GPS Reception Problems with 396

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message ps.com...
: Is anyone else having major GPS satellite reception problems with their
: 396?
:
: I know it's not quite the same unit, but the 496 seems to be made from
: about 99.5% of 396 parts, so...
:
: Nope. With 5 hours on the unit, and three major cross-country flights,
: it's been rock solid from start up to shut down. (BTW: In the
: automotive mode, a nice lady will announce, in her most sultry voice:
: "Satellite reception lost..." There's no such thing in the aviation
: mode, for some reason... :-)
: --
: Jay Honeck
: Iowa City, IA
: Pathfinder N56993
: www.AlexisParkInn.com
: "Your Aviation Destination"

Probably because, if you loose satellite reception in aviation mode, it yells in a terrified voice "Satellite reception
lost, flight call, take evasive action immediately!"

"Jack Cunniff" wrote in message ...
: "Dan" writes:
:
: Is anyone else having major GPS satellite reception problems with their
: 396? I've made two trips since getting the 396 and have noticed the
: following...
:
: After takeoff or on arrival within 5 miles of airports here in the
: Phoenix Metro area I have _always_ experienced a loss of GPS signal.
: This could happen even on a smooth, straight in approach (it's not that
: I'm turning away from the satellites, etc.)
:
: According to this page (Jay Honeck had recently shared the URL elsewhere)
: http://www.scn.org/~bk269/gps.html , certain nav/com frequencies can
: prevent your handheld GPS from receiving signal.
:
: It's likely, since it's in the same area, that you're tuning one of the
: frequencies listed on that page.
:
: I've always found that changing frequencies solved the problem; put up
: your satellite status page, then get permission from ATC to go off
: frequency. Turn OFF the radios (if you're in VFR and not using the NAV),
: and you'll quickly know whether you've got a nav/com interference problem.
:
: I first found this problem when I bought my Arrow (Narco panel), and had
: this problem within the first day or two. I have had interference affect
: my GPS Pilot III, 196, and 396.
:
: -Jack
:

Did you try any other GPS brands beside Garmin?

In article
,
john smith wrote:

Does the 396 have RAIM?

Portable devices do not have RAIM.

Really? Then what's the point of a 12 channel GPS receiver?

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

With regard to com/nav receivers causing a GPS to lose satellites, Dan
asked,

... Is it simply the act of tuning the frequency, or the act
of actually _receiving_ something on the frequency?

Just tuning the frequency.

Does the 396 have RAIM?

Portable devices do not have RAIM.

Really? Then what's the point of a 12 channel GPS receiver?

Standard GPS chipsets. RAIM requires separate processing.

This isn't my problem then.... Must be something in the unit.

--Dan


Jon Woellhaf wrote:
With regard to com/nav receivers causing a GPS to lose satellites, Dan
asked,

... Is it simply the act of tuning the frequency, or the act
of actually _receiving_ something on the frequency?

Just tuning the frequency.

Bob Noel wrote:
In article
,
john smith wrote:


Does the 396 have RAIM?

Portable devices do not have RAIM.


Really? Then what's the point of a 12 channel GPS receiver?

Go find yourself a consumer GPS message board and see what thyey talk
about. There are GPS manufacturers that say their GPS is a 30 channel
parallel receiver. These people on these boards are gushing at how
great these new GPS's are. The manufacturers are laughing all the way
to the bank at $250 a pop. Now remember these are GPS's only, they
require a PDA or other computer to actually display the information.
They have no mapping software, you provide all that. It doesn't faze
these people when you tell them there are 24 GPS sats and most of the
time you will have 8-9 sats in view.