jn1 said..decrepit said..
Wet suit material is absorbent.
Salt water is conductive.
It's just like wearing an aluminium hat, it screens all electromagnetic signals out.
Google "faraday cage"
Does this actually block signals ? By how much ?. What you say makes sense (conductor in near field of antenna), but a salt absorbed arm band isn't a Faraday cage by definition. Not even an aluminium hat.
Kills the GPS reception stone dead!
Remember the sat signal's are coming from the sky, (apart from the odd reflection from the water). So the antenna doesn't need to be completely enclosed, just covering the sky view is enough.
I had a gps in a camel pack pocket. Much thinner and less absorbent material than a wetsuit, data was fine until I fell in and the camel pack got wet, then data stopped for the rest of the session.
It's also interesting, while I've been playing around with my DIY loggers plugged into u-center on the computer.
It's a steel roof over head but close to french windows. I get several satellites during the day but at night they disappear, took me a while to figure out why, the blinds have a thermal reflective coating on them. Aluminium of course!
