My experience with radar tells me it depends a lot on the geometry. For example a perfectly flat mirror-like reflector would only give trouble for an instant when the angle was "correct" It would give very bright reflection but then the satellite would move and then it would give no reflection. On the other hand a corrugated steel roof with all those bends reflects over a very wide angle but it is not nearly so bright.
As an example from radar. A small corner cube reflector made from straight metal parts can be as bright as an oil tanker ship facing head on. One is only a couple feet wide and the other is hundreds of feet wide. So the trouble with the rule you are looking for is that you have to multiply the number of square meters by some factor that varies over several orders of magnitude and then apply the inverse square law to account for distance. It's that darn factor that can't be estimated well. If you are trying to site a GPS antenna. Buy a 1" iron pipe and a 1" pipe flange. The flange provides a flat mounting surface for the antenna and the wires can fit neatly inside the pipe. I found with my timing antenna that the bolt pattern on the bottom exactly fit a standard pipe flange. Perhaps not by coincidence. On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 12:39 PM, Jim Lux <jim...@earthlink.net> wrote: > Does anyone have a feel for what the minimum size reflector at some small > distance would be detectable on a GPS timing receiver? WOuld you be able to > see a change of a 1 meter square reflector 10 meters away? > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/ > mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.