GPS lost signal - weird
ps56k
in the western burbs of Chicago
with my Garmin Nuvi 255...
All of a sudden, the screen showed loss of satellite signal.
I was driving on the tollway - out in the open -
Flipped to the main screen, and the sat signal meter showed nothing !
It stayed that way all the way home - about 30mins -
Turned it off, back on and it took a little while,
back gradually came back to life with full bars.
In all my years of using Garmin devices,
I've never seen that happen...
--
----------------------------------
"If everything seems to be going well,
you have obviously overlooked something." - Steven Wright
PeterD
<pschuman_...@interserv.com> wrote:
>I was driving on the highway
>in the western burbs of Chicago
>with my Garmin Nuvi 255...
>
>All of a sudden, the screen showed loss of satellite signal.
>I was driving on the tollway - out in the open -
>Flipped to the main screen, and the sat signal meter showed nothing !
>It stayed that way all the way home - about 30mins -
>Turned it off, back on and it took a little while,
>back gradually came back to life with full bars.
>
>In all my years of using Garmin devices,
>I've never seen that happen...
I've seen similar things with other GPS units. When I see something
like that I usually just power down, and restart it. Not sure if it is
a software or hardware glitch.
The most interesting problem is my Magellen reboots itself from time
to time. Always (almost) the same location, southern CT, on trips from
Florida to NH. Get into CT, headed for Hartford, and at some point it
reboots--and has done it several times. There's somethign there,
interfering with it I'm sure.
Mark F
> I was driving on the highway
> in the western burbs of Chicago
> with my Garmin Nuvi 255...
>
> All of a sudden, the screen showed loss of satellite signal.
> I was driving on the tollway - out in the open -
> Flipped to the main screen, and the sat signal meter showed nothing !
> It stayed that way all the way home - about 30mins -
> Turned it off, back on and it took a little while,
> back gradually came back to life with full bars.
>
> In all my years of using Garmin devices,
> I've never seen that happen...
>
Or, some idiot following you with a GPS jammer as
from dealextreme.com <grin> /mark
ps56k
"Mark F" <mark...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:q8EDm.6148$86....@newsfe15.iad...
It was an interesting moment thinking.....
- SA was turned back on.
- GPS System was hacked.
- Garmin receiver broke.
- Firmware update screwed device.
-
LightByrd
news:hbm8vl$p3h$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
I had something similar with my 76s. I was driving through Brampton,
Ontario when it totally locked up.
Did it twice. Had to remove the batteries each time.
All I could figure was that I got too near some 115KV power lines.
Soon as I left Brampton area, all was well.
--
Regards,
Richard Harison
John H. Holliday
news:hbm8vl$p3h$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> in the western burbs of Chicago
> with my Garmin Nuvi 255...
>
> All of a sudden, the screen showed loss of satellite signal.
> I was driving on the tollway - out in the open -
> Flipped to the main screen, and the sat signal meter showed nothing !
> It stayed that way all the way home - about 30mins -
> Turned it off, back on and it took a little while,
> back gradually came back to life with full bars.
>
> In all my years of using Garmin devices,
> I've never seen that happen...
Oh, that's the new Obammy GPS tax.....umm, user fee. See you have to put a
quarter in the SD slot in the edge of the device every 75 miles. Once a
month, you swing by the closest IRS office ...or I think Acorn is an
authorized payment station in Chicago.. and they shake the coins out of
there into a big cookie jar.
After all, it's not right that the electronic elite with GPSs not pay their
fare share for the satellite system......
Roy Lewallen
airplane couldn't find enough satellites for a fix, and wasn't able to
for the next hour or so before I landed. I was flying south at the time,
then east. It usually gets 10 or so satellites without a problem, and
that's the only time it's been unable to. An old Apollo GPS in the plane
was able to get a fix -- it has an external antenna mounted in the clear
on the top of the fuselage. Unfortunately I didn't take the time to see
where the current satellite positions were, but they must have been
bunched up pretty much overhead and/or high to the north and west.
It was another reminder that you should never depend on GPS as your only
available means of navigation.
Roy Lewallen
Fred McKenzie
"LightByrd" <r...@noway.invalid.com> wrote:
> I had something similar with my 76s. I was driving through Brampton,
> Ontario when it totally locked up.
> Did it twice. Had to remove the batteries each time.
> All I could figure was that I got too near some 115KV power lines.
> Soon as I left Brampton area, all was well.
This does sound like a case of interference, but I doubt the power lines
are the guilty party. I suspect you had been scanned by a RADAR
transmitter. It might have been military, or perhaps you were near a
major airport. I wonder if a TV station's weather RADAR could do it?
