In car Use........

[CoolCarbon]

Why does my Nav I work randomly in the Car...........

Somedays it works fine anywhere in the country, Others it just won't latch on to a single Sat.

I'm not using an external Ariel, obviously, nor is my Windscreen anything special, no coatings or Heater elements..........Odd..

Pan..........??

CC

 

[PanEuropean]

Hi CoolCarbon:

Not sure offhand, could be a variety of things.

The physical connection between the antenna on my SP III and the body of the GPSR itself began to show signs of wear after about 2 years of use on the moto - the antenna would not stay upright, it kind of flopped down. I thought I had this problem solved by putting a little rubber O-ring around the antenna base, to increase the friction between the antenna and the GPSR case, but I later found out that the electrical connection between the antenna and the GPSR was not as "tight" as it was when the unit was new.

Eventually I switched over to using an external antenna. I didn't bother to run the antenna up onto the roof of the car, I just placed it on the dashboard, up at the front and centre. This gave me much better satellite reception (faster pickup, more satellites all the time), therefore fewer "Satellite Reception Lost" messages.

A reasonable quality, small external antenna costs about the same amount of money (USD $40) as a replacement Garmin mast antenna, so you might want to think about going this route, if the electrical connection from your antenna is not first-class.

Before doing this, though, try taking a Q-Tip type cotton swab, dipping it in isopropyl alcohol, and cleaning the inside of the BNC connector on the back of the GPSR, and cleaning the BNC connecter on the antenna itself. See if that makes any difference. The photo below shows where to clean - it is a photo of a 296, but the connector on the SP III is the same.

After having used an external antenna, though, I'm pretty much hooked on them - I even use an external antenna when I have the GPSR's on the motorcycle. It does make a huge difference.

Let us know how it turns out...

PanEuropean

 

[CoolCarbon]

Cheers for the Tips Pan E.

I'll let you know.........

CC

 

[Howard Millichap]

I had a similar thing in Bruge, Belgium last year. I had a route back to Calais already in the unit but it just wouldn't pick up any satelites. I was parked in the main town square, so it wasn't because of being closed in.
I drove on and found my own way out of town. Then about 10 miles down the road it all kicked in. I did wonder if the Yanks had turned everything off to clean something!

 

[Fanum]

CC.......you sure your windscreen ain't doing it???

There are warnings on radar detectors about Citroen screens...something about the coating they use making signals bounce........radar and radio are all EM waves so it may be possible.....dunno though.

Mght be worth phoning Garmin......they seem to have pretty good tech and customer service backup and they'll know if anyone does.

HTH

 

[CoolCarbon]

CC.......you sure your windscreen ain't doing it???

There are warnings on radar detectors about Citroen screens...something about the coating they use making signals bounce........radar and radio are all EM waves so it may be possible.....dunno though.

Mght be worth phoning Garmin......they seem to have pretty good tech and customer service backup and they'll know if anyone does.

HTH

Cheers,

I'll do that, just thought that a 13 year old screen wouldn't be anything special......we'll see.......

Oddly enough, the unit is nearly two years old as Pan E. mentions......I'll get me Cotton Buds oot first.........

CC

 

[PanEuropean]

If it's a 13 year old car, then the odds are overwhelmingly against it being any kind of coating on the windshield.

However - the quantity and type of car windshields that block the GPS satellite signal continues to grow rapidly. At first, it was only electric windshields (offered on some high end Ford products), then metallized windshields became common, now, many European manufactures are putting a quite invisible layer inside the windshield "sandwich" that is intended to block absorption of solar rays, but also blocks the GPS satellite signals.

In the USA, the best place to go to find a database of problem windshields is the website of a toll road that uses "SpeedPass" electronic tolling technology. I don't know if there are any toll roads or toll bridges in the UK that use this type of technology (toll station polls a transponder or data chip that is normally stuck to the windshield or dashboard of the car), if you do know of any, go to their website and I am pretty sure you will find a list of vehicles that have windshields incompatible with the transponder. This list tends to correlate very well with windshields that block GPS signals.

Every time I try to use my SP in the aircraft, I have to connect an external antenna and put it beside the side window, because all the aircraft windshields are either heated with fine electrical wires, or coated, or both. The surprise is that the GPSR works quite well even though it can only see out one side window. Guess it's because there are no trees or buildings in the way...

PanEuropean

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Every time I try to use my SP in the aircraft, I have to connect an external antenna and put it beside the side window,


Can't you just wind the window down and stick it outside ??

 

[PanEuropean]

Martin asked: "Can't you just wind the window down and stick it outside ??"

Sure, no problems, but if you are going to go to the trouble of rolling the window down, then it's easiest to just use a magnetic base on the external antenna, and stick it on the roof, of the plane, just like a car... Normally I only roll the window down to toss cigarette butts out, saves having to empty the ashtray at the end of the day.

 

[John Armstrong]

Flying time

Must take a long time going between Toronto and Zurich in one of those. Does the GPS count down in days to destination?

 

[PanEuropean]

If you're flying Twin Otters, you don't use a stopwatch or clock to time legs, you use a calendar. Trust me, I have about 7,000 hours in those things...

You are closer to the truth than you think with your comment about days - from Toronto (where the aircraft was manufactured) to Zurich is about 3 or 4 days, assuming a single pilot ferry flight, and observing normal flight duty period and rest time restrictions.

PanEuropean