xyzee

I just made a quick test. Duracell Copper Top 1.62 v Exp 2016 Rayovac 1.64 v Exp 2016 Energizer Lithium 1.82 v Exp 2021 60 seconds in a flashlight pulled the Lithiums down to 1.61 v Try 10 or 15 seconds in a flashlight, and see what happens; then add more time if needed. My only pair of Lithiums, or I would start out with 10 seconds.

I use fresh, new, strong alkaline batteries, for the serious stuff, like downloads. Also, after it says "Done", I usually wait a full minute, or longer, to make sure that it is really done. I got a new Meridian Color last year, and it came with version 4.02. I checked it out against a SporTrak, for a few days, then downloaded the 5.40 WAAS fixed, from the yahoo group. Everything went smooth. Happy Camper!

Skip, Check the version in your unit. I think that 3.90 deleated the d's showing, and it was corrected in version 4.00. If I remember right. I'm still using 3.70. Or it might have been in the GPS SW Version that was changed.

Short break from outside work, fantastic day her in mid Utah, January Thaw is finally here! Thanks for the NGS web status. I'm on the end of the phone line from the station, so everything is suspect. The MTK in my 60Cx, when connected to the ex ant on the roof, acts the same as your description of the Cartesio. I was on the phone with a Garmin rep, when after 1 hr and 49 min, it locked on 48. I figured it was the chip, but the rep said no, to reset, which I had several times already. He did say that they are not allowed to discuss "chips". Sometimes it will connect to 51, like the rest of thr 60'ies, sometimes like you have to do with the off/on thing to make it find 51. Otherwise, it starts with 33, just like it will normally do when it loads up the WAAS Sats for the first time. Same with both ant's on the roof. But, when in a south window, or when outside, it grabs 51 like the rest of the units do. I can't figure the roof thing, in the clear, no trees, has 51 all night as I capture the tracks on the map page, then change batteries, and it wants to start on 33. Need to test with the short 3 ft ant/ground plane/pole setup, and see what happens. I put faith in the GPS corrected sites, even if a few yeare old.

I lost most of my NGS url's in a previous XP crash, but still had the one for the DATA SHEET POINT RADIUS FORM. www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_radius.prl IE can't open it, so I did a Google for the main NGS site, and it won't open either. The main site had a lot of pages that helped me understand what the "daffynitions" were. I wonder, changed url, down for maintence, my pc, or? How long does the Cartesio chip take to lock on to the WAAS Sats after start up?

The XO was 0.00 C/No was -1.00 on both receivers. The XO on the MTK did try to slip in some numbers on me, until I shifted the fist full of double wrapped foil around a bit, to cancel it back to zero. where it stayed. Can only guess what some of the numbers mean. Play "stump the Garmin CS rep" on Monday,huh.

Matt, Are you comparing both units, set up the same way, outside? Last night I pulled both units from the external antennas on the roof, and watched the results from inside my mobile home. Miserable readings from both the MTK and the SiRF units. The MTK receiver did get some WAAS readings for a short spell. On balance, I find the MTK more stable, and dosen't bounce, drift, or as "jumpyfied" as The Sirf. But, several days ago, I had the SiRF 60CSx over at a surveyed point, set up to "all d's", and only had to move the receiver less the 2 ft to get it to read to "truth", or what the GPS surveyed said was truth. What $50 thou worth of equipment and Post processing can do! Another problem that I have when comparing units, besides the winter hanging on, is most of the day I have 14 regular Sats useable, and each unit selects a different 12. I need to wait for it to warm up more and pick a time of the day when both units have the same Sats for a fair test. There is a slight difference between most all units, but when you have both set up the same, and sitting outside in the clear for about 15 min, then pick them up and keep them abpve your head, as you walk over to you test point, so that they don't lose lock, you should fid them close to the same, unless there is something wrong with the SiRF unit. I have found out from 4 years of using SiRF unit, that it works best when I let ie sit and settle for a spell before I position it over the chosen point. Then hit the mark button after about 4 or 5 seconds, before it starts to get jumpy. Otherwise, it's probably averaging time. Still testing, still learning.

Thanks for the update/feedback. Always good to learn about things that work.

