[pct-l] pct-l] Follow-up to the earlier GPS discussion

[Halfmile]

I have carried a GPS a lot the past three years on the PCT for my
mapping project at www.pctmap.net and I find my GPS to be amazingly
accurate.

It's usually better than 25-foot accuracy, based on re-hiking some
sections of the trail many times or navigating to waypoints I have
preloaded in the GPS. There are might be places where it's 100 feet
off, but that doesn't happen very often in my experience.  Reflection
of the signals off buildings or cliffs is the biggest cause of
inaccuracy that I have noticed, but I have never seen anything
remotely close to a 1/4 mile error. I have never lost a GPS signal on
the PCT except in tunnels or large highway overpasses. All my GPS
units are newer Garmin models.

-Halfmile

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 11:55 AM, linda.hungerford
<linda.hungerford at comcast.net> wrote:
> In a canyon, where the signal to the GPS is bouncing around off of walls,
> your signal could be off by a quarter mile, or more.  (My track from the
> Rogue River last week has me repeatedly crossing the river to jog several
> thousand feet up the opposite canyon's walls.)  Or you could just lose the
> satellite signal entirely.  Better to know how to use the GPS and the map
> and compass, and figure out when to believe neither.
>
> Linda
>