Lost my GPS signal!

[philtheskipper]

Last time I used my boat, about a week ago, my GPS quit working on the way in. It just all of a sudden lost the signal. Today I turned it on out in the driveway and it won't track one satalite. I checked the antenna and wiring and all looks fine. Do you guys ever have a problem getting a signal? Did my GPS just crap out on me? It's a Garman 120, I think. Never had any problems in the past.

 

[JB]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Even microelectronics fail sometimes.<br /><br />Moving to Electronics.

 

[wezie]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Actually sounds like an antenna problem. That is what the old hand held did after I damaged the little antenna. <br />If you have not done so, check Garmin site under frequent ask questions. Then check with Garmin if need more help. <br />If that is no help, you might try a few drops of chicken blood applied under a full moon with appropriate chant to revive it. As a last resort you may have to wrap it in a few $100.00 bills and do another familiar dance.<br />I wish you good luck.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Call Garmin, they are very helpful. Might fix it for next to nothing or give you a discount on a new one.<br /><br /> 1-800-800-1020 or 1-913-397-8200

 

[philtheskipper]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Thanks for the number. I'll see what they have to say about it.

 

[dixie420]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

the only complaint you have is gps losing signal, chances are, it isnt your equipment. gps loses signal, thats why you dont rely on gps to find your way home, its a good backup but its not that reliable. gps works off of satelittes, you already know, but you may not know that weather affects the signal strength, and most all gps have to lock onto 3 or more satelittes to have a 3D signal. read your manual on this. OK i have a lowrance lms-160 map, its got the best gps antenna ive ever seen, picks up on the cloudiest and rainiest of days. but, ive had others and some take almost 5 minutes to lock onto the signal. something that may help you in the future. when you drive around from place to place the position of the sattelites changes, the gps knows this, thats why if you turn it off and back on in the same spot or close to it you lock on pretty fast, but go along distance and turn it on, not so fast. WHY?? well when you turned it off the gps saw the sattelites in a certian pattern and even certian satelittes, so when you turn it back on somewhere else it may lock onto one of those sats and not others, it may also take it a few minutes to realize you have moved and the sats are in a diff position. the best way to test your gps is to go out on a sunny day, have a clear view of the sky from your gps antenna, make sure its mounted properly, if it takes batteries, make sure they are charged or new. i cannot stress this enough though, gps is not 100% percent reliable, nowhere close to it. this is because the signal can come and go. the signal can also be affected by alot of manmade things, for example, radar disrupts the gps signal making it impossible to lock on.

 

[Troy_from _Oz]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Phil, I'd agree with Wezie - sounds like an antenna problem. If you dont get anywhere with garmin post again and we might be able to come up with some ways to test what it is thats wrong.<br /><br />I wouldnt agree with dixie that GPS isnt reliable. I think the specs on the provision of gps signal stability is something a like minimum of 4 satellites providing global coverage 24hrs a day at least 95% of the time. unfortunately the atmosphere isnt so stable, but most often you can get a reasonable signal when out in the open- this should be especially the case in the northern hemisphere too.<br /><br />Best of luck- Troy

 

[philtheskipper]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Before I call Garmin I'll wait to see what happens next time I go out on Lake Erie. Might be a poor reception issue. I just thought it might not be because I've used it all year with no problems at all. It usually hooks up with at least 6 or 7 strong sat. signals right away. I mainly use it to mark my fishing spots. I also use it on my way back to the dock, especially at night. Guess I could dust off that compass thing if I had to, lol.

 

[Troy_from _Oz]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

phil, <br /><br />thats what i would normally expect from GPS - 6-7 sats most of the time (unless you are inside, or under dense foliage cover). Is your antenna cable a separate piece or is one end fixed to the antenna itself? If it is a separate cable, id start by checking that. if not I'd maybe try taking your receiver and antenna (or at least your receiver) to somewhere that sells GPS gear and see if they will let you plug one of their antennas into you receiver to test it - (if you suggest that you 'may' have to buy a new antenna or receiver if yours is faulty, they may be more willing to help). <br /><br />That might tell u which part isnt working. <br /><br />Another option would be to do the same if one of your friends has a gps with esternal antenna - but you'll have to be VERY careful - as some GPS manufacturers use different voltages for their antenna amplifiers - so you run the risk of frying your mates gear (or yours)!<br /><br />hope this helps some<br /><br />T

 

[Troy_from _Oz]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

just another note - Dixie was right about GPS being only an aide to navigation. nothing beats old fashioned common sense combined with that compass thingy! <br /><br />let us know how u go<br />T

 

[philtheskipper]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Not sure if the one end of the wire is fixed or not. It came installed on the boat when I bought it. I know it's the antenna that came with the gps, so it might be fixed. That's a good idea about checking it with someone elses antenna. My buddy at work has the Garmin 120XL(mine just 120)which should use the same wire connections. Maybe I'll see if he'll check it out for me. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Troy_from _Oz]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

No worries - a beer for your mate should help keep him onside for helpin ya out!

