Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

[73psd]

Sorry<br /><br />

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Fortunately, GPS signals are one of the last FREE things in life. Well, sort of. Your tax dollars fund the system.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

I asked the same question last year... heck, I didn't know either

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

YES!!! The fee is $10/mo. Make your check payable to: 18Rabbit <br /><br />EDIT: if you have a chance to catch NOVA on PBS this week they are doing a show on the advent of the chronograph (watch) … invented for the purpose of establishing where a sailing vessel is on the surface of the earth…it was needed for navigation. Brief mention of GPS at the end of the program…it too requires a clock to function.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Care Of ndemge Processing Center

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Forwarded to 18Rabbit.

 

[cuzner]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

100% free in Canada ..... after15% sales tax on the gps <br /><br /> Jim

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

A gift to the world courtesy of the US Taxpayers.

 

[OBJ]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

18rabbit....I'd like to make a payment right now but all I got is 3's and 9's.....can ya' make change?????

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Originally posted by OBJ:<br /> 18rabbit....I'd like to make a payment right now but all I got is 3's and 9's.....can ya' make change?????

OBJ – Yes, not a problem. I can give you change in Canadian dollars.

 

[97trophy]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

FYI, they are free, but the government has made the position slightly off of being 100 percent accurate to non-DOD receivers.

 

[JB]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Yes, there is a fee, but only for US taxpayers. It works like Auto Dealers' "cash back" deals.

 

[swist]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

FYI, they are free, but the government has made the position slightly off of being 100 percent accurate to non-DOD receivers.

Not any more. SA was abolished under the Clinton administration.

 

[spratt]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Originally posted by 18rabbit:<br /> YES!!! The fee is $10/mo. Make your check payable to: 18Rabbit <br /><br />EDIT: if you have a chance to catch NOVA on PBS this week they are doing a show on the advent of the chronograph (watch) … invented for the purpose of establishing where a sailing vessel is on the surface of the earth…it was needed for navigation. Brief mention of GPS at the end of the program…it too requires a clock to function.

 

[DustyJacket]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Originally posted by swist:<br />

FYI, they are free, but the government has made the position slightly off of being 100 percent accurate to non-DOD receivers.

Not any more. SA was abolished under the Clinton administration.

Select Availability (SA) was turned off May 2000

 

[lark2004]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Even befor that, my Dads GPS was acurate to within 5 meters of where we were(map checked). We were on the corner of his house and the gps co-ordinates showed us on the map to be in the driveway, 5 steps away!

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

Fwiw, the goal of marine GPS, DGPS, Loran, etc is currently 10-meter accuracy. Eventually, when 5-meter accuracy can be obtained the system development is supposed to stop. The whole purposed of the accuracy for all this marine navigational stuff is to safely move big ships in harbours, not for finding your favorite fishing hole. There’s a conflict between what GPS was intended for and security vs. what we use it for and crashing boats into each other. Only in the last couple of years has the Dept of Defense committed to 10-meter accuracy, the USCG wants 5-meters.

 

[lark2004]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

must have been luck of the draw with my dads then

 

[jlinder]

Re: Dumb? is there a monthly fee for GPS

lark2004,<br /><br />What will suprise you is that the GPS agreeing with your map does not mean accuracy. The accuracy problem is with the maps!<br /><br />Map makers are finding the their maps are not 100% accurate in regards to latitude and longitude. In a number of cities they have commissioned arial photography to map the city so they can go back and correct their published maps.<br /><br />You can see this in a number of places. Go to http://www.keyhole.com You can try their programs that will give you sat photos for all over the world, and zoom into your house. See if what they show as your lat/long agrees with your map.<br /><br />Also, I have gone to places like terraserver at microsoft for their maps and they tell me that my address is about 500 feet away from where it really is.<br /><br />It is suprising to find out that the maps we all use can be off by so much, but in the past there was no easy, good way to reference the map drawn my surveyor measurements to lat/long.