Problem with BC-307 & tomtom 3.03 GPS drivers

I_Need_Help · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 79

Hi,
I have a Dell X5 and the above which has worked well for some time but over the last three or four days it struggles to get a “lock” and when it does it is normally only tracking with 3 satellites when it uses to track with 5 or more! It still does on occasions get 5 or 6 but generally it is lower then before!

I have always used NMEA 0183v2 via CF (is this the correct one it worked so I have never questioned it!)

OK here is the likely problem about a day or two before the problem started the casing broke between the CF card and the pod however it appears that the connection between the two is on a short wire loom so I glued it back and it seem to work OK and as I can still get some Satellites OK (two or three) so I assume that this was not the problem!

Using the external aerial makes no difference to the reception.

How can I check if it working OK is there away of adjusting the sensitivity? Can this be done with some of the tweaking tools?

Sometimes I notice that I have a few sats but only 3 are red why is this?

And as an aside in the Tomtom gps setting there are two sliders one is to do with sound what is the other one for?

Thanks
Sad

lbendlin · Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 6:37 pm Post subject:

We're talking High frequency magic here. Any tampering with the circuitry will result in data loss... even the glue may have an impact (do you know if it is conducting?)

Some of the sats show as grey because the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) is not good enough to be considered reliable (must be above 30 dB).

The left slider is for the power save override. In the "on" position TomTom will prevent the Pocket PC from going into Standby mode.
_________________
Lutz

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I_Need_Help · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 79

Thanks for the info and help.

It was super glue applied to the black plastic casing I have opened it a check it did not get on to the receiver and the point of gluing was on the side of the CF card just at the point where it pokes out of the PPC.

the grey bars are about 75% is this an indication of signal strength how high is 30 db?

Currently as I type I have 3 red sats 9, 5 & 30 (are these the strongest in the UK? (I'm up near the Wash). actually they have just all gone grey without it being moved and the lines are approx. the same level as when they were red! the only other difference is 5 has been replaced with 14!!!

thanks

lbendlin · Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2004 8:10 pm Post subject:

The sats are not geostationary. They circle the earth in about 12000 km distance. So it is very normal that they appear and disappear.

I'd think the bar must reach 80% to be coutned as red=good.
_________________
Lutz

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I_Need_Help · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 79

Its working again! I don't quite know why but I followed http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/winfastnavigatorppc.php

Loaded the app and done:
run up WinFast Navigator, connect to the GPS Receiver, then go into the COMMAND option and for this test we will make sure GSV is set at 5, then tap OK

And now its back to normal!!!! :D

In the same place I now have not 3 red bars but 5 and 1 grey.

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