Have the recent Solar Storms been affecting your GPSr?

[Andronicus]

I didn't notice it with my good GPS, but the GPS in my smartphone was not working very well at all during the one a few days ago. I hear there is another one even bigger incomming right now.

[knowschad]

I didn't notice it with my good GPS, but the GPS in my smartphone was not working very well at all during the one a few days ago. I hear there is another one even bigger incomming right now.

I haven't noticed it. I did see a story about it a few days back. I need to remember to get out and check for northern lights tonight!

 

Hmmmmm... let's see if this will work:

 

Solar X-ray status:

 

 

Geomagnetic Field status monitor:

Edited August 9, 2011 by knowschad

[Andronicus]

I didn't notice it with my good GPS, but the GPS in my smartphone was not working very well at all during the one a few days ago. I hear there is another one even bigger incomming right now.

I haven't noticed it. I did see a story about it a few days back. I need to remember to get out and check for northern lights tonight!

 

Hmmmmm... let's see if this will work:

 

Solar X-ray status:

 

 

Geomagnetic Field status monitor:

That was a X6 flare (aka R3 (Strong) Radio Blackout). Once it reaches earth, the geomagnetic field status will not be quiet. I am wondering how it will affect peoples GPSrs.

We are always seeing the warning news articles about the impending doom due to the Solar Cycle 24 maximum. Now that we are getting close to the maximum, it will be interesting to see what the true effect is. It is the first solar maximum in the modern GPS era (the last maximum peaked in 2002). It is not expected to be a particularly strong maximum, but a maximum none the less. It is a dramatic contrast to the extream solar quiet we have had from about 2005-2010.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Andronicus

[knowschad]

I suspect I'll see it most when the newscaster on TV starts to talk like Max Headroom.

[+Mental Ellert-ness]

I suspect I'll see it most when the newscaster on TV starts to talk like Max Headroom.

 

Wow! A Max Headroom reference. You don't see those everyday.

 

And I have not noticed anything weird with my GPS.

[+John in Valley Forge]

I had a lot of trouble with my car GPSr on Sunday, though I figured it was because I was downtown, surrounded by tall buildings.

[+AmphibianTrackers]

I have had difficulty with both my car and phone units. We hit up 20 caches yesterday and we got some weird results like directions sending us in circles before we even got anywhere near our cache. We just had to drive away from one because the GPS didn't make any sense.

[AZcachemeister]

I suspect I'll see it most when the newscaster on TV starts to talk like Max Headroom.

 

I say 'Max Headroom for president!'

[knowschad]

Well, no aurora and no Max Headroom tonight in Minneapolis.

[CheekyBuddha]

That might explain why the GPSrs in mine and my girlfriend's smartphones started going loopy while caching the other day... Either a coincidence or it could be affecting less-reliable (i.e. multipurpose) devices but not proper handheld GPS devices?

[+DutchBunch]

I didn't notice it with my good GPS, but the GPS in my smartphone was not working very well at all during the one a few days ago. I hear there is another one even bigger incomming right now.

 

My TomTom was not working very well in the Rapid City, SD area last week. I could understand when I was in the mountains but it even had trouble when I was in open terrain. The TomTom could not keep me on the road I was on. I did turn it off and on and then it worked again.

[JourneyPilot]

My Iphone is impervious to such things, the sales assistant told me! .

 

Have seen a few things where it thinks i'm half a mile from where I actually am but standing still for a minute has rectified that at the time.

[Andronicus]

Just incase I came off sounding like a perveyer of doom, that was not my intent. I am just interested to see how these stormes will affect things. Remember that these are short term events (2-3 days) each. Although they will likely get more frequent through 2013, they should start to lessen after that. And again, this is predicted to be one of the quietest maximums ever recorded.

 

I also had problems with my cell phone Friday around 2000h GMT.

[knowschad]

I didn't notice it with my good GPS, but the GPS in my smartphone was not working very well at all during the one a few days ago. I hear there is another one even bigger incomming right now.

I haven't noticed it. I did see a story about it a few days back. I need to remember to get out and check for northern lights tonight!

 

Hmmmmm... let's see if this will work:

 

Solar X-ray status:

 

 

Geomagnetic Field status monitor:

 

FWIW, those are links to what is supposed to be dynamic images showing the solar interference status. It will be interesting to see if they change over time. Today, X-Ray status reads, "Active" and Geomagnetic Field reads "Quiet".

[Andronicus]

How long does it take a solar storm to reach earth? Or is the storm's outputs not headed toward earth, there is a 360° radius around the sun in each orthognal axis, so it could well miss the earth. However, I thought I heard it was headed here.

[knowschad]

I didn't notice it with my good GPS, but the GPS in my smartphone was not working very well at all during the one a few days ago. I hear there is another one even bigger incomming right now.

I haven't noticed it. I did see a story about it a few days back. I need to remember to get out and check for northern lights tonight!

