GPS

Before you buy a navigation system for your car, ten thousand dollars, you might consider the technology. When the Aircraft GPS first made the scene, there was an issue of operability at these latitudes in Alaska. Most of the units canceled out the satellite data when the satellite was close to the horizon because of the bending of signal by the earth’s gravity. Only two manufacturers built GPS aircraft receivers that computed the error in order to utilize the data from the near horizon satellites. That was ten years ago. There are more satellites, but the near horizon distortion apparently remains a problem.

When the auto manufacturers started installing GPS, they turned away from the higher priced units, favoring their lower cost vendors and lower cost moving map displays. As a result, none of the units that I know of will work in Alaska. “Well, we only have a few highways anyway, so what’s the big deal.” It would be nice to have a functional unit, however, for the back roads and the big city. Don’t laugh, I still get lost in Anchorage with maybe two trips a year.

I haven’t checked out the Garmin street units; they are high priced but less than the factory package that does not work. It would be nice to have a 3D view of everywhere and a topographical map too. Maybe a satellite view will be available soon.

My Apollo unit on the Cessna 180 was good anywhere on the lakes regardless of terrain, so was the Garmin. For the price, your car’s navigation unit should do as well. UPS bought out Apollo, and maybe later King-Bendix took over the UPS unit. Probably I just miss my airplane, so I want my new hybrid to have the gadgets but gadgets that work.