A GPS receiver is a piece of electronic equipment that is one of the three main components in the global positioning system. Without the GPS receiver, nobody would be able to use the satellite system to pinpoint their location or use it for navigation services. A GPS receiver may be either a portable hand held device, mounted on a vehicle, or it may be stationary. Both civilians and military personnel may use these devices and the GPS system is available for use twenty-four hours a day and for seven days a week.

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p>Satellites In The Sky

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p>At any one given time, there will be at least two-dozen satellites in the sky that can be used with the GPS receivers. The coordinates of these satellites are pre-loaded into any GPS receiver in order that the receiver may receive instant and accurate information that can be used for pinpointing a location or for navigation purposes.

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p>Some Receivers Are More Accurate Than Others

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p>Not all receivers are alike because while most portable GPS receivers can be accurate to within a ten to twenty meter distance, it is the stationary GPS receivers that can provide accuracy to within one meter. There are also receivers that work best when used with different activities such as hiking, fishing, golfing, boating and driving. Either the information that the user can see will be a map with the location marked on it or just the coordinates for the longitude and latitude will be given.

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p>GPS receivers use a mathematical operation called trilateration to figure out where the receiver is located and to calculate the transmitted signals into a distance from that receiver. This method measures the distance that a signal has to travel from four or more satellites to get to the receiver and the location is derived when these calculations are matched with one another.

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p>It is possible for you to purchase a GPS receiver for less than one hundred dollars and this device will have the ability to help you when you are lost or need directions to arrive at your planned destination. It is possible to improve your golf game, luck at fishing and your chances of getting to where you are going on time. If Columbus had one of these electronic devices, chances are he would have found his passage to India as he first planned to do and things would have turned out differently for the Old and the New World.