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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Anybody having GPS problems lately?

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/06/2005 : 13:56:05

I have a Garmin GPS map 176C. I'm having trouble locking on satellites and frequently drop satellite lock on. I wonder if the Defense dept is screwing with it. Maybe my unit is just tired.
Garmin wants 175 bucks to look at it, and I guesse I'll just have to cough it up. Hopefully since this is a discontinued model they will offer an upgrade to the 276C, which would be great.

anybody else having trouble locking on to the sky?

Frank Gloss
Formerly 89WK/TR
85 Ericson 32-3 shoal draft "Molto Bene"

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Mark Loyacano
Navigator

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USA
247 Posts

Response Posted - 03/06/2005 : 14:49:48

The satellites are working fine. Go online to see when the DOD announces GPS advisories. Before you send Garmin 175 bucks, check your antenna - connections and if your unit has any sort of self diagnostic pages, look at those first. Most GPS units will depict the number of satellities being received and signal integrity. See where your unit will show that.

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 03/06/2005 : 22:07:37

Mark
I think that you are right about the anetnna. The GPSmap176C has an antenna that swings up. It feels gritty, but you would probably have to take it apart to get to it. It just doesn't pick up the satellites, it has a page which shows aquisition.
Where is this DOD site you are talking about?

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Mark Loyacano
Navigator

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USA
247 Posts

Response Posted - 03/06/2005 : 22:24:32

Frank, there are several. Here is one forom the US Coast Guard

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/gps/status_and_outage_info.htm

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Charlie Vick
Captain

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USA
423 Posts

Response Posted - 03/06/2005 : 22:29:56

I have a Garmin Etrex handheld I used today.
It took a little longer than normal to pick up a signal but it was overcast and I didn't think anything of it.
Maybe its time to move up.

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2005 : 03:52:38

Microsoft has a very inexpensive ($approx $110) software package with a GPS finder - you could use this with your 176 and a laptop - it would give you a full color screen and more versatility than any GPS system under $3,500.

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2005 : 04:33:06

Frank,
I had a problem like that with an old Garmin unit. I updated the firmware via their website and it started working. Might be worth a try.

Tom.

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frankr
Captain

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256 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2005 : 11:14:11

Satellites are fine. Just finished crewing on a 900+nm open water trip from Houston to Ft Lauderdale. We used 4 different GPS models and hit every waypoint we charted.

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2005 : 19:17:11

Tom,
Thanks for the suggestion of the new firmware. I installed the latest, and still no go. I E-mailed garmin Sunday with no response. 30-35 minute wait times for customer service.
Frustrating.

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cclark
Navigator

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USA
104 Posts

Response Posted - 03/07/2005 : 20:21:29

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by stampeder
 Microsoft has a very inexpensive ($approx $110) software package with a GPS finder - you could use this with your 176 and a laptop - it would give you a full color screen and more versatility than any GPS system under $3,500.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
What is the name of this program?

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seastream
Navigator

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USA
242 Posts

Response Posted - 03/11/2005 : 07:32:39

Try an external antenna in place of the 'swing up' one supplied. The supplied antenna should be removable, leaving either a female BNC (push n twist) connector or some variant thereof for you to attach the external one to. If so, clean the exposed connector first with compressed (canned) air.

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 03/11/2005 : 15:18:45

the antenna on my unit is not removable, at least by no normal means, nor does it address this issue in the instruction manual.
I ended up sending it back to Garmin for a $175 repair. If I have to buy a new unit, it will be a Garmin gpsmap172c

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cathluk
Admiral

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USA
513 Posts

Response Posted - 03/11/2005 : 15:52:45

The antena on the 176c IS removable although I didn't think so either. You have to rotate the antena just right (I think 30 degrees) to line up 2 very small grooves & it comes right off. I'm surprised tech support didn't talk you through it. We broke our antena in Oct. (long story - an "exciting" day) & the helpful tech support guy explained how to remove the antenna & sold me a new antenna for $65 (I think). We were thrilled not to have to buy a whole new GPS!

Which reminds me - I owe Forspar some Kudos. We also broke the pointy end of our whisker pole that day & I figured I'd have to buy a whole new whisker pole since nobody carried that part. Forspar sent me 2 replacement ends for FREE. Just heat up the aluminum a bit, pop the old one out, put the new one in, & let it cool back down. Good as new!

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 03/11/2005 : 18:34:16

Hi Cathy,
Thanks for the tip on the antenna. I tried to find a way to take it off and spray with a little CRC electronic contact cleaner. I figure that's all it needs.
Don't I feel like a dumbass

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cathluk
Admiral

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USA
513 Posts

Response Posted - 03/13/2005 : 15:47:34

Don't feel bad Frank. Dan actually took the entire GPS apart to see if we could find the loose connection that was keeping it from aquiring. Neither of us could figure out how the antena came off & its not in the book. Thank goodness for the helpful guy on the phone or we would have sent it back too.

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