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So, here is just a little bit of amateur desk research into some things we might be able to gather from the information: The FAA flight advisory provides the c

So, here is just a little bit of amateur desk research into some things we might be able to gather from the information: The FAA flight advisory provides the coordinates and the nature of the GPS signal disruption, which is centered near China Lake, and has expanding rings of area, each of which rises in altitude. For the pilots out there, imagine the classic upside-down wedding cake shape. Or cone with its point at the ground. This would seem to indicate some kind of broadcast or interference from a source that is located at the ground, propagating line of sight with larger radii with altitude. Rather than something to do with the satellite itself. The center of the coordinates are 360822N, 1173846W, which is in a big empty desert area, just south (SSW of Darwin, California), see here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B008'24.0%22N+117%C2%B038'42.0%22W/@36.1302941,-117.6306855,10664m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d36.14!4d-117.645 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B008'24.0%22N+117%C2... It could of course be some kind of antenna, or even a flight that is producing this signal. But there's also an interesting long V-shaped two-legged testing(?) facility just to the east of these coordinates, which you can see in the Google Earth image. I might be mistaken about what that facility is, because aeronautical sectional charts also show a mine in that area, but this doesn't look like a mine site. Also there are a bunch of vehicles that look like Humvees on the pad nearby. And there are three antenna looking structures at the north end of the paved line. Anyway, it's interesting to speculate about.

lucb1e 10y ago
> The center of the coordinates are 360822N, 1173846W Noob question here: what kind of coordinate system is that? I know the degrees, minutes, seconds one (51°30', 005°09') and the nowadays more common decimal degrees (e.g. 51.5,5.15), but not this big number. Edit: Also, for those who don't like Google Maps because it's slow or just because it's Google: http://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=36%C2%B008%2724.0%22N%20117%C2%B038%2742.0%22W#map=12/36.1400/-117.6450 http://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=36%C2%B008%2724.0%... or http://binged.it/24xCR6D http://binged.it/24xCR6D (I would use the long link but I can't link to satellite imagery -- the only thing bing maps is good at).
- Nadya 10y ago
  It's still Degrees, Minutes, Seconds, but with N/S/E/W postfixed (is usually prefixed) 36°08'22''N, 117°38'46''W
  - lucb1e 10y ago
    Ah okay, thanks!
jcrawfordor 10y ago
My suspicion is that the prominently paved structure you're referring to is related to the publicly known Junction Ranch radar range located a half-dozen miles to the south, and indeed the eastern of the two long paved roads (which you can tell are elevated somewhat from the ground, as they have culverts under) appears to have antennas at the north end. There also appear to be some kind of portable towers set up around the area. However, the farther west of the two seems to have a small structure made up of shipping containers or similar portables. This looks more like a setup for explosives testing, which you can see more of to the NNW. I'm not sure what to make of it besides to speculate that it could be for RF shielding. Like most military ranges of its size, though, China Lake's back lot is full of so much miscellany that it's hard to know what's even from this decade, much less what anything is for. The structure you point out is fairly new, built since 2007, so it's a good bet it's still for something current. That said I find it very unlikely they would have provided particularly accurate coordinates for the NOTAM. They probably used the geographical center of the range's northern part or something similarly unhelpful but justifiable.
soared 10y ago
> China Lake, California, home of the Navy’s China Lake Naval Weapons Center

lucb1e 10y ago

> The center of the coordinates are 360822N, 1173846W Noob question here: what kind of coordinate system is that? I know the degrees, minutes, seconds one (51°30', 005°09') and the nowadays more common decimal degrees (e.g. 51.5,5.15), but not this big number. Edit: Also, for those who don't like Google Maps because it's slow or just because it's Google: http://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=36%C2%B008%2724.0%22N%20117%C2%B038%2742.0%22W#map=12/36.1400/-117.6450 http://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=36%C2%B008%2724.0%... or http://binged.it/24xCR6D http://binged.it/24xCR6D (I would use the long link but I can't link to satellite imagery -- the only thing bing maps is good at).

Nadya 10y ago
It's still Degrees, Minutes, Seconds, but with N/S/E/W postfixed (is usually prefixed) 36°08'22''N, 117°38'46''W
- lucb1e 10y ago
  Ah okay, thanks!

jcrawfordor 10y ago

My suspicion is that the prominently paved structure you're referring to is related to the publicly known Junction Ranch radar range located a half-dozen miles to the south, and indeed the eastern of the two long paved roads (which you can tell are elevated somewhat from the ground, as they have culverts under) appears to have antennas at the north end. There also appear to be some kind of portable towers set up around the area. However, the farther west of the two seems to have a small structure made up of shipping containers or similar portables. This looks more like a setup for explosives testing, which you can see more of to the NNW. I'm not sure what to make of it besides to speculate that it could be for RF shielding. Like most military ranges of its size, though, China Lake's back lot is full of so much miscellany that it's hard to know what's even from this decade, much less what anything is for. The structure you point out is fairly new, built since 2007, so it's a good bet it's still for something current. That said I find it very unlikely they would have provided particularly accurate coordinates for the NOTAM. They probably used the geographical center of the range's northern part or something similarly unhelpful but justifiable.

soared 10y ago

> China Lake, California, home of the Navy’s China Lake Naval Weapons Center