Ten feet, thats great! Looks like that there is hope for the new Maggie after all. I have a waypoint, with a 10 ft circle around it, in the backyard. Being able to zoom in that close, makes it easier to view where the unit says that I am, on return visits. As well as for other points on the map page. The 100 ft on the other units, was too far out to be of any help. One can also see how much the unit is "jumping" when in that close. Thanks for that tip!

I am wondering how the "new Magellan" will compare to the SporTrak/Meridians. How far can one zoom in on the Map Page? On a waypoint projection: Still can "do" 9999.99 Feet? And the Bearing, 000.00 deg, or just the 000 deg? Still have the dual position screen? When holding "this patch" antenna level, then to verticle, at eye level, or slightly above, what happens to the Sat bars, +- accuracy reading, and the lat/lon reading, when it is set to the smaller all d's, or UTM? How much change? User Grid: Does it have Lambert as well as Trans Merc, and do they work? The Trans Merc works on my Triton 1500, but the Lambert dosn't. Three tickets to Magellan asking if Lambert has been activated/implemented, has resulted in one request for a model number, after a month. One forum reported that it didn't work. Still goes to reading in mi, after about 528 ft, I'll bet. Thanks, xyzee

In addition to the above.... I just went outside and made a GO TO to a northly waypoint on a map60Cx. Then to the Map Page>Menu>Setup Map, and to the second icon at the top,Tracks, then down to the Go TO Line, and chose Course. Then walked about 50 feet westerly, watching my progress as I walked, with the line remaining where it was set on the map. When I stopped I chose Bearing, and watched as the line moved to my location. So one can then toggle between the two, and watch the results. Even able to continue the fun, as I came back inside, watching the moving around on the Map Page.

Thanks Jerry, for the BLM tips, etc. Thanks Panda Inc, for the site info. I lost a lot of the good sites in a previous XP crash. Now on the "backup" XP, as the main PC was doing the, don't know if it sent, thing, and wouldn't open pages, for the last week +.

Over a year ago, from ebay, Garmin auth dealer, Quest 2 refurb with extra Citi Nav disc. Advertised as new case, new battery, new chip, tested, and came with a new manual ( remember them? ) and all accessories new in plastic wrap. One of my better $135 deals. Small screen, with small print, requires real clean "readies", but it works good for me. Sunshine in the middle of Utah today. The "January Thaw" is finally here!

While you wait for a class, try this: http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/wgarmin.htm. A lot of good basic info on the gpsinformation.net site, also.

Yes, that is USLM No 2, on the ridge to Horse Mtn. Since ole Bob is pushing 80,and pulling 70, I can relate to the 20 years thing. I only made it up to the 11,200 ft elev last summer, got to get in better shape for the 12 thou plus, for this summer! Har to protect these old monuments, when the redneck freaks, eco freaks, hunters, hikers, and big city people, are in a contest to see who can destroy the mostest, fastest. A lot of the Pat corners, and other Mineral Survey corners, near trails, and easy places to get to, have been totally wiped out. Most of the survey control stations, that were done in 1968, are now fire pits, or destroyed. Even the rebar, that was close to the trail leading to the No 2, was pulled up and gone. I had the half in above ground covered with small gravel, and they still found it. I burried a large nail there. I wish that I had of taken more pictures earlier. I'm trying to find out who set the USLM s and when, from the BLM up in "Salt Lick", but they weren't able to find out on first try. Lots of survey history here, from the Hayden Party in 1875,on Mt Waas ( named for a local Indian Chief, or someone in the party, as I understand it ) the Mineral surveys, sections in the 30 s, to a large claim survey in 68. More than enough to keep me busy with a Brunton, tripod, 300 ft tape, and clinometer, in the early years. After age 70, a good handheld GPS receiver has been more fun, when High up. Taking on PC stuff at the same time as GPS stuff, when older, keeps the brain cells active. Learning State Plane, Trans Merc, Lambert etc, and with a MobileMapper is more fun.

