General Discussion Triathlon Talk » GPS satellites? Rss Feed  
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2013-10-02 3:12 PM

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Subject: GPS satellites?
Just did a quick run and the entire time my Garmin saw only half of the satellites it usually does. It had trouble acquiring on power-up as well. Anyone else experience this or is this just one of the times when a bunch of the satellites simply weren't in line-of-sight?


2013-10-02 3:49 PM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
They were furloughed
2013-10-02 6:28 PM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
All of the regular government satellites have been turned off due to the shut down. It was only picking up the NSA satellites.
2013-10-02 6:45 PM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
I had the same problem yesterday and wondered if it had something to do with the shutdown. But I thought... no, that can't be it. Everyone has GPS in their car. How would all of these GPS-dependent people who no longer have maps -how would they be getting around? Utter chaos! Yet in 50 min my Garmin never would connect so I assumed the feds must have flipped the switch off on the satellites.
2013-10-02 8:37 PM
in reply to: 0

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?

Originally posted by DanielG They were furloughed

Awesome reply! Laughing

 

ETA: I finally found the website for GPS status info at http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/. Nothing about satellites being affected. Maybe they didn't have time to update the website...



Edited by newtriguy 2013-10-02 8:59 PM
2013-10-02 8:45 PM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Clearwater, FL
Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
Just took a closer look at my download in Google Earth. It's got me off anywhere from zero to 15 feet and the track is anything but straight. Assuming I can get a fix I can't wait to see what happens with my swim.


2013-10-02 10:41 PM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
GPS is not going to pin point your exact location. It can have an error up to ~3 meters (see http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/). I randomly have issues with my watch (probably 1-2 times a month). Sometimes it locks in within 2 seconds and sometimes I'm waiting for over 5 minutes on a clear day. It sucks but I just get a longer warm up/streching session then. I assume some satelites are down once in a while or theres interferance from where I am to where it's at.
2013-10-02 11:01 PM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
My bike garmin always picks them up in 30 sec or less whereas my 910 sometimes takes a couple of mins which can be frustrating and I'm not sure why there is a difference, but I've turned the time sink into an active warm up period.
2013-10-03 6:04 AM
in reply to: newtriguy

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?
Have you updated to the latest firmware? That tend to help GPS location quite a bit
2013-10-03 9:25 PM
in reply to: audiojan

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Subject: RE: GPS satellites?

Originally posted by Blastman

GPS is not going to pin point your exact location. It can have an error up to ~3 meters (see http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/performance/accuracy/).I randomly have issues with my watch (probably 1-2 times a month). Sometimes it locks in within 2 seconds and sometimes I'm waiting for over 5 minutes on a clear day. It sucks but I just get a longer warm up/streching session then. I assume some satelites are down once in a while or theres interferance from where I am to where it's at.

I've had plenty of downloads showing me riding on the sidewalk or clear over on the other side of the street, but the plot has never been this wiggly. It's almost always pretty straight.

Originally posted by audiojan

Have you updated to the latest firmware? That tend to help GPS location quite a bit

I saw a reminder on Garmin Connect but completely forgot about updating the firmware. On the to-do list now.

 

I came across a more likely explanation tonight: a coronal mass ejection occurred on Sept 30 and was aimed directly at Earth. Those things tend to mess up satellites a bit, and now that I think about it I do remember a couple other incidents where this happened and it took a day or so to get the constellation working properly again. Here's a story and video of this CME: http://www.space.com/23050-solar-storm-sun-eruption-hits-earth.html...

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