Kyl3cook

Hello.

I've just bought a PDA/GPS thing. It's an HP iPAQ2210 with TomTom3 and the Bluetooth GPS reciever. I've set everything up correctly I believe (installed the maps and ofcourse tomtom...even the speed camera database)...but the problem arises that I can't even get that far. I turn everything on (GPS reciever, and I activate the bluetooth on the handset) but it says GPS disabled on the navigation screen. I understand that this might mean that the GPS is indeed disabled, however, does anyone know the cause of this? is it just a matter of me waiting until it picks up a signal?

Thanks in advance,

Matt

ScoobyJawa

There is an issue with TT3 and the 2210 with a bluetooth receiver which cause hangs etc. There is an update available on the Tom Tom website which is supposed to address the problems - download that and see if its any better. First time might take a bit (up to 30 mins) for the receiver to pick up the satelites, then it stores them in memory so it should come on almost immediately!

Kyl3cook

Thanks, I might have been a bit impatient as I was in the car for about 5 minutes ...if that fails I'll download the patch.

Cheers,

Matt

Mark Miwurdz

Failing that, ring TomTom support but do be prepared to be immensely frustrated.

Cheers
Kav

Kyl3cook

Now it says 'position unreliable'...so I'm waiting the reccomended 45mins. Just one questions though (dunce hat on)...do I have to pay a subscription in order for the GPS to work? because I haven't paid anything yet.

Cheers,

Matt

Kyl3cook

Thanks Kav

Mark Miwurdz

No worries mate.

No, access is entirely free. Not entirely sure of the background but the US govt made it available for civilian use a while ago.

Enjoy - it's a great concept. I've recently bought a Garmin eTrex Vista because I do a lot of mountain biking and it is brilliant.

My comment about TomTom support was (slightly) tongue in cheek. The app's great when it works but I did spend a whole weekend getting it to work on my T3 after it crashed.

Cheers
Kav

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Have you got the correct device selected, right com port and is it checked in the GPS application in programs?

If it is all working/connected, then you'll see little dots running between the satellite and the car.

Horse-poo I'm afraid.

Not quite how these things work. There are a number of geosynchronous satellites in the sky transmitting a continuous signal which includes its ID and its position relative to the ground. This signal is picked up the GPS receiver. Once it has sight of a minimum of 3 sats, it is able to use trigonometry to pinpoint its location on the earth's surface. I'm afraid that 30 min thing is not correct UNLESS you happen to be in a location where your receiver cannot clearly see the sky - in a house or in a narrow street with tall buildings or simillar.

Taken from a BT GPS device spec sheet as a guide to speed of fix etc.

Acquisition Rate: Open Sky and Stationary

Reacquisition: < 0.1 sec., average
Cold Start: < 80 sec., average
Warm Start: < 45 sec., average
Hot Start: < 10 sec., average


It only places a small amount of data concerning the satellites in memory but that is RAM & is lost when power removed.

Place the receiver on your dashboard of your car, in a clear open space like a large car park. If you still are unable to aquire lock or see the satellite data coming in on the GPS program, then it is something else. But check for the moving dots first.

Lust4Life

If you get position unreliable, it usually clears up faster if you drive off.

The movement seems to help it.

Phil

Chris L

James - would never question your undoubted knowledge on these matters, but it does say in the manual that the first time you fire up the GPS receiver it will take upto 45 mins to acquire your position. My GPS / PDA setup did exactly that - as did both the Road Angel's I've had. In all cases, I've been sat in the car with clear line of site. Since then the signal is acquired almost as soon as I've backed out of the garage.

Chris

Kyl3cook

[QUOTE=Puff The Magic Wagon!]Have you got the correct device selected, right com port and is it checked in the GPS application in programs?

If it is all working/connected, then you'll see little dots running between the satellite and the car.