 

Hmmmmm... let's see if this will work:

 

Solar X-ray status:

 

 

Geomagnetic Field status monitor:

 

FWIW, those are links to what is supposed to be dynamic images showing the solar interference status. It will be interesting to see if they change over time. Today, X-Ray status reads, "Active" and Geomagnetic Field reads "Quiet".

 

Interesting... they are not dynamic. I took the links from some sample html they had on the page. Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

[+dfx]

Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

You just linked to the same URLs again.

[knowschad]

Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

You just linked to the same URLs again.

 

I see that. But they weren't the same images when I posted it. The X-Ray status read "X Class Flare" at the time.

[+dfx]

Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

You just linked to the same URLs again.

 

I see that. But they weren't the same images when I posted it. The X-Ray status read "X Class Flare" at the time.

 

My guess is on a browser caching issue. Those images are dynamic, not in the sense that they're generated on the fly when requested, but rather that their content (on the server) is updated every X minutes or so (might be only once a day) to reflect the current/latest status. Of course your browser needs to ask the server "has that image been updated since yesterday?" to notice that they've changed. If it doesn't do that, you'll keep seeing the old image.

Edited August 10, 2011 by dfx

[knowschad]

Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

You just linked to the same URLs again.

 

I see that. But they weren't the same images when I posted it. The X-Ray status read "X Class Flare" at the time.

 

My guess is on a browser caching issue. Those images are dynamic, not in the sense that they're generated on the fly when requested, but rather that their content (on the server) is updated every X minutes or so (might be only once a day) to reflect the current/latest status. Of course your browser needs to ask the server "has that image been updated since yesterday?" to notice that they've changed. If it doesn't do that, you'll keep seeing the old image.

 

I guess that what matters most anyway is that if we have a truely terrible solar storm, we won't be seeing any images.

[Andronicus]

 

I guess that what matters most anyway is that if we have a truely terrible solar storm, we won't be seeing any images.

That would have to be an extreamly bad solar storm. Highly unlikely this solar maximum.

 

While solar stormes have in the past taken down large sections of the power grid, that was a long time ago. The modern power grid may (or may not) be able to withstand solar storms better (maybe worse... who knows).

[+sword fern]

Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

You just linked to the same URLs again.

 

I see that. But they weren't the same images when I posted it. The X-Ray status read "X Class Flare" at the time.

 

My guess is on a browser caching issue. Those images are dynamic, not in the sense that they're generated on the fly when requested, but rather that their content (on the server) is updated every X minutes or so (might be only once a day) to reflect the current/latest status. Of course your browser needs to ask the server "has that image been updated since yesterday?" to notice that they've changed. If it doesn't do that, you'll keep seeing the old image.

 

I guess that what matters most anyway is that if we have a truely terrible solar storm, we won't be seeing any images.

 

 

Proven wrong in the context I read it in.

[Andronicus]

Guess instead, I should simply link to the ones that they display on the website:

 

You just linked to the same URLs again.

 

I see that. But they weren't the same images when I posted it. The X-Ray status read "X Class Flare" at the time.

 

My guess is on a browser caching issue. Those images are dynamic, not in the sense that they're generated on the fly when requested, but rather that their content (on the server) is updated every X minutes or so (might be only once a day) to reflect the current/latest status. Of course your browser needs to ask the server "has that image been updated since yesterday?" to notice that they've changed. If it doesn't do that, you'll keep seeing the old image.

 

I guess that what matters most anyway is that if we have a truely terrible solar storm, we won't be seeing any images.

 

Proven wrong in the context I read it in.

Nice, but old pic.

 

Here is a dynamic pic of the current view

I started watching these sun images around 2006. For years it was compleatly blank. Finaly something interesting to look at!

 

 

Edit: Not solar related, but here is a wikipedia article on the 2003 NE blackout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003

Hopefully that even has resulted in improvements to the power grid.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Andronicus

[Andronicus]

Woops...Double post

Edited August 10, 2011 by Andronicus

[Tranquil T-rex]

Yeah, my iPhone 4 was having some problems with accuracy the other day.

[knowschad]

Yeah, my iPhone 4 was having some problems with accuracy the other day.

 

$1.99 for this app: http://itunes.apple....d335189604?mt=8

 

Edited August 10, 2011 by knowschad

[+dfx]

Yeah, my iPhone 4 was having some problems with accuracy the other day.

Funny how it seems to be only the smartphones that are affected

[+Castle Mischief]

I am 100% positive that I would not be able to tell the difference or even notice interference from solar radiation unless all my GPS units all told me I was in another country.

[knowschad]

I am 100% positive that I would not be able to tell the difference or even notice interference from solar radiation unless all my GPS units all told me I was in another country.

You would know because your DNF rate would drastically drop. You would finally be right on top of those caches.

[+power69]

Yeah, my iPhone 4 was having some problems with accuracy the other day.

Funny how it seems to be only the smartphones that are affected

shame it can't be permanent. no more hides that are off 80 feet because they're hid with iphones!