frozenflyboy

What about the same for a Nuvi 660? al

Funny I had the same thing happen in Saskatchewan with my Nuvi 660. I showed me walking way out in the middle of Blackstrap Lake for quite a distance. I figured maybe it was some kind of GPS "Black Hole" or whatever, as it eventually showed me coming to shore. Interestingly it showed me a cache when I was probably 50 feet from it. Then I restarted the unit and it was accurate. Never did figure out why.

What was the other one? OK - answer quickly, and no use of calculators: How many inches in a mile? How many ounces in a ton? How many horsepower (or BTUs - you can select the unit of power of your choice!) does it take to lift a weight of one pound at a speed of 1 foot per second? Equivalent questions in metric: How many millimetres in a kilometre? A: 1,000,000 (Or if you prefer - How many centimetres in a kilometre? A: 100,000) How many grams in a tonne? A: 1,000,000 How many watts to lift a weight of 1 newton at 1 metre per second? A: 1.000 W And so on! We changed to the metric system when I was in high school. I know the benefits of it and it is so clever but I and most people who were raised on the standard system still have a tough time with it. Subsequent generations will benefit from it but it will be a snowy day in "H E double hockey stick" when North America changes to Hpa in barometer readings. In Canada they give the metric readings out in the public weather because of the metric policy but I seriously doubt that anyone listens or knows what it means. I remember when they changed the aircraft fuel system in Canada to Litres. I was flying couriers at the time and I knew that somebody somewhere would get in a big pickle over that one and sure enough an Air Canada jet landed about half way to their destination "dead-stick" when someone miscalculated. OooOOops. I used to calculate the fuel, then recalculate, then rerecalculate and then get the co-pilot to look over the numbers. I still convert everything back to standard. Once I rented an American car and drove into Canada. Of course everything was in standard on the dash but the roadsigns were in metric. I was driving a winding country road when I started to realize that I was way too fast. Then I noticed that I was traveling 90 MPH not 90 klicks (KM). True story. You can show all the logic in the world about the metric system But it is tough to convert to it. The US has not had the courage to do it much to it's own disservice. It will regret that in the long run. Short term pain for long term gain. OK my speech is finished...

I for one don't really want to be a passenger on any aircraft that can have it's navigation system fouled up by someone intentionally or un-intentionally using a cell phone or any other electronic device. If one inside can mess things up couldn't one outside near by do the same? Many airports have roads right off the end of the runway that "gasp" people might be using cell phones on when a plane is at that critical take off or landing stage. Maybe there ought to be a little more scrutiny on the reliability of avionics. trooperdjb, GPS is not used during the actual landing or take-off phase which is when an exterior influence such as a person on the ground would possibly be close enough to cause problems. It is the cumulative effect of many passengers using cells that is the problem because they are in such close proximity to the aircraft antennae. Also anyone on the ground would only be close for a split second while the plane whisked by even if there were enough people to cause a problem. As far as the possibility than someone might intentionally foul up the GPS, I'm not interested in going there. I am assuming that jamming the signal would be something that the GPS unit would be able to detect and a red flag would show up on the panel so that aircrew would know to overshoot and or use another approach system on the aircraft. GPS are generally used for point to point navigation but are in the early stages of being used to do approaches.

Thanks Gryphon, 'preciate it. Made sense it would be there. Is there some kind of compass rose with the position of the waypoint in relation to the unit?

Interesting post GPSlug. Aircraft receivers have two separate systems which are monitored and if they do not jive both are considered not reliable and are kicked off the line. The last time I checked they had finally decided that for WAAS approaches (much lower landing minimums) there would also have to be two separate antennae or two GPS systems. (which would mean 4 actual receivers) Now I am not an aircraft radio person so this is the dumbed down pilot version.

Actually the latest Aerospatiale I think it's the 388 has a system on board that allows you to use cellphones on board. So the theory goes but a lot of people in the know are not happy because the system works well in theory.... The way the theory goes is that when a cell looks for a tower it sends out a strong signal if it detects that the tower is distant. The AS engineers have put some kind of device on the airliner that acts like a tower so the cell thinks it is close and it transmits at a lower power. Therefore the theory is that that since the cells are transmitting on low power they will not affect the navigation systems, however if there are cells that are old or faulty or damaged they may transmit high power anyways or their signals may not be accurate and may be broadcasting on several frequencies etc. so that their total wattage etc may jam the GPS navigation on board the aircraft, then the theories break down and the aircraft will not be able to navigate by GPS due to interference. This of course would affect your GPS if someone close by was talking while using the GPS. Assuming the worst case scenario.

Does anyone know of a Mac version without running a virtual PC?

I guess the kicker is that even though they probably can't nail you for using them due to technicalities, pity help you if you are in an accident with one pasted to your ear. Also eventually the police will probably come up with a scanner to detect usage in a car, then they could nail you. There was a study done by an American University on the airlines where they determined that virtually every flight on a air carrier, there were some clowns using one despite the unlawfullness and some idiots were even using them right through the takeoff and landing. Maybe if the FAA got involved and by use of a scanner of some sort determined your cell usage and allowed you the pleasure of a fine unbeknownst to the cell user. Fines for things in the ("Aeronautic Act" is what it is called in Canada) are not the pithy little fees for speeding tickets. They start around a thousand dollars I believe. Expensive phone call! 10 cents a minute $1000.00 per call. Similar to the system on the highway where speeders and red light runners are photographed by cameras on the highway and their license plates scanned for the purpose of fines. Police can drive through a parking lot with a scanner looking for stolen cars. Big Bro is watching.

