+HuskyGrad Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 Hello I own a Garmin eTrex Venture and have been using it for geocaching since I have started a couple of months ago. I decide to turn the WAAS on to help in the search for the harder caches. But for about two weeks now I have never seen the WAAS satellites do anything. The book for my unit says that when WAAS is enabled at least one satellite 35 and above should receive a signal and that on all the normal GPS satellites there should be a “D” in their strength bar. My GPS sees the WAAS satellites but never gets any signal from it. It also never gets below ~ 35 feet in accuracy even on a perfectly clear day in a wide open field. What is going on…is my GPS receiver broken? Thanks for the help. Later, Erik Quote Link to comment
+jotne Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 It's very hard to get a waas look. You need a clear view to the south, you must not move so that it gets a steady stream of signals. My personal experience after using GPS for more than 1 year is that you do not need waas. Quote Link to comment
+Prime Suspect Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 It can take a good while to acquire WAAS data. If you're in an out of tree cover, you're much better with it turned off. See this post for an explanation. Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 When I first turned on WAAS on my GPS I was dissapointed. Nothing happened. So I turned it off. Then I tried it again and my EPE was higher than without it so I turned it off. Several months later I turned it on again and forgot about it. Over the weeks that passed it got a WAAS lock, did the satalite table and so forth. Then one day I noticed all the D's on my satalite signal strenght bars and thought "Hey I'm getting WAAS." My EPE was single digit and WAAS was working like it was supposed to. Then I turned it off again. It takes time to get WAAS running right is the only thing I can say. Quote Link to comment
+Kai Team Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 My experience was similar to Renegade Knight's - it took a while for the WAAS on my Garmin eTrex Vista to start "working". It didn't seem to be doing anything at fist, but I just left it on and forgot about it. I now frequently get WAAS (D's on the satellite signal strength bars) and single digit accuracy. Quote Link to comment
+crash331 Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 What does it mean if I have like 8 satellite locks, all with a "D", but I do not have a lock on satellite 35 or up? Do I still have a WAAS lock? Quote Link to comment
+Right Wing Wacko Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 It takes quite some time for your GPS to download all the information it needs from the WAAS sattelites before it can even begin making corrections. I'm getting quite used to seeing readings like the one above Quote Link to comment
+Kai Team Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 What does it mean if I have like 8 satellite locks, all with a "D", but I do not have a lock on satellite 35 or up? Do I still have a WAAS lock? According to the eTrex Vista manual, the WAAS satellite numbers are 33 and up, not 35 and up. And yes, it says differential correction has been received if you're showing the "D" in the satellite signal strength bar. It also says (I didn't know this) that "it is helpful to orient the unit antenna toward the WAAS satellie shown in the skyview". It doesn't say why, but I'm guessing that this may speed up the process of downloading the information needed for corrections. Quote Link to comment
gus44 Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 Go to these sites: http://gpsinformation.net/waas/acquire-waas-a.html http://gpsinformation.net/waasgps.htm http://gpsinformation.net/exe/waas.html Coverage http://www.concordelectronics.com/images/AOR-W.jpg http://www.concordelectronics.com/images/POR.jpg Quote Link to comment
+HuskyGrad Posted September 10, 2004 Author Share Posted September 10, 2004 Thanks for the help. Later, Erik Quote Link to comment
vr12 Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 (edited) From my experience leaving WAAS "on" never hurts. Edited September 10, 2004 by vr12 Quote Link to comment
+Kai Team Posted September 10, 2004 Share Posted September 10, 2004 gus44, Great information - thanks! Quote Link to comment
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