April 6, 2019 the new Y2K !!!!

[woollypigs]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/12/current_gps_epoch_ends/

GPS signals from satellites include a timestamp, needed in part to calculate one's location, that stores the week number using ten binary bits. That means the week number can have 210 or 1,024 integer values, counting from zero to 1,023 in this case. Every 1,024 weeks, or roughly every 20 years, the counter rolls over from 1,023 to zero.

Panic, run to the hills !!!

[JonBuoy]

I was at a gliding competition last time this happened and there were a lot of worried pilots on the morning of 22nd August 1999.  I turned my GPS on early to give it more time to sort itself out and it was fine.  Other people were not so fortunate!

[Kim]

Should be okay if the firmware is vaguely recent, and it's switched on (and not factory reset) close to to the rollover.  Being on at the time probably helps.  Dusting off your old yellow eTrex some time after the rollover might have issues.

I can imagine aviation GPSes having a much slower upgrade cycle than consumer handheld/cycling models.  And 1999 was probably the first time anyone really thought about this...


It's 2038-01-19 that's going to be *really* interesting...

[fuaran]

I notice a recent update for the Etrex H, not sure if it is related to this?

Changes made from version 3.40 to 3.60:

    Fix incorrect time date issue caused by GPS week number roll-over on ST BRAVO3H

https://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3755

Pretty good that a 12 year old model is still supported anyway.

[Salvatore]

Should be okay if the firmware is vaguely recent, and it's switched on (and not factory reset) close to to the rollover.  Being on at the time probably helps.  Dusting off your old yellow eTrex some time after the rollover might have issues.

My Magellan 315, which still has features to deal with the effects of SA, works fine.

Not so this old yellow Etrex, which reverted to 1999.

[T42]

I wish I could revert to 1999.

[cycleman]

You would need a delorian and a mad scientist