[geotech]

Originally Posted by Oznative

HE HE I had a chuckle out of that. I was thinking the same thing. I think geotech would know these things though. I've done a bit of weekend geocaching myself.
OK geotech you gotta explain yoursef on this one.

No problem, my wife makes me do that all the time.

GLONASS (english: GLObal NAvigation Satelite System) is what the Russians call their GPS satelites. The USA satelites are controled by the military and are free (when available). The Russian system is a fee based system. Handheld & Auto GPS's would not benefit from the Russian birds as they would only improve the accuracy of sub centimeter GPS systems, such as the Realtime (RTK) and Static systems of surveyors. The are especially useful for a RTK system. An RTK system must freely track (and be locked onto) 5-12 satelites in order to work and also communicate with a base station doing the same (lots of geometric triangles). The more birds the faster and more accurate the location solution. The GLONASS satelites add as many as 4 birds at any one time to supplement the USA constellation. This proves to be very effective in areas with tree cover, valleys, mountains, scrambled USA satelites, etc. I have a GLONASS capable sub centimeter system that required a one time fee of $3,000 to enable. I do not own a Volga, however. GAZ-21: A thing of beauty in Institutional Green.