Satellites Page

[Robert Shelley]

OK, What Gives!

5 satellites for over 3:30 minutes and NO POSITION FIX. And I'm even receiving the WAAS satellite!

Sometimes doing Menu->Enter->Menu->Enter will help (disable, then re-enable GPS).

Also, note that the available satellites aren't distributed very well -- #12 stright up, #5 & #30 in a straight line with #12, even #2 is close to that line. Only #4 seems to be in a good spot relative to the others.

Bob...


Good point. Constellation pattern is nearly as important as the number of satellites you are locked onto. Fix is never as good when you have a group of satellites that begin to fall into a line. A scattered pattern will give you a much better fix.
JWE

[HorseTrailRider]

I did try the Disable/Enable, but that didn't help.

While the satellites aren't in the greatest position, I think it would still get a lock with 5 sats [which it did finally get after a few more minutes]. They may have some type of logic that prevents a fix until the DOP is below a threshold value.


JWE

[scooter38401]

I did try the Disable/Enable, but that didn't help.

While the satellites aren't in the greatest position, I think it would still get a lock with 5 sats [which it did finally get after a few more minutes]. They may have some type of logic that prevents a fix until the DOP is below a threshold value.

I just updated to V1.4 Beta and have noticed the same thing. Of course my unit was doing this with V1.3. My Gramin "Locks" on quite quickly. Maybe Garmin's "lock" is more of a customer satisfier rather than a true indication of what is going on, but the differences between the two can leave a person wondering.


JWE

[bromo]

I upgraded to the 1.4 last week hoping that it would give me a fix more quickly. It still takes at least 4 minutes to find 3 -5 sats. (on my deck with almost 360 degrees of unlimited visibility) I bought a pn-20 a couple of weeks ago hoping that the new chipset would work better (==getting a fix quicker) than my old Garmin Etrex, which wasn't really known for it's 'fix speed'. Quite disappointing.
(maybe NW Pacific isn't a good GPS location? )

JWE

[Jobi Wan Kenobi]

I upgraded to the 1.4 last week hoping that it would give me a fix more quickly. It still takes at least 4 minutes to find 3 -5 sats. (on my deck with almost 360 degrees of unlimited visibility) I bought a pn-20 a couple of weeks ago hoping that the new chipset would work better (==getting a fix quicker) than my old Garmin Etrex, which wasn't really known for it's 'fix speed'. Quite disappointing.
(maybe NW Pacific isn't a good GPS location? )

Here is a trick, I don't know if it will help but it is worth a try.

1. Turn the PN-20 off.
2. While holding down Page and Menu, turn it back on.
3. As soon as you see the boot screen, let up on all buttons.
4. Hit Enter
5. Scroll to System and hit Enter.
6. Scroll to "NVM Reset" and hit Enter.
7. Scroll to Yes and hit Enter.
8. Quit back to the first page.
9. Scroll to Reboot and hit Enter.

This procedure deletes the Almanac data stored in the device. When you turn the device back on, it will begin downloading the satellite data from scratch. This process can take up to 15 minutes. However, you should begin to receive satellites before that time is up.

Also, are you removing the battery between uses? If so, this can slow acquistion upon the next use.

Hope some of this helps?

[bromo]

Thanks for the very fast response. I'm impressed!
I tried the sequence you described and that worked perfectly.
I only didn't read the sentence where you said 'it can take 15 minutes'..I switched it off after 10 minutes after it didn't find any satellites.
Switched it on again, again 10 minutes: nothing. Reread your post, and saw the '15 minutes' thing.
Switched on again: after 15 minutes I got a 3-d fix showing all green bars except for one red one.
Switching off and back on again, gave me a fix in about 6 seconds!
I will test, of course, the 'fix-performance' later these days/weeks on different locations, and provide some feedback if wanted.

again, thanks for the quick response!


JWE

[lkentn]

I had 5-6 bars of blue WAAS but I still had a no fix while geocaching in the Arizona desert. I am sure this has been reported before but if it has I will confirm that it has happened to me as well. We are dry camping out in the Quartzite AZ area and internet connection is very sporatic for us so I will post this and split.

JWE

[cervri]

Howdy Ikentn. Thats what I am doing also. Geocaching the Quartsite Desert.

JWE

[gasport]

Dan

Only Sams for me is 25 miles away, so it is not cost effective. Do you know of any online places? Seems a google search shows only 8 pack at best. I know Sams probably has them specially packed to sell in bulk as it is the only hit on google showing a 12 pack.

JWE

[Perry]

I had the Satellite page showing and noticed that periodically the backlight would turn on by itself for a second and then back off…strange. It happened 3-4 times over about 10 minutes. This was in the house where reception was poor…about four ½ green bars. Battery shows ¾.

JWE

[parmachenee]

I've always been pleased with the speed of my PN-20 acquiring a fix and keeping it. I finally had the time to update to the beta 1.4 version and am experimenting with various options. I put fresh batteries in and stepped outside and acquired a fix within a minute. I think it may be a little faster but will be testing some more.

JWE

[HorseTrailRider]

I've always been pleased with the speed of my PN-20 acquiring a fix and keeping it. I finally had the time to update to the beta 1.4 version and am experimenting with various options. I put fresh batteries in and stepped outside and acquired a fix within a minute. I think it may be a little faster but will be testing some more.

GPS Updates in 1.4 are limited to the issue where GPS would randomly go from a 3-D fix to No Fix back to a 3-D Fix. No improvements have been made to Acquisition Time or Ability.

The above quote can be found Here. Emphasis added by me

JWE

[parmachenee]

YUP!! I read it AFTER I posted. Emphasis added by me.

JWE

[bromo]

Unfortunately it still takes forever to get a fix. this weekend at Hurricane ridge in the Olympics my gps asked me if I wanted to disable GPS, because it could see any sats..I moved 60 miles since my last fix at home.. After shutting it down the next attempt took >3 minutes. back home it took another 2-3 minutes again to get a fix..
I'm not a happy camper..

JWE

[embra]

Bromo, were you moving (e.g., in a car) or stationary when trying to get a lock? Being in motion can make the GPS take longer to figure things out. (I know you mentioned above being on your deck; I presume you were relatively fixed there ) The problem might have been the locale, too; were you down in a valley in in the Olympics?

Although 2-3 minutes is on the longish side for a cold boot, I sometimes get those. It does sound a lot better than the original times you reported. I'll time a cold boot to refresh my mind as to what is more typical.

JWE