If such a signal overloaded the receiver, it is possible that the lockup
was caused by the circuit having a bi-stable characteristic, so it
retained the overload state after the interfering signal was gone.
Recycling power may be the only way to fix it.
Fred
LightByrd
news:fmmck-05B642....@nntp.aioe.org...
It was!
--
Regards,
Richard Harison
PeterD
wrote:
>In article <9KWdnULzBLItqELX...@giganews.com>,
> "LightByrd" <r...@noway.invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> I had something similar with my 76s. I was driving through Brampton,
>> Ontario when it totally locked up.
>> Did it twice. Had to remove the batteries each time.
>> All I could figure was that I got too near some 115KV power lines.
>> Soon as I left Brampton area, all was well.
>
>This does sound like a case of interference, but I doubt the power lines
>are the guilty party.
Agreed, we do off-road work very often, and frequently follow power
line ROWs to get to areas that we need to be at. Occasionally we'll
loose signal, but that is rare, and always seems to correct itself in
a few seconds. (I suspect arcing insulators may be a factor.)
> I suspect you had been scanned by a RADAR
>transmitter. It might have been military, or perhaps you were near a
>major airport. I wonder if a TV station's weather RADAR could do it?
Probably not, IMHO. Near Mt. Clemens MI is (was?) a large national
defense radar installation. Notorious for interference. I've lived and
worked around air-ports for years, but it takes one heck of a radar to
put out enough power at ground level to cause problems.
>
>If such a signal overloaded the receiver, it is possible that the lockup
>was caused by the circuit having a bi-stable characteristic, so it
>retained the overload state after the interfering signal was gone.
>Recycling power may be the only way to fix it.
>
Personally I'll stick with my guess of a hardware or software glitch
causing lockup. (Bad design, or defective component).
You
Fred McKenzie <fm...@aol.com> wrote:
> In article <9KWdnULzBLItqELX...@giganews.com>,
> "LightByrd" <r...@noway.invalid.com> wrote:
>
> > I had something similar with my 76s. I was driving through Brampton,
> > Ontario when it totally locked up.
> > Did it twice. Had to remove the batteries each time.
> > All I could figure was that I got too near some 115KV power lines.
> > Soon as I left Brampton area, all was well.
>
> This does sound like a case of interference, but I doubt the power lines
> are the guilty party. I suspect you had been scanned by a RADAR
> transmitter. It might have been military, or perhaps you were near a
> major airport. I wonder if a TV station's weather RADAR could do it?
Not likely a Wx Radar as they are not in the same spectrum as GPS
Downlink Signals. Same is true of most of the Military Radar Systems
deployed on land in the US. Now if you are very near a PCS Cellular
Tower, and your GPS Receiver isn't protected from Local Signal Overload,
those may just swamp the GPS Frontend.
>
> If such a signal overloaded the receiver, it is possible that the lockup
> was caused by the circuit having a bi-stable characteristic, so it
> retained the overload state after the interfering signal was gone.
> Recycling power may be the only way to fix it.
>
> Fred
GPS receives @ 1.6 Ghz, and PCS runs at 1.8 - 1.9 Ghz with significant
ERP, local to the Tower. also consider that a PCS Subscriber unit local
to the GPS may also cause an Frontend Overload when it is in use.
LightByrd
news:you-1EB6B0.1...@unknown.usenetserver.com...
So why only in this one spot?
Been using the unit from Ontario to Mexico for 3 yrs?
Hmmm....
--
Regards,
Richard Harison
luvjava
Parkway in Va. and my Nuvi 200 lost signal for a better part of 2 days, It
couldnt get a fix while on driving a mountain top or in a wide valley. it
seemed that if I ran it on battery it was a little more stable, but I
wouldnt have wanted to depend on it for Nav.
at the same time, my Venture HC was ROCK SOLID, and I could get a good fix
with my crappy Blackberry Curve
I was ready to turn my Nuvi in for service, but one I left the Roanoke Area
it was fine and I havent had a burp.
I'm heading back to that area this weekend, lets see how it performs.
