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Navigation system needs renewal

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Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/24/2009 : 05:54:42

Once again, a summer cruise was not in the cards this year but I have discovered that before another cruise... a total renewal of navigation is needed.

Neither of my two Garmin gps units will acquire the current crop of sats. Garmin no longer supports software upgrades to either and the fixed unit is also the sounder.

And... my current PC doesn't have a seriel connector and I'm not sure if a newer version of OziExplorer supports USB.

Any one else deal with such problems? If so, what course did you take?

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224

N/E Texas and Great Lakes
Arlyn's Sailing Site

Edited by - on

DaveR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2015 Posts

Response Posted - 07/24/2009 : 06:13:05

I'll bet you can get a serial to USB adapter at the local PC store, but that still might not work. It can be really great when technology moves quickly ............. but sometimes not so much (when relatively new stuff is already outdated) .

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KD4AO
Navigator

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USA
202 Posts

Response Posted - 07/24/2009 : 06:30:55

Arlyn, most older Garmin GPS units should still work, if they are pre-WAAS they will not be as accurate as newer ones but they should still work. Many older units have internal Lithium batteries and when they die the unit will no longer retain waypoints or local data when power is removed. As to connecting to newer computers, Garmin has a USB to Serial adapter as do many computer device suppliers, Newegg, CompUSA and others. I recently installed some waypoints on a friends GPSMAP-76 and wound up getting out an old computer that has a serial connector. The 76 took a while, about an hour, to find the satelites but it finally did and with the help of Mapsource software I was able to install the old Waterways maps. There are a few websites with information on older GPS units, http://gpsinformation.net .org and others. Plenty of information can be dug out of them. I found one site that has a library of older Garmin firmware updates, http://www.gawisp.com/perry/agree.html

Hope this helps.

Edited by - on

Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Response Posted - 07/24/2009 : 08:02:13

Thanks Dave and Bob...

I just tested the Garmin gps125/sounder on the boat and it will acquire several sats and provide a position.

The Garmin gps45 is still holding waypoints and routes... and it might be that it just needs more time to refresh its sat list. The normal routine is once it has decided on a group of sats, it moves them all to the sat display and signal strength screen.... It has found some sats but hasn't grouped them on that display screen yet. I'll give it a couple of hours to see if it will.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 07/24/2009 : 08:17:17

Arlyn,
There's no reason from a satellite point of view that your GPS shouldn't be able to receive, except for the very latest ones that might require a firmware update for them to be resolved. This is due to the fact that older models weren't designed to allow for more than two dozen (I think) satellites, but now with the dead ones and additional ones, there are more than three dozen in orbit. This means that the ephemeris on your older GPS has no reference for the newer satellites and doesn't even know that they exist. It's quite possible that you'll be able to get fixes with just the old satellites, but your positional quality can certainly suffer if your constellation consists of largely newer satellites. Whether you can update the firmware and ephemeris or not, I don't know. Write to Garmin or give them a call, I've had pretty good luck with their customer support.

I do know you can get USB to serial cables for older Garmins, I've got two, one for each of my 12's (an XL and ...something else, they have slightly different power requirements so the cords are different). Search for a "PFranc" in your area, they're a loose conglomeration of cable manufacturers for Garmin devices. I found one in Singapore last time I was there & bought cables for both my older Garmins. They are both power & USB, and I bought a single USB to serial cable to transmit data.

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 07/24/2009 : 12:50:33

Keyspan has a very nice Serial to USB adapter that I use to connect my old Etrex Legend to my Macbook (Mac dropped serial ports decades ago). I use it on longer trips when I don't want to use the battery sucking bluetooth on my other gps receiver.

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