I got a 60Cx, with the MTK chip, Ver.4.10 - 2.20m, to compare with the 60Cx that I got 4 yrs ago. Always hope to find a new "something" that is just a little more accurate, steady, with better returnability/repeatability, etc. No under the trees comparison yet, still under too much snow here above the 6500 ft elev in Ut. From test with both units connected to external antennas on the roof, and one outside walk around, before the snow got too deep. The MTK is alot more steady than the Sirf, especially noticed in the Battery Save mode. Gets a littly jumpy for a few sec, then settles down like in the GPS 60/ 60CS units. The "walk around" the circle driveway around the Mobile Home (soon to be mud) seemed to favor the SiRF a tad. Holding each in my hand about a foot above my head, so as not to loose Sat lock, I got about 200 ft before I reversed the walk. Set the tracks to one sec timeing, or distance to yards, then to .01 yards, seems to work better than auto. When hooked to the roof ant's, the MTK is a lot less jumpy. More noticeable with the units set up to display the position in Grid feet, from the User Grid. Also, with the units measuring in feet, from the SW corner of this 10 acres, it is easier to see the difference between WAAS and no WAAS after the 3.5+ min have passed. Like Garmin said in the emails that they sent to some of us in the spring of o6, that they found only about half a foot better accuracy with WAAS, so they planned on dropping WAAS later on. They were right for my units, no change in the old Cx. The MTK change shows up as 2 ft in the accuracy box, with a change of a ft or 2 in th N/E Grid feet. The MTK dosn't like to "do" WAAS either. Want to start out with fresh search at 33, with most start ups. The bar goes crazy looking for 35 and 47, put to sleep back in 07, I think. Even when I power off/on,or GPS Off, and get 51 on overnight, when I change the batts, it wants to start with 33 and the long search for every SBAS SAt. But off/on several times gets the bar to show up normal like. Tried to discuss with the Garmin reps, but they say that it is properietary, and they are not allowed to talk about it. One did say that it wasn't the chip, just do the hard reset thing, which I had already done several times. Need for the snow to melt, so I can get to my backyard waypoints, and a nearby surveyed point, to do more comparing. No SiRF icon or mention on the box; replaced with High Sensitivity GPS receiver. And, when I came back inside that day, the W's stayed on longer in the MTK equipped unit.

I'll try this again, lost it the first time. Bad enough to be learning how to post, and lose it, but I am slow and have to hunt & peck it out. losing hurts! On my regular Waypoints I use the smallest Marker box (dot) icon. Then with the User Waypoints set to None, I can pan the white arrow over and touch on one of the WP dots, and a small box opens up with the WP ID in it, for about 5 sec. Helps to keep down the clutter, when there are a lot of points close together. Now to see if this one times out.

I'm not much on software, but I would have fun finding the most open property corner, and getting the best fix possible, under the most ideal Sat PDOP. Then use the projection feature, if the distance and bearings are known, to make a plat on the Routes Mao Page, from the waypoints. Might even be able to start from a good controll point from somewhere in the middle of the property, where its the clearest to get the best from the Sats. I use a Garmin Map 60Cx, and Meridian Color, for mineral/mining claims, and related, connected to an external antenna mounted on a ground plane, 19cm or 7.5 in in dia. on an adjustable pole with carrier for the receiver. Glisson says that the ground plan helps 20 to 30 %. Attaching the pole to a tripod, allows me to average for 20 min or so, over a point, a lot easier than holding the unit over my head for that long. This is overkill for most people, but helps me a lot when in the Utah mtns in the summer. Need all the help that I can get, when the mtn with trees, are blocking the Sats when in a high mtn valley. Might be an add on to the rest of the projuct, seeing how close the projection were.

My vote goes for keep the WAAS tab and NAD 83. Very usefull.

I have read where the following has worked for others. For "hard reset": Hold down GO TO+OUT+POWER at the same time. Suppose to clear memory, and set all settings as default. If that dosn't work, one has to wonder what the "bump" broke inside the unit.

Rest easy, Panda Inc. The big fire didn't get to USLM No 2, or to the old cabins. Some years ago, some yoyo pulled the post out, and tossed it down the mtn. I called in to the FS, and had them reset it. I plan on being back on the mtn this summer, to get more Pat Claim corners in the GPS receiver, if the other foot dosen't get in the grave first. ( I messed up trying to send the first post )