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A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

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Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#41

Post by nulld3v »

rz2k wrote: post #32
thom wrote: post #27

GPS seems fairly pedestrian now but my dad had one of the early Garmin models in the 90s and it was a kind of magic back then. Even outside of the actual location info, just seeing this thing in your hand listening to satellites up in space felt incredibly powerful. Later on you could get units compatible with Windows CE and mobile devices and it was easy to see why it would be a killer app on smartphones. It’s sad t…

Take a look at the https://phyphox.org/ app for lower level access to the sensors on Android and iPhones. There is a GPS section that gives you coordinates but unfortunately doesn’t tell you about each satellite. The precision of other phone sensors seems even more amazing.

You could also try https://github.com/barbeau/gpstest if you are looking for something more GPS focused.

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#42

Post by makomk »

ShamelessC wrote: post #23
skhr0680 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I missing some sarcasm, or do you honestly think that the board in question doesn't look like an ambulance?

No sarcasm. Yes, it looks like an ambulance (seemingly deliberately). The tweet/fart/whatevertheyrecalled just has strange choice of phrasing implying they will follow up on this, then they don't. _Why_ is it an ambulance? Well who cares, I guess - but the author of the poof/squirt/whatevertheyrecalled is the one who draws attention to it in the first place.

It's a several decade old piece of hardware that was likely produced in extremely limited quantity, so finding the answer to that is probably not going to be easy. Presumably it was produced as a promotional item made to promote their GPS receivers for some kind of safety application that the ambulance shape is a reference to, but good luck confirming that in 2023.

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#43

Post by spookthesunset »

callalex wrote: post #31
thom wrote: post #27

GPS seems fairly pedestrian now but my dad had one of the early Garmin models in the 90s and it was a kind of magic back then. Even outside of the actual location info, just seeing this thing in your hand listening to satellites up in space felt incredibly powerful. Later on you could get units compatible with Windows CE and mobile devices and it was easy to see why it would be a killer app on smartphones. It’s sad t…

Also kids these days don’t know the pain of GPS taking 3-10 minutes to get a position fix without almanac data.

Back then even light tree cover would sometimes trash the signal enough to lose position.

While modern GPS can get a position fix pretty quick, a cold start on standalone units can still take a while before it discovers enough satellites.

The crazy thing to me is now days my little tiny watch can do Wifi, Several Bluetooth protocols, 5G, NFC, Wireless charging and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting about. Oh and it supports a variety of global navigation satellite systems. Don't forget the high-res OLED display too. And the fact it is fully watertight.

All that while having a fairly impressive battery life.

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#44

Post by mattew »

The interesting thing about GPS back then was that the location data you got back were randomly slightly incorrect every time you got a reading. I’m pretty sure this was so it wasn’t useful for military purposes.

I think it was called differential post correction but if you had a base station with a known location you could snap your incorrect points to the difference generated at that correction level and get the true location after the fact.

Source: GIS major in late 90s when this stuff was a lot more magical

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#45

Post by toomuchtodo »

mattew wrote: post #44

The interesting thing about GPS back then was that the location data you got back were randomly slightly incorrect every time you got a reading. I’m pretty sure this was so it wasn’t useful for military purposes. I think it was called differential post correction but if you had a base station with a known location you could snap your incorrect points to the difference generated at that correction level and get the tr…

https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/sa/

Selective Availability?

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#46

Post by mananaysiempre »

bee_rider wrote: post #15
secondcoming wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I wonder if it was the pre-90’s black/grey market, or the intervening decades of open trade.

I’d guess the former, but only because I’m honestly surprised anything designed or manufactured under government mandate post (generously) 1985 actually works. The collapse of the Soviet Union might have marked the start of open (!) looting, but with rare exceptions Soviet research organizations have been in pure subsistence mode for a decade or more before that.

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#47

Post by mattew »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #45
mattew wrote: post #44

The interesting thing about GPS back then was that the location data you got back were randomly slightly incorrect every time you got a reading. I’m pretty sure this was so it wasn’t useful for military purposes. I think it was called differential post correction but if you had a base station with a known location you could snap your incorrect points to the difference generated at that correction level and get the tr…

https://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/modernization/sa/ Selective Availability?

That’s right. It was selective availability and you used differential post correction to clean the data up and get accurate locations for the data you were capturing. Thanks for the correction!

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#48

Post by 5e92cb50239222b »

gambiting wrote: post #14
secondcoming wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's incredibly racist, offensive and ignorant to assume that "Eastern Block" means just Russia. Many former "eastern block" countries nowadays are firmly with the west and oppose Russia and their stupid invasion with all their might. Being bundled together with the Russians is the most personally offensive thing I've ever read on HN.

Uh-huh, yet it's somehow not racist, offensive and ignorant to blame all Russians for everything now. Some of you guys have lost all the high moral ground that you once supposedly had.

I have a working theory that long years of “oppression” in many Western societies of not being able to criticize any group of certain ethnicity, nationality, culture, or religion resulted in a buildup of sorts, so when it became okay to pour shit on ethnic Russians and citizens of that country (between which you make no distinction — do you make a distinction between Jews and Israel?), it's like the flood gates were opened. All the hate and vitriol accumulated over the years is directed at a group that one is allowed to hate.

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#49

Post by teddyh »

5e92cb50239222b wrote: post #48
gambiting wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredibly racist, offensive and ignorant to assume that "Eastern Block" means just Russia. Many former "eastern block" countries nowadays are firmly with the west and oppose Russia and their stupid invasion with all their might. Being bundled together with the Russians is the most personally offensive thing I've ever read on HN.

Uh-huh, yet it's somehow not racist, offensive and ignorant to blame all Russians for everything now. Some of you guys have lost all the high moral ground that you once supposedly had. I have a working theory that long years of “oppression” in many Western societies of not being able to criticize any group of certain ethnicity, nationality, culture, or religion resulted in a buildup of sorts, so when it became okay t…

As soon as a new subset of people have been designated as part of the outgroup, they are basically fair game for everybody to get their kicks in¹. And boy howdy do people love some fully justifiable carnage.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33802663>

(This is a re-post of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33913979>.)

Re: A 6 channel GPS receiver from 1993

#50

Post by eastbound »

jdietrich wrote: post #36
metadat wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which model was yours? This page appears to show every model of handheld GPS ever made, and Lowrance has 4 entries. Thanks for sharing this, I never had the chance to see one of these units. It's so weird now to imagine GPS with no map! P.s. What does a six-channel GPS receiver even mean? Is more channels more better?

>What does a six-channel GPS receiver even mean? Is more channels more better? The operating principle of GPS is more complex than I can usefully summarise in a comment, but essentially the satellites are continuously broadcasting an extremely accurate time signal that the receiver uses to calculate the time-of-flight to each satellite. GPS receivers need signals from a minimum of four satellites to provide a locatio…

How does encryption work on GPS signals? Since it seems the military have access to better accuracy, it’s not just a wavelength that is broadcasted.
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