I was cruising the archives for GPS topics on a hunting board I read. Found one post by a member there that may have something to do with this topic on signal loss. The member said he was former military and had been through survival/orienteering training in the past. He said that in one of their orienteering exercises that some guys had civilian GPS units along with the ordinary map+compass and that at the beginning of the exercise they were allowed to use the the GPS units to navigate, but after a certain time the base generated a jam signal to screw with the GPS units. He made is sound like this is something that can be done in a small area. San Antonio certainly has a lot of military facilities, so maybe this is a possible explanation of your signal loss over that period. Not meaning to put conspiracy theories in here but there is a very big concern with the GPS system in that the signals are very weak by nature and can be interfered with by even cellphones (if the cellphones are close and their signals are strong. This is one reason why cellphones are banned in aircraft. (article from pro pilot) Also the FAA ran (or is running) some testing (I believe in New Mexico but don't quote me) on the very serious threat of jamming GPS signals. Apparently GPS signals could be jammed very easily with a transmitter the size of a cigarette package. The FAA was advertising for people with private aircraft to participate in the study as I recall. I guess the FAA is not aware of the serious threat to "Geocaching" by these criminal minds.

Amen, you said it all. Just build a "cone of silence" around the driver.

Use your RIGHT arm if in the southern hemisphere - cyclones go clockwise south of equator, anti-clockwise when north of the equator. Also - I'm not sure how effective this method is for finding the direction of a low pressure system when you're in an aeroplane! (But an old pilot adage goes as such...) Julian, you're right about the right arm and the method is effective but very upsetting to the rest of the crew! And it doesn't just work for old pilots

.01 of an inch of baro pressure changes altitude by 10 feet. When the baro goes up your actual altitude goes down and vice versa. Temperature also affects baro altitude. The baro pressure from the weather office assumes standard pressure in a standard atmospheric model, ie. 59 degrees temperature at sea level. So if the the temperature gets really low like minus 40 there can be a substantial difference in altitude. I don't have the numbers in front of me so I can't give you facts.. Sorry But an old pilot adage goes as such... When flying from a high to a low look out below. (that goes or temp and baro. pressure.) In other words if a low is approaching you are lower than the altimeter says. It's a bit mind boggling to remember, but to find out the location of a low turn your back directly into the wind and put your left arm out. It is pointing to the centre of the low. You might get this information in a Google search at Environment Canada website or Transport Canada. Not sure.

I have a Nuvi 660 and the only way I can even get my current lat longs is to stop and hit the "Go Home" button and then set my home location. Then I look at the home location position in the coordinates section, so the answer is no. Funny you'd think that would be an automatic feature with a GPS... My location from the Geocache site was off quite a bit from using my street address so I had to correct it using the above method.

Not sure about other models but I know that my 660 has an adjustment for brightness and volume of sound. Seems like plenty of control to me.

I just moved to Ontariario from Labrador. Cellphones were banned when driving there and I wholeheartedly agree with that idea. Even though it was impossible to get nailed for it because when you get to court how do they prove you were actually using it because they would have to get records from the phone company and maybe the phone companies records were off in their timing or not synched with the polices' watch etc etc. However having said all that, cellphones DO contribute to some pretty awful driving. I'm guilty. The solution is simple, get a cell with a speakerphone or a headset. A friend of mine drives a train and he likes to tell the story of the veterinarian that he hit with a train. Vet was on the cell and was completely oblivious to a TRAIN. He didn't get hurt, but the front of the train was plastered with bandages etc.. As far as GPS it can be a bit of a distraction but so can Bill Lear's invention of a car radio. They were banned at one point in some places. I personally love my Nuvi. Just for the record, car rentals have the worst accident record in the first mile or so of the rental, because everyone is trying to read the map and drive. Better by far to have a GPS. Keeps peace in the family. BTW flarbar, what is a UI ?

Good point! My ex's dad used to wrap his kitchen tv remote in saran wrap for that purpose.

Excellent, really appreciate the help!java script:emoticon('', 'smid_4') Al

Excellent, really appreciate the help! Al

Anyone made a bike mount for a similar GPS? I just had a nerve racking drive using an elastic velcro combination.

Anyone made a bike mount for a similar GPS? I just had a nerve racking drive using an elastic velcro combination.

When I use a walllwart (Motorola spn5185a or another one I tried) with a (I believe it is a ) serial connector to recharge my Nuvi 660, the display comes up indicating the unit is getting power and is being charged but when I disconnect it there seems to be no change in the battery power level and I have to reset the Nuvi with the button in back. (the wallwart is used to recharge a Motorola Razor cellphone) Hocum? It seems to charge no problem when I uses a USB to serial connect on my computer.