Here is a sample from my track log,
My Dodge Chargers Tope speed 1072 MPH at 55000 Feet
249 10/11/2009 8:58:19 AM 1030 ft 0.1 mi 0:00:08 58 mph 49�
true N37.18979 W79.61396
250 10/11/2009 8:58:27 AM 1032 ft 299 ft 0:00:08 25 mph 233�
true N37.19101 W79.61220
251 10/11/2009 8:58:35 AM 1369 ft 0.4 mi 0:00:11 119 mph 65�
true N37.19052 W79.61303
252 10/11/2009 8:58:46 AM 15109 ft 2.4 mi 0:00:08 1072 mph 145� true
N37.19274 W79.60704
253 10/11/2009 8:58:54 AM 55401 ft 0.5 mi 0:00:25 67 mph 61�
true N37.16458 W79.58212
"ps56k" <pschuman_...@interserv.com> wrote in message
news:hbm8vl$p3h$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
Gene S. Berkowitz
th...@cox.net says...
> 2 weeks ago I spent the better part of the day on or near the Blue Ridge
> Parkway in Va. and my Nuvi 200 lost signal for a better part of 2 days, It
> couldnt get a fix while on driving a mountain top or in a wide valley. it
> seemed that if I ran it on battery it was a little more stable, but I
> wouldnt have wanted to depend on it for Nav.
> at the same time, my Venture HC was ROCK SOLID, and I could get a good fix
> with my crappy Blackberry Curve
>
> I was ready to turn my Nuvi in for service, but one I left the Roanoke Area
> it was fine and I havent had a burp.
> I'm heading back to that area this weekend, lets see how it performs.
You were driving in or near the United States National Radio Quiet Zone;
weird things are possible there...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone
--Gene
ps56k
"ps56k" <pschuman_...@interserv.com> wrote in message
news:hbm8vl$p3h$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> in the western burbs of Chicago
> with my Garmin Nuvi 255...
>
> All of a sudden, the screen showed loss of satellite signal.
> I was driving on the tollway - out in the open -
> Flipped to the main screen, and the sat signal meter showed nothing !
> It stayed that way all the way home - about 30mins -
> Turned it off, back on and it took a little while,
> back gradually came back to life with full bars.
>
> In all my years of using Garmin devices,
> I've never seen that happen...
>
> --
happened again last night - different area -
Now I will have to watch for the situation....
Drove to our niece's 16 birthday party.
Had my 255 connected to power cord.
Arrived in wooded area - everything was fine.
Left 255 turned on, and power is constant on, even after car turned off.
Came out 3 or 4 hours later.
The GPS was confused, lost sats, etc
Very weird that this has now happened twice with my Nuvi 255...
Don't know if related to long time sitting stationary and idle,
or even with the car powering it...
Mike Russell
> Don't know if related to long time sitting stationary and idle,
> or even with the car powering it...
Could be a heat related failure. Is your Nuvi located where the heater or
defroster vent might heat it up? Try cooling your Nuvi down by holding it
out the car window for a minute or so, and see if the problem goes away.
This way, you have two opportunities for a solution. You will either
isolate the problem, or *accidentally* drop it out the window, in which
case you'll just have to go for that upgrade :-)
--
Mike Russell - http://www.curvemeister.com
Raoul
>happened again last night - different area -
>Now I will have to watch for the situation....
>Drove to our niece's 16 birthday party.
>Had my 255 connected to power cord.
>Arrived in wooded area - everything was fine.
>Left 255 turned on, and power is constant on, even after car turned off.
>Came out 3 or 4 hours later.
>
>The GPS was confused, lost sats, etc
>
>Very weird that this has now happened twice with my Nuvi 255...
>
>Don't know if related to long time sitting stationary and idle,
>or even with the car powering it...
I had some similar weirdness happen with my Tom Tom 130. After I flew
from Boston to Orlando, it would not receive anything for 2 days.
Nothing on the signal indicator. Then, when I really needed it to help
me get to an address in Tampa it worked fine and kept doing so for the
rest of the trip. It was given plenty of clear sky to help it lock up
and was never overheated. Possibly it's a self-esteem issue since all
of the other GPSs I own/owned are Garmins and it feels inferior. It's
been fine since I got back. It would be a shame if it died, then I'd
have to get a shiny new one. Yeah, probably a nuvi.
Nicholas
If you travel over 300 miles from where you last had a fix, you may
need to re-initialize your receiver. Doing so is trivial, and you
should have a lock in no time at all. IOW, re-boot the gpsr. Hit the
reset button(s), to get it to reinitialize. After it does, you should
be good to go. Give it open sky during this process.
If you can't figure out the re-boot sequence, then just take the
batteries out for 1 minute before replacing them. No doubt the
receiver is still working with the *old* almanac until it updates at
the new location.
Nick
Mike Russell
I had a Magellan GPS that would get sick after a plane flight, due to air
pressure. After the flight, the bezel would become concave, and the
receiver would not work. As soon as the pressure equalized, it would work
normally. My guess is that the pressure differential distorted the antenna
electronics enough to interfere with receiving the signal.
