From ddj@fc.hp.com Wed Jan 29 09:01:31 MST 1997
Newsgroups: rec.skiing.backcountry
Subject: GPS/transceiver interference

While playing around with a new GPS receiver this weekend, I noticed
some interference with my avalanche transceiver by coincidence.  It
took me a minute to figure out what was going on.  At first I thought
my transceiver was broken when I switched it to receive to check
somebody's beacon - it was filled with static and sounded very 'sick'.
After I figured it out I could easily affect the transceiver by moving
the GPS receiver toward and away from it.  The beeps still came
through in all cases, but it was fairly corrupted when the GPS was
within a foot or so of the transceiver.

Generally I am going to use GPS only for position fixes occasionally
so the power will not be on all the time; i.e. only when I want a fix
at a waypoint.  But if you use a GPS that is constantly on for
tracking purposes, you may want to turn it off when in avalanche
terrain.  Note that this is only a subjective observation and I don't
know exactly what effect the GPS receiver may have, but I wanted to
let people know about it.  I'd be interested in hearing any more
information from anybody who might know more about this.

--
Doug Josephson  ddj@fc.hp.com  Fort Collins, CO