Markulous

See below for info from http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/egnos/estb/schedule.htm In the period before the activation of the satellite Artemis, due to the absence of the signal coming from the satellite AOR-E, the users situated near the edge of the IOR satellite coverage may experience a significant reduction in the ESTB signal level received. Most likely, this circumstance will prevent these users to perform their experiments under nominal conditions from June 2003 up to October 2003. Please see the IOR satellite cover map computed as a function of user’s position where 3 selected masking angles over the horizon have been considered.

I must admit that my theory was heat: screws expand, plastic doesn't. My STP has developed a couple of hairlines, but reckon the hassle of losing my STP for an unknown time vs living with it (or smearing some superglue into the cracks) means I'll live with it!!

I got an iPaq 3630 S/H from eBay with CF Jacket (to take maps) and use my Fugawi (moving map: hiking) or Autoroute (routing) Looking at TomTom to do voice routing

Had STP for 6 months, mainly for hiking, some routing. Have neoprene case and built an external battery pack for extended use (and now never have to open battery compartment - leave a pair of alkalines in there for backup). It would be nice to have a method of saving multiple tracks but that's the only deficiency I've noted (OK, and more than 30 WPs for Routes but multiple Routes are workable) Mark

Yes, those are my details re. power supply, but don't go plugging it directly into 12v!! Just a caution & apologies if you were aware, but I'd hate to be the source of fried GPSr!! Mark

EGNOS has "Do not use" which essentially means "Do not use if your circumstances are such that it is important that you know where you are, as the current test mode might lead to unreliable results" or simply put "Don't use if its important, by all means use otherwise". Can't think of a way to make it clearer (tho' I still prefer my original!)

My Magellan SporTrak Pro uses EGNOS (tho' I could switch it off) and as a result I usually get Sat Lock within a couple of tens of seconds (unless its been off for a while & the almanac needs updating). EPE is usually 3-5 metres as a result EGNOS is in test mode which only means that it *may* be unreliable (and so shouldn't be used for mission critical applications). In my experience it *is* reliable - tho' its easy enough to check their website for downtime (rare) Mark

Do as I do and never have to open battery compartment: constructed an external battery pack and just leave a pair of alkalines in compartment as backup (been there for months now!) One day I'll do a more elegant ext batt pack with shorter thinner cable and only 3 x AAs but as I mainly use the GPSr for hiking..... http://web.newsguy.com/markulous/gpscable Mark

Got battery compartment in Maplins. Keep meaning to complete website and rewrite the GPS cable section - chucked it on one evening as I had requests to show how I did it! Mark

I use an external battery pack of 2 x 3 AA = 3.6v rechargeable NiMHs, the logic being my Magellan SporTrak Pro and Fuji camera use them internally so I need AAs anyway. How & end result: http://web.newsguy.com/markulous/gpscable Mark

Having successfully made one myself (tho' I abandoned the springs early on - too inconsistent)- 1. Check pin to wire connections 2. Make sure that cable is not too long (found probs with attaching to an extension cable - too long)