No broad, public announcement of any kind, here is a clip from an email I just recieved:
THIS IS STRAIGHT FROM THE FEDS! I DO NOT KNOW JUST HOW THIS WILL IMPACT US BUT BE AWARE>
The Department of Defense will conduct GPS tests on January 20th through February
22nd, 2011. During testing, the GPS signal may be unreliable or unavailable.
A. Location: Centered at 304906N/0802811W or the location know as 105.25
degrees and 52.1 NM from the SSI VOR.
B. Dates and times: GPS testing is scheduled on January 20th through February 11th,
2011 from 0000-0245 UTC daily and February 15th through February 22nd, 2011
from 0000-0245 UTC daily. These tests may not be concurrent so pilots are
advised to check NOTAMS frequently for possible changes prior to operating in the
area.
C. Duration: Several test events will be conducted and will be active for 45 minutes
followed by 15 minutes of off time.
D. During testing, GPS will be unreliable and may be unavailable with in a circle with
a radius of 370NM and centered at 304906N/0802811W or the location known as
105.25 degrees and 52.1 NM from the SSI VOR at FL400; decreasing in area with
a decrease in altitude to a circle with a radius of 325NM at FL250; a circle with a
radius of 260NM at 10,000FT MSL and a circle with a radius of 215NM at 4,000FT
AGL.
E. Pilots are highly recommended to report anomalies during testing to the
appropriate ARTCC to assist in the determination of the extent of GPS degradation
during tests.
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2 comments:
It is not uncommon for the DoD to conduct tests or encrypt GPS. Though I have to admit this particular test sounds unusual.
But remember it is a DoD system. This probably came from a Notices to Airman (NOTAMS) that all pilots must read for the areas they are flying in before taking off, so it is a warning. Pilots must rely on more traditional navigation aids (VOR/TACAN etc) when flying in this area. Impact should be minimal. Assitionally most ground based GPS uses won't be affected unless they are on peaks (which there aren't alot of in Florida and southeast Georgia.
Thanks for sharing that David
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