Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors’ Newsletter
The
Spring 2020
Pennsylvania
Surveyor GPS - IN THE BEGINNING By Andrew F. Kent, PLS (retired) Charter member of the PSLS When I became a topographic surveyor there were no reliable walkie-talkies, no mobile or cell phones, no transistors or computer chips, and no calculators. There were only hand cranked adding machines. Calculations were made by hand utilizing the math times tables you learned in grade school, with the assistance of a slide rule to check the work, and a book with seven place trig tables. On October 4, 1957, the Russians launched the first satellite and the Americans were playing catch up. I enlisted in the Army in 1960 to go to Engineering School and become a topographic surveyor. After graduation from the Engineer School in Ft. Belvoir, VA. I was sent with two other graduates to the Army Map Service in Washington, D.C. After we completed training and secured security clearances, we were assigned to the new satellite division. Our job was to plot the proposed satellite orbit on a map and research the available control data points along the path of the satellite for the purpose of establishing tracking stations. When the data gathering was completed, we flew to Los Angeles and picked up our equipment, as most of the proposed stations were in southern California, Nevada and Arizona. We were on a top secret mission, the Army even painted our vehicles black. However, the vehicles had “U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Betty” painted in large white letters on the doors. So much for secrecy. Army intelligence at its best. Project Betty was the name of the project, it was later changed to SECOR, (Sequential Collation Of Ranges). The idea was to have four tracking stations to determine the satellite position and eventually to use the satellites to
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Inside this issue President’s Message ...... …….……....2 NSPS Director’s Report .. …...………..3 New Members ............... ……………..7 Purple Law…………………………………..9 Mason and Dixon Stone Inventory .......... …………….13 PA One Call Trainings………………….16 Sustaining Members …..………….…17 Advertise with PSLS……………18 & 19 Special Recognitions………………….20
