[time-nuts] GPS Antenna

Chris Albertson albertson.chris at gmail.com
Mon Sep 12 18:29:50 UTC 2011


On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 11:13 AM, David J Taylor
<david-taylor at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>> South? Are you sure? GPS SVs aren't TV broadcast satellites...
>
> Particularly if you are at a more northerly latitude, if you need to choose
> one aspect or the other, the southern aspect may provide better coverage.

I assumed the OP lived in the Northern Hemisphere and above about 30
degrees latitude.  If I assumed correctly South is the direction to
face.     The GPS sats are in a (from memory) 60 degree inclined orbit
so the North sky is not as well covered.  The higher North you are the
more you want to face south.  If you are above 60 degrees no sats will
be north of you.   Even in the Southern USA you find there are no sats
that go to near the north horizon but to the South they remain visible
until blocked by the horizon.   A mirror image of this applies in the
So.  Hemisphere.

Maybe a better way to visualize this is to think that the Earth is
covered with a huge shell from 60 deg. S. to 60 deg. N. with large
"holes" over both poles.   Given a choice of only one place to look
don't aim the antenna at a hole.



Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California



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