or - Who does this guy think he is, anyway?
Howdy! My name is John T. Beadles and I'm an industrial GPS user. I have been in the telecommunications industry since graduating from Texas A&M (B.S. in Engineering Technology) in 1987. In that time, I have done microwave system design, two-way radio system design, and am currently providing support to engineers doing system design for CDMA based PCS cellular systems. I got involved with GPS as a method to get coordinates for radio sites more accurately than we were getting through manual methods. Since that time, I have been involved with using GPS to document existing buried fiber optic cable and developing a client-server mapping system in which to store the data. I have also conceived and directed the development of a laptop-based site information gathering system that used GPS PCMCIA devices. I have also specified GPS units for use by RF engineers doing cellular site planning.I am not a mathemetician or physicist. I have never designed GPS equipment nor have I determined GPS policy. However, I have worked with practical GPS applications. I've learned many things the hard way, such as where NOT to set base stations for day-long kinematic GPS surveys. When I got internet access, I found that there was very little practical GPS information available, and yet many of the questions on the sci.geo.satellite-nav newsgroup tended toward the new user looking for FAQs, asking for vendor contact info, asking how the stuff worked. I saw that there was a need for basic information about GPS that was unfulfilled - what it is, how it works, where to get it, what to do with it and where to get more information.
Well, here it is. I don't guarantee it is all correct. In fact, I don't guarantee that any of it is correct, but I'm doing my best. There is a lot about GPS I don't know yet. But I have time, the desire to learn, the willingness to share what I learn, and a web site thoughtfully provided by EINet/Galaxy and Wayne Allen. In time (and with a lot of help) I hope to make this document a valuable internet resource for a wide range of GPS users.