 'Almost' continuous.
I read one time the way the Iridium Satellites orbit, Australia could drop to as few as 2 Satellites briefly because it was for obvious reasons, Footprinted for the USA and Europe.
Remember the GPS system is after all a program to aid the targeting of military targets with missiles etc and not for us to find the nearest Pub or Betting shop.

When this happened to chakar, he was possibly totally surrounded by a dense low altitude smoke cloud and that coincided with a minimum number of Satellites and he lost the signal.

[chakar]

Yeah Thanks Guys...With the smoke cleared there seems to be a big improvement...Very few times now has it taken ten minutes or so to lock on...Interesting answers...I dont think there is a man on earth who needs a gps to find a pub...Its just automatically set in our brains...