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New user having bother
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Skeletal
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Joined: 31/03/2003 12:57:14
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Location: United Kingdom

PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Thanks for your ideas, I’m learning all the time. Also pleased to see odd things happen to others sometimes! I did not know the satellites are not geosynchronous, that will also explain some things.



Now for the “bonding”. With great excitement I went to Tools, but the only options are: “Settings for all devices” and “diagnostics”.



Under settings… is “General”, Connections”, “File sharing”, “PIM objects”, “Serial port” and “dial up”. There is no mention of “Paired devices” or “bonding” anywhere, BUT under Tools/Connections there is “Chose devices”, under which is a number of choices including “Any bonded device” (I have left this at the default “Any device”, since I still can’t see how to bond)!!



The Bluetooth manager I have is V 1.1; perhaps this is newer than yours/others??



I went to Compaq’s web site and can only find reference to V1.1. I still can’t find any info about how to use Bluetooth!!



Thank you all for your help.



Skeletal

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aero
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Skeletal,



Make sure you have an active connection between your iPAQ & EMTAC.



Start Bluetooth Manager (your EMTAC should be listed or there should be an icon representing it on the screen)



Tap on the EMTAC icon (or name)



Then tap Actions (at the bottom of screen)



Tap Create Bond With This Device



Enter PIN code (0183?)



Tap OK



Jobs a goujon!
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Skeletal
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Yipee!!! I found that screen (I hadn’t spotted it before). Fettled the “buttons” and I now see “device bonded”. I assume the number 1083 goes into: Tools/settings for all devices/General…Default passkey. I didn’t see anywhere else I could put it. Also, sorry for being so dim, but are you supposed to put a “?” after the number. I haven’t, yet, but wonder if it matters.



Interestingly, before trying this, I could not get Bluetooth manager working this morning…yes, the iPaq had crashed yet again, in spite of me being careful turning off yesterday. It now crashes at a greater percentage of work time than my PC!



Yesterday it all worked wonderfully on my journey to work. When I left though, I was back to steady green light (i.e. no satellites). I drove for about 6 miles (no flashing) then stopped near the top of a hill, no trees, no buildings, and eventually it found some satellites. It was then perfect.



I am beginning to think that if you are moving when you turn on the GPS, it will never get the first “lock”. Once it has, you are OK. Is this true??



Finally, another amusement: On the motorway, I glanced at the screen (I haven’t got a proper mount yet) and all was well. A bit further on, I looked again but the screen had changed to the blue one. I thought, here we go again, and tapped the screen. An error message came up, so, snatching glances at the road, then screen (worse than a mobile phone!!!) I slowly, word by word, read the message that for safety, the map wasn’t being displayed!! I guess this is to do with the “safety speed” setting, or should I say “display extremely dangerous message” setting.



I am really impressed (NOT) with the ergonomics and documentation with all this stuff and extend my heartfelt thanks to all those helping me; where did you get all the info from??!!! Hopefully reading this post will be an education to other beginners as well.



Swerving Skeletal

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Skeletal
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Joined: 31/03/2003 12:57:14
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Well well, it’s sorted (I think!), but first you must indulge me in my Lake District story. The system worked perfectly and got me exactly to the hotel (including re-directing me as I accidentally drove straight past it!). Next day I thought I’d try it again. No signal, at all, ever! The funniest bit was in the middle of Lake Windermere, on one of those boat trips. I held it right over the side so there was no signal loss through the bits of steel boat structure above; I guess I felt like Michael Jackson holding the baby!!! Still no signal.



A few hours later I put the stupid thing down on a tree stump and a few minutes later noticed 6 satellites, clear as crystal! Clue here methinks; is it me??



Answer yes. IT WON'T WORK IF YOU HOLD IT!!! (again that may be obvious when you have the answer!). BUT when you have a lock, it will work OK in shirt top pocket (but not well enough to get the initial lock). I also don’t think it will get a lock in a moving car (not proven yet). When locked it is fine in my car, so I don't have the "windscreen problem".



Also, TomTom crashed a few more times, but I think some of those occur if the EMTAC is in the process of trying to lock as you turn the iPaq on (again more experiments required). I think the "bonding" helps, but not totally.



So, to make it work, you need an open space, place EMTAC on stationary object, move a short way away, wait about 1 to 2 min and see if any satellites are spotted (grey bars on TomTom). If not, find somewhere else and try again. About 30 seconds after the grey bars appear, they should turn red. Now you can move, and place EMTAC near to you (but hold it and the signal will be lost).



And, yes I have found the other iPaq manual lost in the depths of all the packaging (I was only looking at the “little” manual). I will have to look at the EMTAC site where it will no doubt inform me that it won’t work if you hold it!!!!



New problem is that I have not heard from TomTom as I should have a free upgrade to TT2 (hopefully it will be more stable).



Thanks again to all



Getting there at last Skeletal

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MikeB
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Skeletal,



I think that there must be some other reason for your lack of signal. It realy should not make any difference if you are holding it or not. I often hold mine and have 10 sats locked with it.







