GPS Receiver is misbehaving.

[DaiRees]

When I got my PDA it came with a wired Tom Tom receiver, it wasn't working at all 'cos the wire had been cut, then reconnected badly. I've fixed that.

It worked OK for a while, but the performance appears to be steadily degrading since the weekend.

The problem is that it takes ages to acquire a fix. I've got 'round this a few times by holding it out of the sunroof until it fixes, then placing it back on the dash and it was pretty good for the rest of the journey. But today I could hardly get it to fix at all. The literature says it needs 4 reasonably strong signals to get it's first fix, but at one point today it had 7 satellites, all at 80% plus, and I gave it 5 minutes without moving but it still wouldn't fix? Then on the few random occasions throughout the day when it did fix it lost the signal again really quickly.

So does the "fix" occur in the receiver itself or in the software on the PDA?

I reckon now there are 3 possibilities.

1, The connections I've made in the wires are pants (would it get a signal at all if this were the case though?)?
2, The receiver is knackered.
3, There's something wrong with the PDA or software.

Or perhaps it just doesn't like the nice weather?

Any ideas folks?

[jameslxdt]

got the same sorta system as you Dai, and the same problem, it was fine before, but the battery is shot on the PDA, so im putting it down to this

[munfred]

when this happens to mine I usually reset

[mjb]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/06 ... _cornwall/

I think the MoD may have over-cooked it a bit...

[mjb]

got the same sorta system as you Dai, and the same problem, it was fine before, but the battery is shot on the PDA, so im putting it down to this

The PDA playing up will only cause "No GPS receiver" or similar. It's the GPS receiver itself which reports if it's 'locked' onto its position or not. To do this, it basically needs to have good signals from 3+ satellites for around 5-15 seconds each (depending on the quality of receiver), AFTER a cold start 'warm-up' time during which it's getting a 'feel' for how each satellite 'sounds' to it and working out how much to trust each signal (can it 'hear' echos? is it being reflected, am I moving, etc). However if after this 'warm-up' period the signals aren't coherent enough for it to get a fix straight away, it'll enter an extended 'warm-up' period - which is why you should switch on your GPS unit *after* leaving the multistorey otherwise it'll take *ages* to lock.

[DaiRees]

See, I knew you'd know M !

So essentially what you're telling me is that the receiver is either crap, or wanked

Just as well I just ordered a new one on eblag then, I'm relying on this thing for Sunday's run.....

Don't worry kids, I have a spare one in the zook if the new one doesn't arrive in time

[mjb]

So essentially what you're telling me is that the receiver is either crap, or wanked

...or being jammed by the MOD (see the link I posted)

[DaiRees]

Bluetooth receiver received

Absolutely awesome, full strength signal all the time, even in the office!