Raoul
<Lawrence...@comcast.net> wrote:
>If you travel over 300 miles from where you last had a fix, you may
>need to re-initialize your receiver. Doing so is trivial, and you
>should have a lock in no time at all. IOW, re-boot the gpsr. Hit the
>reset button(s), to get it to reinitialize. After it does, you should
>be good to go. Give it open sky during this process.
That was one of the strange things. When FedEx delivered it to me new
it locked up within 15 seconds of stepping out of my office. This time
I did all the re-boot/initialize things and nothing, even after an hor
or more. Ah well.
Nicholas
Indeed, that is very curious. I've had gpsr's get ZERO satellites
when left out in the open for a long time. By open, I mean a clear
view of the sky with no buildings or trees in the way, whilst other
receivers nearby worked a treat. VERY curious, and I don't know the
answer, except to try to get a good position (relative to obstructions
of the sky) and use fresh batteries. And...don't forget your BODY can
and does block the signal, so once you set it down, you should step
away for a while.
EVENTUALLY, after some hours, the satellites started to appear on the
screen, but I've seen this happen only _Rarely_ (fortunately).
Nick
Raoul
<Lawrence...@comcast.net> wrote:
>EVENTUALLY, after some hours, the satellites started to appear on the
>screen, but I've seen this happen only _Rarely_ (fortunately).
>
>Nick
I'm just glad it happened in Orlando instead of when I'm hiking out in
the boondocks.
Nicholas
Yes. The re-initialize procedure varies according to Manufacturer and
specific equipment. On my Magellan's, I can just use the Menu to find
the item.
I've noticed that if you put in the exact State/Country you're in, out
of the choices offered, and the exact time and date, re-initialization
happens rather quickly.
Anyhow, I think the OP lost his signal because of forest canopy
blocking his signal to his gpsr, although he drove in with a *lock.*
And the fellow without the signal at all, that's a call to
re-initialize the unit. Not at all difficult at the User Level if you
know what you are looking for, which is an updated almanac for the
satellites and ephemeris data (what SV is where, and when).
I don't travel anywhere UNFAMILIAR without my Garmin 400t in my pocket
or equipment pack. Paranoia I suppose. It's an expensive little
gadget, but worth it to me as my mental faculties decline with
oncoming age. My sense of direction never _was_ much good to begin
with. I don't want any "On Golden Pond" moments in my Life, wherein I
don't know where I am and don't know where I'm going.
Nick
Mike Lane
> I don't travel anywhere UNFAMILIAR without my Garmin 400t in my pocket
> or equipment pack. Paranoia I suppose. It's an expensive little
> gadget, but worth it to me as my mental faculties decline with
> oncoming age. My sense of direction never _was_ much good to begin
> with. I don't want any "On Golden Pond" moments in my Life, wherein I
> don't know where I am and don't know where I'm going.
I agree absolutely.
I travel everywhere with a Garmin GPS in my pocket. It's not very expensive,
and has no maps or anything like that, but the point is it will always guide
me back to my starting point if necessary. I've realized the value of this
since once (ten years ago) I was travelling in Greece, checked into some
'rooms' and went out, walked about a bit, and forgot entirely how to get back
to the place, my luggage, passport, and incidentally my teenage daughter who
was accompanying me on my travels at the time.
--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
email: mike_lane at mac dot com
Nicholas
Around 1987 I was in Germany for training purposes, and certainly
would have appreciated the gizmo back then. At that time, only Sony
had the Pixus (sp?) available for commercial distribution and it was
huge and very expensive. Now with the pocketable Garmin receivers at
a variety of price points, almost anyone who wants a receiver can
afford one. I -really- could have used a 400t or equivalent "back
then."
Only the maps and the hardware weren't available at that time. Except
possibly to the military. And Selective Availability was in force,
which we all Cheered the demise of. Since then, things have improved
enormously, just in time for my 'oncoming dementia' ;-\
Especially as a PEDESTRIAN, miles saved wandering around in circles is
very much appreciated.
Nick
Raoul
<Lawrence...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>I travel everywhere with a Garmin GPS in my pocket. It's not very expensive,
>>and has no maps or anything like that, but the point is it will always guide
>>me back to my starting point if necessary.
Having the coordinates for most of the central London underground
stations saved me from a lot of wrong turns a few years ago when a
train broke down. I didn't make a waypoint where I parked my car while
geocaching a couple of years ago. After stumbling around for 15
minutes I remembered the track log. Duh.