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WAAS and Magellan GPSr's


trainlove

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There is an issue for at least some Magellan GPSr's where the WAAS satellite numbers are hardcoded in the firmware. Since the owners of PRN122 moved their satellite last summer and the Government decided to change over to a new PRN my Magellan does not know about that change. And even though my GPSr does receive the other WAAS satellite on the east coast (PRN120) it never says WAAS Averaging on the Position Screen.

 

Regular satellite changes of PRN are automatically handled by ALL GPSr's since all 32 possible standard satellites are part of the almanac download. Only FAA approved GPSr's automatically do the same for WAAS satellites.

 

I have posted some information in 2 other forums and will post workarounds I'm trying to engineer.

 

1. The yahoo Magellan_Meridian forum. Get yourself a free yahoo email account and you can read these messages. That group also has other great information. A must have for all Magellan users.

2. The gpsinformation.net forums in their Magellan hardware section.

 

My thought to date have included:

A. Writing a firmware update to re-program the firmwares PRN table and WAAS almanac.

B. Writing an almanac upload/download utility similar to parts of the shareware program G7toWin but for Magellan users with the $PMGNCMS,ALMANAC propriatary NMEA command. Sadly this will not help since the WAAS satellites are not part of the GPS Navigation Messages.

C. Program a data generator to transmit on a microwave transmitter I own a command similar to the temporarily transmitted signal of last summer that fixed this problem. Well it fixed it for you if your GPS was n during the transmission and you have never done a reset since then.

D. Just provide information that one can use to find the specific part of Magellans firmware and allow everyone to Hex Edit their own and upload their own. I hate this idea and thing if I can do A above there would be less likelihood of major problems.

 

Check out those 2 forums.

But I guess I should say, don't hold your breath for Magellan customer support to help on any of this, they have washed their hands of their Legacy Product line and probably will ignore future product lines when they feel like it.

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Trainlove:

Thank you for all of your work on this.

My understanding is that if your Magellan was not turned on during a 6 month period of transition last year, then your GPSr does not receive the new WAAS satellite corrections.

I know that my Meridian and eXplorist got the new sats (I see 2 here in Calif) very quickly and they show WAAS corrections every time I turn them on. There is nothing I did, no new firmware, just turned the units on and waited a little while, and they got the new WAAS sats, and have every since. I seem to recall that my Garmin needed some sort of reset and then after several hours, started showing the WAAS sats.

 

I wonder if the next time there is a WAAS change, if the Magellans that missed the last change, will get the notice and start receiving the future new ones.

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Trainlove:

Thank you for all of your work on this.

My understanding is that if your Magellan was not turned on during a 6 month period of transition last year, then your GPSr does not receive the new WAAS satellite corrections.

<SNIP>

I wonder if the next time there is a WAAS change, if the Magellans that missed the last change, will get the notice and start receiving the future new ones.

Your understanding is correct, w/ one caveat : a reset will lose the new information. Now you see it, "POOF"

now you don't. On the Magellan eXplorists/Magellans, if you've put off doing a revision up-grade, it's too late,

if you do it now you'll be WASSless. I've got the t-shirt, thanks Magellan!

 

The only permanent fix is a firmware rev. designed to "hard-wire" the new birds.

 

Norm

Edited by RRLover
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I wonder if the next time there is a WAAS change, if the Magellans that missed the last change, will get the notice and start receiving the future new ones.

 

I had asked NASA and the FAA if they would re-broadcast that update, not for a day, or a week, or a month, or however short a time it actually had been broadcast. I suggested continuous boradcast, and even say for 10 minutes once a week at a specific UTC time. They refused my request, and essentially said, all users of GPS's that are not FAA IFR/VFR certified, go fly a kite.

 

Now, if you want to get them to actually re-broadcast that message, call the owners of those WAAS satellites, ask them to move them all over the geosynchronous belt often, or ask them to give up their WAAS lease, or shoot one down yourself. THEN a replacement will happen and then a re-broadcast will happen for a rediculously short peoiod of time. But still if you do a RESET afterwards, back to some 2003 or 2004 firmware date you are stuck...

