Neither Of My Lowrances Can Get Any Satellite Reception!

[senecaripple]

any suggestions! i have the iway 100m and the map & music. downloaded mapcreate turn by turn 6.3.2 onto a 1gb kingston sd card. it seemed to have register on the screen. but wont navigate or get me any satellites. is there something wrong with both units, do i need an external antenna? tia

[kb9nvh]

Assuming a clear view of the sky and outside then, when you first turn on the unit it can take a long time to first gets its position. Usually you can tell it where it is at, in general, so it had something close as a starting position. On my old lowrance I would move the map pointer to my spot in southern indiana and that was all it needed to then acquire sats pretty quickly. Give it 5 or 10 minutes of no moving with clear sky and it should Find itself.

 

any suggestions! i have the iway 100m and the map & music. downloaded mapcreate turn by turn 6.3.2 onto a 1gb kingston sd card. it seemed to have register on the screen. but wont navigate or get me any satellites. is there something wrong with both units, do i need an external antenna? tia

[senecaripple]

the flashing pointer with the (?). i try, but nothing. the pointer is on OK, i see the boxed map but unable to move the cursor toward the area where i created the map(NE)!

[ElevenBravo]

Did you pay your bill? J/K, I dont have anything productive to contribute but I couldnt resist. :-)

[+Steel City Seekers]

Still getting my feet wet with a new Lowrance, but I'll take a shot:

 

Is this the first time you've used either of these units? The first time I started mine, it took a loooooong time for it to acquire a fix, more than five or ten minutes not moving under a clear sky even after giving it an idea where I was. Now, it gets fixes very quickly.

 

Try pushing the Pages button until it cycles to the satellite page. Do you see it filling in satellite bars and working to get a fix?

 

Do they work without the SD card installed? The 100 is older, and the M&M is recent, but not from their latest line. I think the manual for the latest receivers says 1GB max. I know some of the older ones had a max of 512MB or less. I think I remember reading in the Yahoo Lowrance user group that someone's manual said 512MB max and a 1GB didn't work (I stress the "I think" part of that sentence, because I'm not entirely sure). But, I'd try it without the card to see what happens.

 

With regard to moving the cursor, if I start on the map screen with no menu items showing and just press the directional pad one way or the other, it will move to where I want it to go. This is just for your information, not really all that informative.

 

I can't imagine that you'd need an external antenna at all, and don't think this is the source of your problems or a potential solution unless your trying to start it in a bomb shelter.

[senecaripple]

yea, i paid my satellite bill(xm radio), and i've waited a long time, close to an hour, but no not stationary, i would be walking, sometimes under trees and cloudy conditions, yesterday we had some tornadoes around here! both have yet to be tested and tried! both states they have a base map, i never tried it w/o the sd card. but i dont think that should have any bearing or affect on trying to pick up any satellite. guess i'll remove the card and give it a try!

[+budd-rdc]

I don't have the exact models you have, but I have an iFinder GO. Hopefully, the menu is similar enough to try the following:

 

Go to the Satellite window, then hit [Menu]

 

You may have the following options:

 

[initialize GPS]

[GPS Auto Search]

 

If you are in an open area with no obstructions to the sky, (no trees, no walls, no buildings) try [GPS Auto Search]. This takes longer, but once it sees one satellite, it'll quickly lock onto others.

 

For [initialize GPS], you have to move the cursor in the map window and select your location. Since it shows you the coordinates of where the cursor is, try moving it as close to a nearest cache from your home as possible.

[reidster]

First remove the card and then try to get a fix.

 

Press Page until you see the Satellite page.

Pressing the Down Arrow two or three times will show the complete status of each satellite (Space Vehicle).

Each press of the Down Arrow will have its display toggle between the two screens.

 

I do not think you can use MC-TBT in the M&M unit, it's only for the iWay.

 

Note: No, you do not need an external antenna.

Older units do not function/receive well when they become hot, 90F+.

My Basic iFinder goes bonkers if its 1G card is fully loaded.

 

reid.

