[time-nuts] GPS from a window seat

Chad Simpson analogaficionado at gmail.com
Sat Oct 3 04:06:33 UTC 2009


Hi Bill,

I've done this a few times, with mixed success, using an AMOD AGL3080 GPS
data logger.  I managed to capture an entire flight from HKG to SFO.  That
was from a South facing window seat.  One thing to watch out for is getting
a good solid lock on the ground (e.g. in the boarding lounge) before the
aircraft starts moving.  Once in the air, these units seem to have a lot of
trouble acquiring an initial fix.  On one flight, my unit did not lock for
almost 30 minutes, even though it was switched on as I boarded the
aircraft.  Of course, with a logging unit, you don't have a display, just a
few status lights to let you know if it's working or not.  It isn't until
you're on the ground connected to a computer that you can tell how good the
log is.

A jacket with shoulder pockets, such as a flight jacket, works nicely for
positioning the unit with a view of the sky, if you have a window seat.  An
iPod exercise arm band would be another way to go, but might not be as
inconspicuous.

Good luck!
- Chad.


On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 6:21 AM, Bill Hawkins <bill at iaxs.net> wrote:

> Group,
>
> I'll be flying around the world from Minnesota, USA, to Kuala Lumpur,
> Malaysia, to give a talk on industrial process control.
>
> Bought a Garmin 60CSx handheld GPS so I could tell precisely when I
> crossed the date line (a man's gotta have some goal in life).
>
> Is this feasible? Can you see enough satellites from an airliner window
> while crossing the Pacific from Los Angeles to Singapore? What side
> would work better, N or S?
>
> Regards,
> Bill Hawkins
>
>
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