Thursday, May 19, 2011

FAA warns pilots in Las Vegas vicinity on GPS

This is an interesting article about the clash of two technologies. I don't think anyone wants to see GPS impacted. What I don't understand is the hodgepodge that is seemingly being made of the spectrum. Why are these two technologies at odds with each other? Was the race to sell off spectrum to the high bidder ill considered?

I sometimes wish that spectrum could be allocated by impartial bodies whose only concern was the best frequencies being put to work for the highest purposes. Of course with humans who want to put spectrum to use to make profits, this seems to be impossible. Still spectrum allocation by the highest bidder seems to be leaving us with a royal mess that we will all be dealing with for years to come.

I wonder what will happen if all the people in cars in Las Vegas find their GPS units become paperweights during these tests. I guarantee you they don't have the warning systems that aviation does and there may be some unhappy surprises. Nor do they have the maps in their cars that pilots have in their planes. Most people I know no longer carry a map in the car. Do you?

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