WMS you'll like this...
So, I'm at work, I drive a cab btw, and I am having a technical nightmare. I can't get any work done 'cos I can't get a GPS fix, the computer doesn't know where I am so it won't give me any work.
After an hour of cussin' and swearin' I decide enough is enough, I'm going to go into the office and insist that my transponder be replaced, which is what had to happen the last time I had this problem.
As I drive away I realise that I've been parked next to (like 50 yards from...) this honkin' great Warship (HDMS Absalon if anyone cares) that was running one of it's RADAR arrays all last night. Hmmm, thinks I, perhaps this is my problem. I put some distance between us but to no avail, still no GPS signal.
This however has started the cogs turning and I finally notice the deliberate mistake...
I've moved my Ipod.
Only from the center console to the vent to the right of the steering wheel (RHD in the UK). Not much really, only about a meter.
Of course that meant that my iTrip was only 6 inches from the transponder instead of 4 feet. One over D squared, thinks I, and turns off the iTrip.
Bingo! We have lift-off!!
So I park up, whip out the laptop and HSDPA modem and check out GPS on wikipedia. A little squinting at an image of the carrier wave reveals that GPS is transmitted at 1575 Mhz, exactly 18 times the frequency my stupid dongle is randomly set to (220 settings this thing has and I randomly pick 87.5 )
So now I know how to really annoy Geo-cachers and protect myself from GPS guided cruise missiles...
What's really amazing about that is how sensitive the data stream is to interference. One in 18 is only about 6% of the signal being corrupted but that is enough to completely knacker the transmission. Goodness knows how you would go about detecting a jamming signal like that, it appears completely innocuous at first glance.