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Throbber
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Joined: Apr 16, 2005
Posts: 12
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 Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:33 pm Post subject: Number Of Available Satellites (signal worse after 5.1) |
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Hi all
I've got a Go 500 and updated to version 5.201 at the weekend.
Might be a conincidence but the signal doesn't seem to be as good as it was before, it seems to take longer to get a fix.
I had a look at the GPS data and when I left this morning there were 9 available satellites (all greyed out), then one disappeared to leave 8. After a while it locked onto the 8 available but this took a lot longer than normal.
Is this a problem with 5.201, should I go back to 5.2?
How many satellites are available to lock onto, I thought it'd be more than 8 or 9?
Thanks. |
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Eldar
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Joined: Sep 24, 2004
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Location: London
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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| The number of the satellites you can "see" will vary during the day and after you GO is reset (which happens when you upgrade the application), it will take slightly longer than usual to lock onto the sats. 8-9 sats is quite good and nothing to worry about. It is also helpful to wait (if possible) for the GO to get the lock before you drive off. |
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Throbber
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Joined: Apr 16, 2005
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:45 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Eldar.
I didn't realise the upgrade would automatically reset the Go. That could be why it was so slow after the upgrade.
Now it's found the satellites, should it lock onto them faster now it knows where they are?
Anyone know how many satellites are available? |
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Eldar
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Location: London
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:50 pm Post subject: |
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As far as my limited understanding goes the number of visible sats is around 12, but you have to be in the open space to see the all.
You GO will lock faster and will hold the lock better if you use it regulary (say twice a day) |
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Throbber
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Joined: Apr 16, 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks again Eldar.
That'll explain why it seems slower after the upgrade. I normally switch it on in the car on the way to and from work.
As I upgraded on Saturday, it was really slow on Sat night (now I understand it would've been finding the stallites after the reset), I only used it once yesterday and so far used it on the way in this morning.
Once it gets back in the habit of twice a day, hopefully it'll be back to it's old speedy ways. |
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radavis
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Joined: Mar 27, 2004
Posts: 132
Location: Woodford Green. Essex. UK
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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I have had the same problem, since I upgraded to the latest version I have found that the initial lock on time is longer that before.
Is this a wide spread problem? |
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Bob_W
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Joined: Jul 24, 2005
Posts: 66
Location: Cheshire
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
I am also having problems with the number of satellites and signal since upgrading to v5.201, today I had to reset my GO 300 to enable to receive any satellites. I was sitting outside my house the other day with version 5.2 installed on my TomTom GO 300, I was receiving 11 satellites, now I am lucky if I get five or six, I have "never" had any problems on any days with satellite signal and number of received satellites, well not until I update to V5.201!
Bob. |
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Eldar
Pocket GPS Moderator
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Joined: Sep 24, 2004
Posts: 1294
Location: London
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Today was a strange day for satellite reception or for the upgardes. My GO which normally works in the kitchen spent 15 minutes after 5.202 upgrade with external antenna staring at one satellite. Knowing the nature of the beast I switched it off, waited a few seconds and switched it on again. It's back to normal now. |
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Bob_W
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Joined: Jul 24, 2005
Posts: 66
Location: Cheshire
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Eldar wrote: | | Today was a strange day for satellite reception or for the upgardes. My GO which normally works in the kitchen spent 15 minutes after 5.202 upgrade with external antenna staring at one satellite. Knowing the nature of the beast I switched it off, waited a few seconds and switched it on again. It's back to normal now. |
Hi Eldar,
I also had to switch off my GO today for it to find any satellites a couple of times, I am not sure if it was something to do with the Shuttle launch!
Bob. |
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Eldar
Pocket GPS Moderator
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Joined: Sep 24, 2004
Posts: 1294
Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 12:04 am Post subject: |
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| The cousins might be playing with their hardware. They do it from time to time. |
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Blackdog
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Joined: Jul 26, 2005
Posts: 15
Location: South Glos
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:48 am Post subject: |
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| Eldar wrote: | | The cousins might be playing with their hardware. They do it from time to time. |
Yup. Probably steering them into a nice safe orbit somewhere out of the way of the interstellar HGV 
_________________
TT700 - Memory Map 2004 - NavMan iPaq |
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Throbber
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Joined: Apr 16, 2005
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Eldar wrote: | | Today was a strange day for satellite reception or for the upgardes. My GO which normally works in the kitchen spent 15 minutes after 5.202 upgrade with external antenna staring at one satellite. Knowing the nature of the beast I switched it off, waited a few seconds and switched it on again. It's back to normal now. |
Mine was fine yesterday and is certainly better since leaving it on for a while on Monday, it gets a lock in a minute or so.
The bit I don't understand is that I can still only see a maximum of 9 sat's, it's usually only 8 but occasionally a 9th pops up. When I say see, I don't mean lock, some are blue some are grey and one or two are a grey circle with a number. I get good reception with between 5-8 blue bars but never ever see more than 9 satellites.
Does the unit constantly search for available satellites or does it only do that after a reset, then once it's found a particular number, just uses them to communicate.
I'm wondering if I reset the Go and leave it in the open for a while if it would find more? The last time it was reset was when I did the upgrade, not realising it had been reset I went off driving, by not leaving it stationary after the reset have I missed it's best time for searching for new satellites.
Sorry if this sounds a stupid question but (as you might have noticed) I don't know how the GPS receiver works.
Thanks |
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Eldar
Pocket GPS Moderator
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Joined: Sep 24, 2004
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Location: London
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Throbber wrote: |
The bit I don't understand is that I can still only see a maximum of 9 sat's, it's usually only 8 but occasionally a 9th pops up. When I say see, I don't mean lock, some are blue some are grey and one or two are a grey circle with a number. I get good reception with between 5-8 blue bars but never ever see more than 9 satellites.
Does the unit constantly search for available satellites or does it only do that after a reset, then once it's found a particular number, just uses them to communicate.
I'm wondering if I reset the Go and leave it in the open for a while if it would find more? The last time it was reset was when I did the upgrade, not realising it had been reset I went off driving, by not leaving it stationary after the reset have I missed it's best time for searching for new satellites.
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A GPS receiver requires the information about the positions of the satellites in orbit in order to calculate its own position on Earth.
Four satellites are required to get a correct fix. The blue bar mean that all the necessary information from this particular satellite has been received, the signal-to-noise ratio is good enough for continuous tracking and that this satellite is used to calculate the position.
When you drive around you constantly loose and re-acquire the signals from the satellites. If you let the unit to get as much information and as many satellites as it can before you start driving, you make it easier for the receiver to re-acquire the signal.
Say, you've started with satellites 1, 2, 3, and 4 acquired by your GO. You went round the corner and lost the satellite 4, but the receiver can see a new satellite, say, number 5. Now it will have to get the necessary info from this sat before it can use the sat in the calculations. But if you've started with satellites 1,2,3,4 and 5, this delay would have been minimised. |
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Blackdog
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Joined: Jul 26, 2005
Posts: 15
Location: South Glos
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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Throbber,
Have a look at this link, http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/ it's a pretty good description of how the whole thing works.
_________________
TT700 - Memory Map 2004 - NavMan iPaq |
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Throbber
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Joined: Apr 16, 2005
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Eldar, that's very helpful.
If I've got this right, resetting the Go won't make any difference to the number of satellites it can see as it's always searching for new ones.
The fact that I can only see a max of 8 or 9 is down to reception rather than a reset. |
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