satelite paths

[mark_T]

evening all,

May be just me but I was using my satnav set for the first time today and noticed that as I drove north in the morning i was getting 2 out 5 for signal strength in TomTom, with the receiver on the dashboard. Then as I drove south in the afternoon I was getting 4 and 5 out of 5.

Was it just a fluke or are all the satelites to the south over the equator? or do they cover the whole earth evenly?

Thanks for any pointers

Mark

[mcflurry]

If you go into the options screen you can see how many sats it can see.
It varies on a second by second basis as you move...

IIRC the sats are in geo-stationary orbit, i.e. always in the same place relative to planet earth

[Tripps]

mark_T said:

Was it just a fluke or are all the satelites to the south over the equator? or do they cover the whole earth evenly?

All of them (24 as I recall right now) are supposed to be spread evenly, whether they are or not is down to the US military, so you'd imagine given their accuracy the never orbit near a war zone!

[Flat in Fifth]

mcflurry said:

IIRC the sats are in geo-stationary orbit, i.e. always in the same place relative to planet earth

No they orbit every 12 hours.

Think about it, if all geo-stationary then if one satellite went down / off service there would be a hole in the GPS cover. This way there is another one along in a while.

[mightydquinn]

also when its cloudy you cant see them all.
or when your covered by large trees you can loose a few aswell

[mark_T]

cheers guys, i'll try the options screen next time i am out.

mark