GPS not acquiring

[SolentBoat]

I have a fixed chartplotter (can't remember the make and manuals are on the boat (and I'm not)). Functioned fine for the last five years but I had my first outing of the year yesterday and, for two and half hours, it just sat there "acquiring...". I found a "reset GPS" option on a submenu - but all that yielded was another couple of hours of "acquiring".

It seems to be able to see quite a few satellites and displays strong signals on the "satellites" display.

Any suggestions as to where the fault may lie?

 

[alant]

I have a fixed chartplotter (can't remember the make and manuals are on the boat (and I'm not)). Functioned fine for the last five years but I had my first outing of the year yesterday and, for two and half hours, it just sat there "acquiring...". I found a "reset GPS" option on a submenu - but all that yielded was another couple of hours of "acquiring".

It seems to be able to see quite a few satellites and displays strong signals on the "satellites" display.

Any suggestions as to where the fault may lie?

aerial perhaps.

 

[elton]

It's probably lost the almanac. Leave it on in a stationary position with a good view of the sky for an hour or two to recover the almanac.

 

[sailaboutvic]

You could try putting in your lat and long .

Dufour385.webs.com

 

[npf1]

Try covering the antenna in foil for a few mins. If it's does what mine sometimes does, it will acquire a position shortly after the foil has been removed.

 

[SolentBoat]

Thanks.

I'm going out on Thursday (I hope). So I'll get down early and try (i) typing in lat and long, (ii) tin foil! and (iii) leaving it for an hour so while still alongside.

Not that I actually need it - I'm only going to the Folly with a short detour somewhere to anchor for lunch.

 

[Baddox]

Thanks.

I'm going out on Thursday (I hope). So I'll get down early and try (i) typing in lat and long, (ii) tin foil! and (iii) leaving it for an hour so while still alongside.

Not that I actually need it - I'm only going to the Folly with a short detour somewhere to anchor for lunch.

If it’s wired up to a DSC VHF the radio’s alarm will trigger every few minutes until the GPS fix is acquired and providing coordinates.

When I had the same problem I checked the wiring from the antenna and then checked that there was no water or condensation ingress in the antenna mushroom.

Good luck.

 

[PhilW]

How old is it? Possibly the internal memory battery that powers the clock has expired

 

[SolentBoat]

Well, I fired it up with the intention of trying these various fixes but was unable to - because when I pressed the on button, it worked straight away.

 

[VicMallows]

Well, I fired it up with the intention of trying these various fixes but was unable to - because when I pressed the on button, it worked straight away.

BUT ... you MUST now analyse further to find out why you had a problem to start with..... and buy a backup GPS. Otherwise how will you get into Lymington or Portsmouth at night, let alone Cherbourg! (JOKING, of course).

 

[SolentBoat]

Well, I *do* have a spare handheld GPS on board (I ought to check it's got batteries in it, though!) and, in extremis, I think my phone has one.

However, my sailing days pre-date the arrival of cheap GPS and, certainly, chartplotters so I can probably hold my own old-school style. That said, I'm not sure how confident I'd be crossing the Channel entirely without GPS. Maybe I should try it next time - well, I'll try and navigate by ye olde style pencil, fag packet and guess work while someone else on board can keep an eye on a GPS just to check!