Strange Coincidence

[MagicTogether]

Ok... I suspect I've just been given a cosmic prank, but I've gotta ask anyway.

 

Has anyone else lost ALL satellites yesterday or today?

 

Yesterday afternoon I took Lindsay's Rino 130 for a walk, because it had been acting a little flakey lately. Slow to find satellites, quick to lose them during our outings, while my unit was quick, held lock etc. while walking with her. So, since her's had been on the shelf awhile I put in new batteries and took it for an hour's hike with a clear sky view. Nothing! I concluded her unit was due for a factory visit.

 

So, today we went out with my unit at about the same time in the afternoon as yesterday. No Satellites what so ever! I presume this is an unfortunate coincidence.... but have to ask. The system is still working, right? The sky has not fallen....

 

Yes, the batteries really are good.... Yes, I actually turned the units on, .... Yes to all the obvious.

The only changes to the units was updating their operating system software four days ago. However, they have both been used since that upgrade. Hers with the aforementioned lack of sensitivty. Mine was completely normal at that use.

 

What are the odds of two units failing on successive days!

 

Happy New Year to everyone.... who's GPSr's have not quit like ours! Extra Luck to all who's have failed for whatever reason!!

 

[+Alan2]

Just a guess since I never used the Rino. That model has a way to determine where the other uinit is located. Is there a switch out that doesn this that disables "regular" use that might be causing your problem?

 

Or the sky could be falling...

[BRTango]

My Rino 130's working fine.

[+Prime Suspect]

Most likely your almanac data needs refreshing. You unit needs a continuous and unobstructed view of the sky in order to do this. When you're walking with a GPS, you're continuously blocking one or more satellites.

 

Just turn them on and set them outside for about a half hour.

[+kentuckygirls]

Our Magellan went out yesterday too. Never could get a satellite signal on it. Tried again this morning and still nothing. Coincidence maybe?

[+icefall5]

I went out today and everything was fine. I found 3 of my 6 caches and it was all working fine.

[MagicTogether]

My Rino came back on line today.... acted as though it had never been gone. Lindsay's is still kaput... which I think is a genuine receiver failure. Weird!!

 

Alan2 - Yes, they can find each other and map the other unit's location. That does not involve doing anything which disables any function on either unit however.

 

KentuckyGirls - Maybe we were both under the same constellation or black hole or worm hole or something.

 

PrimeSuspect - I neglected to mention that I actually did that the day before with Lindsay's unit. Just left it sit on the power adapter in the driveway after we got back from the first walk. Mine seems to find itself OK even while moving. I usually power it up and toss it onto the dashboard. It finds itself in a few moments and interfaces with my powerbook/route66 for map services. Mine was lost all yesterday, but today found itself while we were driving along the highway. Given the same opportunity as mine, Lindsay's never did find itself however.

 

Everyone else.... Thanks for both indulging my question and the reassurance the sky had not fallen!

 

We took both units and the coord's for an easy cache today. I'd assumed neither unit would work but was pleasantly surprised mine did. Now, if I can just remember not to make finger errors and check my manual entries.... we spent half an hour looking in the wrong spot due to my data entry error. Second try with correct coord's worked a lot better.

 

Happy New Year to All!