[+Airmapper]

Make sure you didn't activate the "Use External Antenna" function, that shuts off the internal one.

[senecaripple]

First remove the card and then try to get a fix.

 

Press Page until you see the Satellite page.

Pressing the Down Arrow two or three times will show the complete status of each satellite (Space Vehicle).

Each press of the Down Arrow will have its display toggle between the two screens.

 

I do not think you can use MC-TBT in the M&M unit, it's only for the iWay.

 

Note: No, you do not need an external antenna.

Older units do not function/receive well when they become hot, 90F+.

My Basic iFinder goes bonkers if its 1G card is fully loaded.

 

reid.

 

 

what is "MC-TBT"?

[reidster]

First remove the card and then try to get a fix.

 

Press Page until you see the Satellite page.

Pressing the Down Arrow two or three times will show the complete status of each satellite (Space Vehicle).

Each press of the Down Arrow will have its display toggle between the two screens.

 

I do not think you can use MC-TBT in the M&M unit, it's only for the iWay.

 

Note: No, you do not need an external antenna.

Older units do not function/receive well when they become hot, 90F+.

My Basic iFinder goes bonkers if its 1G card is fully loaded.

 

reid.

 

 

what is "MC-TBT"?

 

MapCreate - Turn-By-Turn.

 

The M&M unit should only use MapCreate 6.2, or later.

[kb9nvh]

I take it you dont have this working yet?

Pleae post when you find your problem...

 

Thanks

 

First remove the card and then try to get a fix.

 

Press Page until you see the Satellite page.

Pressing the Down Arrow two or three times will show the complete status of each satellite (Space Vehicle).

Each press of the Down Arrow will have its display toggle between the two screens.

 

I do not think you can use MC-TBT in the M&M unit, it's only for the iWay.

 

Note: No, you do not need an external antenna.

Older units do not function/receive well when they become hot, 90F+.

My Basic iFinder goes bonkers if its 1G card is fully loaded.

 

reid.

 

 

what is "MC-TBT"?

[+Indotguy]

yea, i paid my satellite bill(xm radio), and i've waited a long time, close to an hour, but no not stationary, i would be walking, sometimes under trees and cloudy conditions, yesterday we had some tornadoes around here! both have yet to be tested and tried! both states they have a base map, i never tried it w/o the sd card. but i dont think that should have any bearing or affect on trying to pick up any satellite. guess i'll remove the card and give it a try!

 

Find a new hobby...

[senecaripple]

 

 

Find a new hobby...

 

 

cant contribute, dont post! dont need your sarcasm here!

[senecaripple]

thanks all, just got back from a wedding in rochester, ny. i did initialize my M&M, and it did finally locate the satellites and my current location! the iway was a different story. i was not able to initialize, but i did remove the sd card and tried to locate the satellite w/o it. i cant recall if it did work or not, but when i replaced it with the same card and waited forever(about 20 min. it did work) so i believe that was the solution...thank you all for the help and support!

[kb9nvh]

Glad to hear it and your solutions. I've had this sort of thing happen (batteries out for extended period) and was surprised I had to go through such a reset.

 

happy GPSing!!!!

 

thanks all, just got back from a wedding in rochester, ny. i did initialize my M&M, and it did finally locate the satellites and my current location! the iway was a different story. i was not able to initialize, but i did remove the sd card and tried to locate the satellite w/o it. i cant recall if it did work or not, but when i replaced it with the same card and waited forever(about 20 min. it did work) so i believe that was the solution...thank you all for the help and support!

[kb9nvh]

Glad to hear it and your solutions. I've had this sort of thing happen (batteries out for extended period) and was surprised I had to go through such a reset.

 

happy GPSing!!!!

 

thanks all, just got back from a wedding in rochester, ny. i did initialize my M&M, and it did finally locate the satellites and my current location! the iway was a different story. i was not able to initialize, but i did remove the sd card and tried to locate the satellite w/o it. i cant recall if it did work or not, but when i replaced it with the same card and waited forever(about 20 min. it did work) so i believe that was the solution...thank you all for the help and support!