[QUOTE]


Hi, Thanks for the info

No dots between pda symbol and satellite (wheres the car-satellite dots?) on the GPS status tab within the navigation menus, and go to the GPS tab, it states the it's a tomtom GPS, and serial cable COM1...I can change it to tomtom Wireless GPS, but everytime I change to COM8, it changes back...plus it also then says GPS disabled instead of GPS unreliable. Is it me, or are there no bloody instructions with it?...bloody nightmare. Also what I have noticed is that if I activate a connection between GPS and handheld, after a while the connection is lost...even when it's waiting in navigation mode for a reliable source. (when I exit tomtom and check, the connection is gone).

Does anyone have a link to some online instructions I can use? or the number of tomtom (i can't find one bloody anywhere)

Thanks all,

Matt

Kyl3cook

p.s If you're on the sea, you only need 2 satellites as the 3 are used to triangualte longitude, latitude and height above/below seas level...cunning heh

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Matt

Its not or shouldn't be on Com1. It should be available on the drop down as a Bluetooth device.

Have you PAIRED with the device? The PDA & unit need to know how to communicate and need to be paired for this to happen.

Kyl3cook

Hello...

panic over. Yeah I did all that was said in the FAQ on pocketgps.com...but the problem wasn't any of that stuff...it was the little display of the computer on the GPS tab in the GPS status menu was set tothe wrong side...I've switched it so it's got the 3 Z's...and now it works like a dream. Thanks for the help.

One more thing though. Is there a more detailed post code search availble? and does the map on yours not show many roads when zoomed out a couple of times?

Cheers,

Matt

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

http://www.digitools.co.uk/ukpostcode.php

carl

I'm afraid it's this that is horse-poo.

GPS satellites are not geosynchronous. There are six orbit planes sixty degrees apart, with four SVs in each plane. And the only things they transmit are their ID and a pseudorandom code (effectively they transmit the time). The receiver matches up its own pseudorandom code with those from the SVs to work out the propagation delay (which gives the pseudorange), applies a bunch of corrections (to give the range) and triangulates from there. The satellites do not have knowledge of their "position relative to the ground" and why should they? It's just governed by simple orbital dynamics.

http://www.pocketgpsworld.co.uk/modu...c+GPS+Theory#5 should tell you all you need to know.

mrklaw

mine picked my position up very quickly, then started to say unreliable. I'd had it in the front right corner, just behind the mount, and was getting 4-5 satellites. Moving it into the centre I instantly got 6-7.

Only thing odd on mine was the map. For some reason although it knew where I was (down in Windsor), the map was showing me Scotland, and it wasn't easy to work out how to get the map to point to where my location was (surely a common requirement)

Still, seems OK, and I've just put checkpoint on to warn me of cameras, and shell stations (went up to Leicester on Sunday and couldn't find any!)

OllyK

Shell stations are like hen's teeth in Leicester, almost all are now Texaco. Cameras on the other hand, a good few of those, but not as bad as Nottingham

Kyl3cook

I have the checkPOInt thing on mine, showing all the camera locations, however it makes no warning noise when driving towards one. I've set all the POI settings for the 30secs, 20secs and 10secs, but still no noise. What I have seen though is that it says 'assign noise' (or something similar)...does it have a default one already on, or do I HAVE to pick a wav file for it to play?

Thanks,

Matt

OllyK

Pick a WAV file - you should find that as part of the install you got some basic ones like "Speed Camera in 30 seconds" etc etc, which will do the job for now. If you don't have a WAV associated you will get no sound based warning.

Kyl3cook

ah ha....shall try that then

Thanks

OllyK

Tehn find some bird with a sexy voice to record you all the others

papascooby

so the tomtom camera database is up to date and it works well? (I have a PDA & laser/radar alert) but I'd get TomTom and the bluetooth gps receiver if it does cameras well

OllyK

TomTom doesn't do a camera database. There are however numerous free ones about that you can use.

CheckPoint is free POI software that synchronises your PDA with its DB and vice versa. So if you add something new (and it isn't just cameras) everybody else will get it when they synch next. It seems to be pretty up to date, certainly in my neck of the woods.

Kyl3cook

it spotted some cameras that were put up within the past couple of months near me....just made no noise...yet