Info on how GPS works.

[Cane Pole]

This is a link to a webpage that details how GPS really works. I use it in the classroom as a tutorial (with permission from Trimble). Just passing this along just in case someone might be interested. I can not help mentioning this kind of stuff. I'm a "teckie".

http://trimble.com/gps/

Cane Pole

[Ranger375]

GPS is similar to you picking places on the bank to to line up with to sight mark a spot you are fishing. In the case of GPS the satalites(spelling?) are the tree or stump so to speak. It is a measure of triangulation using the satalites.

[Moose1am]

Yes it's very similar to finding two poles in line on the bank and two other poles in line on another bank at about 90 deg from the first set of poles on the bank. But with the GPS you can tell exactly how far you are from all the poles. So the timing of the signal from the satellite to the GPS unit is very important. If we all had Atomic Clocks in our handheld GPS units we could get 2 cm accuracy. LOL Now that would be very good.


My problem with triangulation when out on the lake is that I find it hard to find two items on each bank to line up after I find a spot on the lake that has fish. I can do it be often I pick a tree or a scrub that looks good at one point in time and then when I try to go back to that spot all the bush and trees look alike. LOL I like to find a man made object such as a telephone pole or a Cell Phone tower in the distance and then a rock or old dead tree along the bank for each line. Remember that the defination of a line is the intersection of two points. You will need at least two lines. Also you can use the depth finder to good advantage as you can use the recorded depth of the known fishing spot to zero in on the spot later on the next day. This works great for dropoffs etc.

GPS is similar to you picking places on the bank to to line up with to sight mark a spot you are fishing. In the case of GPS the satalites(spelling?) are the tree or stump so to speak. It is a measure of triangulation using the satalites.