DGPS - any use any more?

[extravert]

New boat has got a DGPS receiver installed. With Selective Availability now switched off, permanently it seems, what does a DGPS receiver really give me now? A few metres extra accuracy if there is some atmospheric disturbance.

Seems like I'm not getting much for my 130mA consumption and 0.193 kg of unnecessary ballast. Consign to the boat bits box in the attic? Could always be refitted if SA comes back on again.

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[Birdseye]

depends what you use the boat for. if you are a fisherman returning to an unmarked just below surface pot (so lovingly used on the north cornish coast), or a similarly disreputable drug runner returning to a drop, then it might be worth while. if you are using the gps to navigate by chart, then probably not, since the charts are not accurate to that level anyway.

and if 130ma consumption matters, you need better batteries.

so the solution is - dont put it in the loft. flog it to one of the above, and use the proceeds to buy the batteries.

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[extravert]

130mA may not matter for boats with 60-100 Amp altenators on inboard engines, but to a solar-panel (1-2 Amps) and outboard (2-6 Amps) powerd boat it does. Nothing wrong with the batteries, but they are only as useful as the ability to charge them.

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[tome]

I was looking for a DGPS receiver recently (work related) but they don't seem to be sold in the UK any longer. They are still used in the US - main advantage is that they give better integrity monitoring. Improvement in positioning probably acedemic.

If you want to flog it, PM me

Regards
Tom

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