Mind you any GPS is trying to receive data from within an urban canyon such as above then you are going to have some problems. This was in Barcelona, the Emtac managed to get a (weak) fix inside our hotel on the first floor after moving 700 miles whilst switched off. It didnt work in the alleys like those above, but did work OK on most of the small roads.



In the 5 months that I have been using the Emtac I have only had a couple of instances where the unit has not managed to get a fix within a couple of minutes and on each occasion switching on and off sorted the problem out.



If you checkout the otterbox review you will see that the Emtac works well in appauling conditions inside a box inside a backpack. So there is no reason why this should have poor performance in the open in your hand.



If you come along to the Pocket GPS summit you can compare units and fixing times. I am surprised that you are having so many issues with your device as I have found these to be the best receivers that I have tested so far, including a bunch of Garmin handhelds.
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Dave
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

It is quite possible that you do have a suspect unit, I would try running some more tests, it's quite possible a chip or wire is touching say the antenna socket and by you holding the Emtac in you're hand, you're grounding a the signal and causing interference.
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Skeletal
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Nope, I don't even have to touch it, just shielding it with my hand (about 1-2 cm away) stops the signals. I have just taken two dramatic pictures to show the effect, but I don't have a link so I can show you (I thought I could just "add" a picture to the note, but it asks for a web address. I don't have a web site but I would love to email the shots, somewhere, so they could be put on this site).



I liked the review of the boxes, may buy one, but I would not expect them to give bother as they are plastic.



I also wouldn't expect it to work in the narrow alley.



Couldn't justify another couple of days in the Lakes (!), but agree it would be good to swap units.



Maybe I'm wetter than you guys (from falling in the Lakes??)!!!



Skeletal
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Dave
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Sorry, you won't be able to just upload pics to the forum. Can you zip them and email them to me. Make sure they're zipped though otherwise they'll be pretty big and will probably clog up my email.



Shielding the Emtac like having it on a brick wall and then shielding it with your hand (not touching it), might drop the signal a little but shouldn't knock it out completely.
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Dave
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Larry, I've got an Emtac BT on loan here for just over a week, I've only had it for a day, but I've just tried the test you did in the photos you sent me and yes, you are correct, the signal gets drained from the Emtac BT. It seems to have some sort of short, normally holding your hand over a receiver will not have any effect, and strangely enough I couldn't seem to get it to fail if I held my hand horizontal over the receiver, but if I cupped it, suddenly my 6 sat signal indoors dropped to 2 sats. Quite strange!
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tmaharaj
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Hi All:

I am experiencing the EXACT same problems. I am using the 3970, TTN2, and the Socket BT GPS receiver.

I am convinced that the problem is with Tom Tom Navigator 2. The socket work perfect by itself. As soon as I connect TTN2, the green light goes solid (I do have it bonded as well). I have tried this several times with the exact same results )switch TTN off and it regains the green flashing).

I have then tried Destinator 1 and it maintained the flashing green lights.   

I am convenced TTN (1 or 2) is causing this problem...



Try it and let me know.



Tony
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Dave
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

Tony, just as a matter of test, have you tried selecting NMEA 4800 and the COM port you have setup to use as Bluetooth ? I'm wondering if this is an inherent problem in the Emtac driver, or TTNav2 in general ?



Another way to test the BTGPS is working is to download WinFast Navigator from our downloads page and then change the settings to COMx, NMEA 4800 and then connect and look at the development screen and you should see an NMEA string of text coming through.
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SJTaylor
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

I have to say I've not had any of these problems.



However, I've not done any tests with holding the device in my hand but then again I don't see the point. It's either on my dash, in my pocket or in my rucksack.



I'd suggest when cupping it in the hand that you keep your fingers away from the external antenna port to avoid grounding it. Also, the human body does produce an electrical field and as the whole of the EMTAC is practically an antenna you could interfere with the signal, especially as the signals received are very week. And, bone does absorb radio waves. Just a guess, I'm no communications expert.



Would you hold a Navman Jacket or a Garmin GPS by the antenna?
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johnmar
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 14, 2003 8:04 am    Post subject: New user having bother Reply with quote

I have an iPAQ with an EMTAC GPS Jacket.



Guess what happens to the reception of satellite signals when I cup my hand over the antenna?



Human shield?
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wbear
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Joined: Mar 21, 2004
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:56 pm    Post subject: complete in-car system Reply with quote

Hi Dave,

Care to share which complete in-car system you're testing, please? I'm so fed up with these ad-hoc BTGPSes and planning to get a Garmin stand-alone and end the insanity, once and for all!

Many thanks
WBear
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wbear
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 12:09 am    Post subject: Re: New user having bother Reply with quote

[quote=... But to tell you yet another story (!), when I came downstairs the other day, I could hear a voice comming from one of the rooms. As it was female (and the wife was upstairs) I though my luck was in. However, my excitment was quickly over when I discovered the iPaq had turned itself on, TTN2 had started in the "demo" mode and was happily driving and talking to itself! ...
[/quote]

Skeletal,

You've made my day, sir! Thanks. I was downstair reading your message and laughing so hard, I woke up the wife (she was sleeping upstairs). I thought I register with PGW let you know that. He he.

By the way, I've been enjoying your "gps" detective work.

-WBear
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