Posted on 12/10/2011 6:43:10 AM PST by Hojczyk
Philip Falcone’s proposed LightSquared Inc. wireless service caused interference to 75 percent of global-positioning system receivers examined in a U.S. government test, according to a draft summary of results.
The results from testing conducted Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 show that “millions of fielded GPS units are not compatible” with the planned nationwide wholesale service, according to the draft seen by Bloomberg News.
“LightSquared signals caused harmful interference to majority of GPS receivers tested,” according to the draft prepared for a meeting next week of U.S. officials reviewing the LightSquared proposal. “No additional testing is required to confirm harmful interference exists.”
LightSquared, backed by $3 billion from Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund, faces challenges from makers of global-positioning system devices who say the service will disrupt navigation by cars, boats, tractors and planes. U.S. regulators are withholding approval as they check on claims of interference.Why is this important? Philip Falcone is a big donor to the Democratic Party, and he has billions of dollars at stake in LightSquared’s approval. Also, Obama himself was an investor in LightSquared at one point, as were or are a number of his associates. The resounding failure in this test makes it look like the White House pressured witnesses to back off of exposing LightSquared’s product as exactly the kind of dangerous problem that critics had maintained all along — with the intent to mislead Congress into moving forward with LightSquared’s government contracts.
One amusing note: LightSquared announced two days ago that the same tests showed no problems at all. After Bloomberg reported on the draft report, the company expressed outrage over the “leak” of “preliminary results.” Yeah, we’re with you on the leak outrage, pal.
Congress needs to add this to its growing list of investigations into the Obama administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
This is the sort of technology that Obama might find very useful. He may deploy it immediately in an effort to boost American jobs.
They have a solution. Throw away your, previously, good GPS and buy a new one.
And the owners of those millions of fielded GPS units VOTE.
It isn’t fair that some Americans know where they’re going and millions of poor Americans are completely lost.
From AOPA Online:
AOPA President Craig Fuller on June 23 likened a proposed nationwide wireless broadband network to a “toxic drug” that needs to be recalled.
Testifying at a joint hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s subcommittees on aviation and Coast Guard and maritime transportation, Fuller noted the innovation and nimble nature of the network’s developer, LightSquared, but said, “My biggest beef is with the agency that controls the policy,” referring to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), suggesting that the agency had failed in its responsibility to “do no harm” and protect a vital national resource—GPS.
In written testimony prepared for the hearing, Fuller said, “For one agency of the federal government to have engaged in a procedural process at an accelerated pace that puts our GPS system at risk is confounding. That the same agency actually issued waivers to allow a company to proceed in the face of clear and substantial objections from users, including multiple federal agencies and millions of citizens, is inexplicable.”
Then call it economic development!
This is the company that used its influence withn the White House (Falcone is a big donor/bundlerer) to strong arm an Air Force General to cover up the results of these test. The General refused, and the story was leaked but got NO PLAY in the MSM. Now they are trying to go around the problems their potential “cash cow” create with a PR campaign. They are advertising on the radio in the DC area about what a great deal this will be for everyone but obviously not mentioning the GPS disruptions they will cause. There are other potential problems that we will not hear because they will remain classified. Any member of congress or administration official who supports this is either stupid beyond belief or on the “take”.
Here’s another great idea. Do something to make everyone replace the light bulbs in your house with something that costs twice as much.
If only we could broad cast something that would make all refrigerators and stoves obsolete.
Some people blame GPS for not using filters like they should, that opinion is not based on a fair analysis of the problem LS created.
Recycled post;
LS has been very devious about this. They bought a company that owned satellite frequencies close to GPS and in a band intended for satellite transmission only . The satellite signals were not strong enough to use with the LS ground recievers so LS asked for a wavier to “agument” the satellite signals with ground based repeaters/transmitters. The problem is having those ground based transmitters blasting high powered signals in a frequency area used by ground based receivers designed for satellite signals, NOT high powered ground based signals. It’s not a simple matter of filtering, it would be like listening to a wisper (GPS) in one ear when someone’s (LS ground based repeaters) screaming in the other.
The FCC should not have granted LS the waiver to operate high powered ground based repeaters in a frequency range that’s always been used for satellite transmissions.
Good article;
http://nlpc.org/stories/2011/02/02/did-harbinger-hedge-fund-buy-influence-white-house-probe-asked-fcc-spectrum-givea
That is the way government works. They made perfectly good analog TVs obsolete with a stroke of the pen, and owners were forced to go buy new (no, those set top boxes don’t work, they fry the TV hooked to them in 90 days).
They also did it on analog cell phones. Analog cellemetry alarm devices, same thing on aircraft emergency transmitters and aircraft radios.
Just throw your old GPS away and buy the “New and Improved” version. It is the American way.
Far too many people have lost the ability to think critically; i.e. too many people don’t understand the relationship between a host and parasites. Too many parasites kill the host - that is the bottom line root cause of the so called economic downturn.
Government is a parasite NOT a host, government will NEVER be a host!
I am concerned by the politics and the disruption of civilian uses, but less than the military problem.
The civilian version of GPS signals are what are affected. The military signals are hardened against jamming.
Wow. The one of the few things that most people believe that government regulation can be good for is enforcement of efficient and uniform traffic laws. In the airwaves, that means the FCC limiting interference and allocating bandwidth so that manufacturers can make devices that work with each other.
Letting Light-Squared run roughshod over all of these GPS units is crazy. It wasn’t so long ago that Coleco’s Adam computer was kept off of the market for an extra two months due to FCC Class B requirements. Numerous useful products were delayed or shelved because of interference with radios, cordless phones, televisions, etc. Light Squared’s system is FAR more disruptive, and they are still in play. Amazing.
Only just like their failed cash-for-clunkers, most of the money will go out of the country because that's where the development and production happens...
The {expletive} we have running DC right now are no better than common criminals, in fact probably worse, based just on scale alone.
I’m all for this new technology.
It will mess up the cell phone tracking!
LightSquared are trying to downplay the interference.
How about a $100,000 fine for each infraction? How many GPS receivers are there? Millions? That’ll put them out of business and effectively shut down their system.
However, that would require that the FCC to enforce their own regulations. There is a lot of influential money available to pay for lawyers, pay off politicians, and to look for loop holes.
If a small business or American citizen were to try this, they'd be shut down in a second. It is proof once again that cronyism and money control our economy. Not Capitalism.
Just throw your old GPS away and buy the “New and Improved” version. It is the American way.
One of the problems is that there may be no effective way to come up with the "New and Improved" version without major changes. Those people who understand the design constraints of RF filters know that it's technically possible to have rejection capabilities of the scope needed to keep LightSquared ground-base transmitters from causing problems...but it may not be economically feasible, or impossible to implement the filters so GPS units will fit in your pocket. There is also the question about shielding the RF portion of the unit, and preventing RF leakage through the power connector or accessories connector.
In short, this is not a problem that can be fixed by GPS vendors just slapping a Band-Aide on their existing designs.
The obvious solution is for LightSqared to swap spectrum space with someone, instead of asking for a waiver of the rules that will impact the GPS industry. (Or, they could put up more satellites.)
It's the job of the person with the transmitter to mitigate inference problems with other licensed users, and GPS is indeed implemented by a licensed user. LS has to be the one to deal with it, or stop operation of ground-based transmitters. Period.
i.e. the 2013 version of The Consumer Voluntary Technological Upgrade Act of 2012. Just cross out “CFL bulbs” and replace it with “new GPS system”.
(Previous versions regarded “voluntary” upgrades to HDTV sets, airbags, 1.6 gallon toilets, “high efficiency” washers and dryers, etc.)
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