4G Broadband May Jam GPS 118
mferrare noted some rumblings that 4G Broadband may jam GPS. There's a slew of technical bits in an report (PDF). 4G broadband frequencies (1525-1559MHz) are next door to GPS frequencies (1559-1610MHz). Test results won't be out until June.
This just in... (Score:4, Insightful)
AM Radio could interfere with aircraft beacons, since they're right next to each other!
Please. We've been allocating spectrum for things for a long time. Interference can be monitored and controlled. Do you really think that mobile telephone companies would put up with broadcasters puking all over their spectrum? Or vice versa? Or either putting up with amateur radio interference?
Or, perhaps worst of all, do you think the Hams would put up with someone interfering with their spectrum? They can triangulate secret government projects [wikipedia.org] accidentally using their shortwave spectrum.
Yes, interference happens from all sorts of places. You'll likely find that devices in your adjacent spectrum are less likely to interfere than other sources of interference.
Re:FCC approved this? (Score:1, Insightful)
>>>That would be a pretty big screw up by the FCC.
The FCC has been screwing-up a lot lately. Like the claim "all you need is a digital-to-analog converter box". They forgot to tell the people, per the FCC's own engineering specs, that you also need the antenna raised to 20 feet height. DTV power levels were too low to penetrate into homes unless you live within 15 miles of the transmitter.
They also screwed-up Digital radio when they specified 1% power levels would provided acceptable range. Later they changed the 1% to 10%, due to many complaints.
And the FCC also approved Internet Gadgets to broadcast on the TV Band without requiring a license. i.e. Right over top of existing ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, et cetera stations. Brilliant move FCC.
So yeah this G4 and GPS frequency overlap is just another in a long list of FCC frak-ups.
Military use trumps all (Score:4, Insightful)
I would stress too much about this. Anything that has even a remote chance of interfering with the US military's use of GPS is never going to be deployed. Period.