Is it me?

benjenbav

benjenbav

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On the way to Bembridge t'other day my chartplotter (Garmin 3010) couldn't find any satellites. I don't think it can be an issue with the aerial because my handheld (Garmin 76Map) had the same problem. My ancient Garmin 126 (GPS but no chartplotter function) didn't seem to be affected but it all seemed a bit of a puzzle.

I had to get out the charts, take a bearing and steer a compass course back home. Although as I entered Chichester harbour the plotters could see enough satellites to resume normal operations.

I even began to wonder if I was acting as some sort of mini-bermuda triangle. Although, as I was still onboard when everything started working again I think that may be unlikely.

Possible ideas:

1 The satellites are losing functionality sooner than expected.

2 There's some sort of weird blank spot west of Chichester - I had a similar issue the last time I went to Pompey, three weeks ago.

3 My Garmin plotters need some sort of re-set.

I should be grateful for any ideas or any comments if anyone else has experienced the same issue.
 
Went Chi to Pompey on Friday night - two plotters - both had good GPS signal ... came back Sat via the Nab - both still had good signal ...

Oh - one is a 2-3yo Standard Horizon the other a much older Raymarine RL70C ...
 
None of those, I'm afraid. (I'm sure the boat was the right way up because I didn't have to change my trousers).

Neither of these bits of kit has missed a beat before. There were some threads not very long ago about Garmin plotters needing a reset from NMEA to Garmin but I thought that was just a problem with seeing the right date and time. Maybe that's it?
 
"I should be grateful for any ideas or any comments if anyone else has experienced the same issue."

I have the Garmin 2010C (slightly older version) and I get a warning every now and again "NO DGPS SIGNAL" spoke to Garmin support and they said needs an upgrade, which you can get off their website and download onto blank chip. I said I dont have blank chip or programmer, so they will send you chip in post for downloading upgrade and post back.

Doesnt seem to happen so often anymore, but occasionally i.e. this last weekend off Calshot Spit !
 
Chris, Thx. Will speak to them. I have always found their website pretty impenetrable but when I have given up and phoned they have been as helpful as could be - in part why I have struck with them since my first Garmin. I do have a programmer and blank chip so may be able to get something helpful.
 
Usefull to know that you've got a programmer and blanky chip. I was after one a while back cos I bought the garmin Atlantic CD to muck about with journey pllanning on the PC and wondered if I could download it all onto the plotter
 
Its happening on the road as well.

benjenbav said:
Chris, Thx. Will speak to them. I have always found their website pretty impenetrable but when I have given up and phoned they have been as helpful as could be - in part why I have struck with them since my first Garmin. I do have a programmer and blank chip so may be able to get something helpful.
Click to expand...

Its happening on the road as well. I contacted Tomtom and they were excellent. There is a rolling program of software upgrades going on with the GPS satellites and this can affect some but not necessarily all machines (road or sea). On the Tomtom there is a facility to go to the satellite page and instigate a search - this resets the satellite lock. I think my old Navman 5500 could also do this? Have a play around with it and see what you can come up with.
 
Dave_Snelson said:
Its happening on the road as well. I contacted Tomtom and they were excellent. There is a rolling program of software upgrades going on with the GPS satellites and this can affect some but not necessarily all machines (road or sea).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, thats bull**** - they were just fobbing you off.
 
Dave_Snelson said:
No, it worked. On the Tomtom, you touch screen the botton RH corner and up comes the raw satellite page. Select refresh and hey presto 7 satellites instead of two. I wouldn't have posted this if it hadn't worked.
Click to expand...

Thats as may be, but its nothing to do with any 'rolling upgrade of the GPS satellites'.
 
FlowerPower said:
It's still the case that things aren't going quite to plan in the GPS world: although I don't think this one is currently live:

http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system...seudorange-error-new-gps-satellite-svn49-6902
Click to expand...

Yes, I posted about this on one of the 'GPS will fail soon' threads as it was more significant than the funding report.

Be interesting to see how they go about fixing this - whether they alter the orbit information in the alamanc information slightly, or just leave it to the end user/software to ignore that satellite at certain elevations (or assign it a higher uncertainty).

However, given that the margin of error increases to about 4 metres (with WAAS/EGNOS ionospheric correction), I'm not going to lose any sleep over it ;)
 
aaaaaaaggghhh .... 4 meters - that means you could be the other side of your boat!? Careful you don't fall overboard!! ;)
 
Hi All, I had a similar problem myself a few years back. Raymarine kit on our then Princess 360 and was always between Bramble Bank and Lymington. I just lost signal in that place and that place only. After much head scratching, rewiring etc. I by chance stumbled on a internet forum in the USA, someguy there had the same problem and it came down to having an active TV aerial. We tried turning the amplifier off and it fixed the problem. On many occasions I would try it again and the problem was back. So it was definately the active TV aerial that was the cause. Hope this helps.
 
By way of an update, I spoke to Garmin today and they advised me about the software updates. I haven't had a chance to download the necessary yet.

On a separate subject I asked about the phasing out of MapSource and was told that in January(?) 2010 Garmin are releasing new software to allow preprogrammed card data to be transferred to a PC, worked on and transferred back, similar to what has been possible with MapSource up to now.
 
andyhythe said:
Hi All, I had a similar problem myself a few years back. Raymarine kit on our then Princess 360 and was always between Bramble Bank and Lymington. I just lost signal in that place and that place only. After much head scratching, rewiring etc. I by chance stumbled on a internet forum in the USA, someguy there had the same problem and it came down to having an active TV aerial. We tried turning the amplifier off and it fixed the problem. On many occasions I would try it again and the problem was back. So it was definately the active TV aerial that was the cause. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Good point. If we leave the satellite dish up and powered up, it blanks the GPS signal. I presume the LNB must be kicking out some interference - it's only a couple of feet from the GPS antenna if I forget to take it down.
 
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