[time-nuts] Boeing 787 GPS reception trouble

[Chris Albertson]

On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 1:55 AM, Tom Van Baak <tvb at leapsecond.com> wrote:

>
> But last week I flew the new composite Boeing 787 Dreamliner and noticed
> something quite different. From the second I entered the plane, I lost both
> cell and GPS reception. It didn't matter how close I was to a window or
> not.


I bet this is nothing to do with carbon fiber vs. aluminum skin.  Both
would have to be conductive.  I bet it's the metal film on the windows.
 The metal skin of the older planes would have been a perfect shield but
the windows let the signals in.  But on the new plane the windows have a
conductive metal film.  So I bet the difference is entirely because of the
change in window design.

Even in buildings some "energy saving" windows have coatings that are
conductive and don't allow GPS to pass.
-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California