 

[dixie420]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

well i dont like to start arguments but i would hate so see some guy lost on the water all because he relied on his gps to find his way home. GPS is not reliable, sure you may have a high dollar unit, all the know-how to use it and plenty of battery power to keep it running. however, before you can say gps is reliable, one has to say that at any given day at any given time their gps can give them a signal strong enough to locate their position, plot a course with it and find your way home. you cant, and nobody else can. you dont know what the conditions will be, ever. like i said in my previous post, their is alot of things that can disrupt a gps signal, number one on my list being radar. sure their are alot of birds in the sky telling lost souls how to get home, but they are not failsafe. nothing beats a map, a compass, and the ability to familiarize ones-self with their surroundings. if you cant use a map you dont need to go that far from home. if you have a gps, its a great backup, even fun to just "use". just so everyone knows, im not against gps, i have a lowrance depthfinder/gps and i love the gps feature. matter of fact i use it as my only speedometer on my boat. but i dont use it as my only source of navigation, nor should anyone else. i think anyone who says gps is reliable should read the post that started this thread and think again. skipper phil posted this because of "problems" with his gps, not to tell us how flawlessly its been working.

 

[johndezman]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

i suppose performance/availabilty varies by region of the country/world. i can speak about lake erie and the last four seasons in the western basin.<br /><br />i'm just a weekend boater so that cuts out over half the available time to see a problem, but since i got my first gps 4 years ago, i have never encountered an "outage" and only once (the first season) have i noticed the use of "selective availablity". This includes several storm squall's that i've been caught in and just like the old Timex commercial....it keeps ticking. "Noticing" the s/a was apparent since my channel then, was only 40' wide and the error was several hundred feet to the known waypoint.<br /><br />my unit can put me in my slip if i let it. however i continue to run my old loran as well. further, i have 40 years of boating these waters, with some "lessons learned" along the way. i don't "rely" on the gps, but it is on when i'm moving and when i'm not. so there is constant correlation between what is seen and what the instrument is telling me.<br /><br />newbies should learn the basics before relying on the electronics as there is always Murphy hanging around.....

 

[Troy_from _Oz]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Dixie - I would also hate to see someone stuck because the relied solely on GPS. In fact one of my ex-colleagues was an expert witness on a supreme court trial where a number of people had died as a direct result of relying on GPS (actually they wernt using the correct chart datum and ran aground - so GPS was working it was the monkey on the end of the instrument (to coin a phrase) that was at fault). This highlights the need for the use of all your sensors and senses (including the common sense type) when boating.<br /><br />GPS isnt endorsed as a method of primary navigation. Ill also agree with that. I wouldnt agree with you that gps isnt reliable though. Id say that it has a pretty high reliability rate. Its not 100% - no system can be, but its more like >99.9% for global coverage and >99.85% for service availability on average. I reckon thats pretty good. If only my Windows operating system was that reliable!!! Even using your compass isnt 100% reliable though. Some areas of the world have huge local variations in the magnetic declination as a result of neaby geological structure. <br /><br />I guess my point is that to a huge number of users across the world, gps is very reliable and i just wouldnt agree with the impression that I got from what you said - which was that GPS wasnt very reliable. <br /><br />I guess we do agree that it has to be used with caution and as an aide to navigation. I actually think people should attend courses in how to use and set up their GPS receiver- as like my example above, misuse can lead to tragedy. the sad part is that the people who ran aground were charter operators and should have known better. The even sader part was that the people hired by the coroner to investigate also got it wrong, and let the guy off who got it wrong in the first place. If the professionals get it wrong, what hope is there for the rest of us.<br /><br />Cheers<br />Troy

 

[kd6nem]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

GPS is gaining wide acceptance in the aviation world, and if that is not a critical environment I don't know what is. But we pilots (as if I ever did any serious instrument flying when I had the bucks to do any flying at all), like any boater travelling outside his own familiar home area, had better have a viable backup plan or two. All your eggs in one basket can make for one messy omlette. <br /><br />A handheld backup GPS is one good option, but is not a substitute for a compass, chart, and a watchful eye.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

http://www.garmin.com/marine/ <br />Here is some info as well........Good luck!

 

[majormotion]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Most pilots will disagree that GPS is not reliable. Equipment and people may not be, but I can assure you GPS is very reliable. Matter of fact the FAA agrees. GPS is approved to be the primary nav aid for flying now. Granted anything mechanical or electrical can fail. As far as using a map and compass to navigate (air or water) its impossible, unless you have some type of aid to show your position to start with. Sure anybody can go east or west with a compass but, no one knows where they are going to end up. I have flown using a compass and map before but, the map was marked with landmarks to check position with. There are not to many land marks 25 miles off shore. I will keep my GPS and if it goes out I will know where I am at the time and then plot my way home. Oh by the way I have 2 GPS units..............lol Just in case.

 

[cobra 3.0]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

Aviation use GPS with WAAS rendering them far more accurate and reliable.

 

[dixie420]

Re: Lost my GPS signal!

ok, i take back what i said about gps being reliable. i like to think my gps does a pretty good job of keeping a 3d signal. i even stand over the antenna and fish alot of times and it still stays locked on all the birds. and its only getting better, more people use it and that means that more money is put into equipment. one day im sure that gps or something like it will be so accurate it will be in every boat and car sold. but i still think you should know how to navigate using only a map and compass. the stars work pretty well to on those clear nights. the more options you have to find your way home the more sure you become that your going the right way. i hate to hear those guys ran aground like that, thats a common thing here in north carolina. heres what i reccomend, again. if your going out somewhere that you may have to rely on gps or a map to find your way home, then make sure you know how to use the stuff before you leave. look at the area and the surrounding areas you are going to. look at where you are now. if your at home and you know where you are, but on the map/gps you cant figure out how to get somewhere you know how to go, you shouldnt go somewhere you dont. vhf radios are nice too, but just like gps they dont work 100% of the time. neither does a map. some maps are more detailed than others, most street maps dont do as good on the water so go get yourself one for the lake/ocean you are putting in at. getting lost at sea is like being locked in a room the size of your boat. id rather have car trouble.