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You might find this link of interest.

 

TuxGPS - open source OS for Magellan

 

Looks like it was an attempt to develop an alternate operating system for the Magellan GPSr. It didn't get much further than the ability to load simple programs into the GPS RAM and run them from there. Where this might be useful, is that if the locations of the WAAS almanac can ever be pinned down inside the GPS, then a simple program to reset the appropriate registers to see the new WAAS birds might be possible using the techniques these developers were working on.

 

Just some food for thought.

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You might find this link of interest.

 

TuxGPS - open source OS for Magellan

 

Looks like it was an attempt to develop an alternate operating system for the Magellan GPSr. It didn't get much further than the ability to load simple programs into the GPS RAM and run them from there. Where this might be useful, is that if the locations of the WAAS almanac can ever be pinned down inside the GPS, then a simple program to reset the appropriate registers to see the new WAAS birds might be possible using the techniques these developers were working on.

 

Just some food for thought.

 

:laughing: Oh my GOD. Thanks. :laughing:

Just what the doctor ordered. I think and I hope, but as yet I have not digested any of it yet myself yet either.

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Re:Magellans & WAAS - I just had an interesting experience. Back in May or June, I hosed my 210 which had the firmware from 2005 (NAND loop)..I left it sit until Sept. until I decided to try the 'secret menu #95' fix (which erases the unit) & upgraded to the 2007 210 EU firmware. Worked great, & had WAAS..I didn't think much about it until I read in the forums about the satellite change...I shouldn't still have WAAS. So this evening I upgraded a 500 (2005 firmware) that I bought 'New in Box' from eBay around Christmas (which hasn't shown WAAS since I got it) with the2007 500 EU firmware. I took it outside & had WAAS in 2 minutes! Not sure why, but I'll take it! + I now have the extra screens to boot!

Edited by Ernmark
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I didn't think much about it until I read in the forums about the satellite change...I shouldn't still have WAAS. So this evening I upgraded a 500 (2005 firmware) that I bought 'New in Box' from eBay around Christmas (which hasn't shown WAAS since I got it) with the2007 500 EU firmware. I took it outside & had WAAS in 2 minutes!

 

I can confirm that for the Explorist 400 as well.

I hate it when you guys pique my interest like this.

Last summer I uploaded the European 2.57 into my Explorist 400 and have had WAAS. Sooo...I tonight downgraded back to 2.02 just to see, and sure enough, I could only get one of the WAAS satellites and not the other and could never get a lock.

I "upgraded" back to 2.57 and there it is, I have WAAS again. On a side note, it seems bizarre that the European version would have the correct almanac for the WAAS, when it doesn't even use it in Europe, but hey, there you go.

 

So, if you want WAAS again, upgrade to the European 2.57 Version of the software.

Disclaimer: Do this stuff at your own risk.

***IMPORTANT*** Before uploading, make a copy of your basemap off of your Explorist (It's a hidden file, BASEMAP.MGI you have to set windows to view hidden and system files) on to your hard drive. Then copy it back onto the Explorist after you update. You might have to delete the Euro one off the Explorist first. Be careful, the US Basemap is about 8 meg, the Euro one is about 11 meg. They both have the same name, so make sure you delete and copy the right ones.

Other than the additional screens you get with 2.57 (kinda cool), I don't know what bugs, quirks, etc, you might run into using the European version here. It seems to work just as well for me.

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Interesting! I had upgraded to 2.57 last year, without knowing the WAAS implications. I found the extra screens of marginal interest, because I rarely use them, but the WAAS fix would definitely be worth it. I can see a lot of people trying the upgrade now. Be careful, some units refuse to take the upgrade. Also, there is a small chance of the unit turning into a brick after the upgrade. May be the largest size of the Euro basemap is to blame. There is a (earlier?) version of the 2.57 upgrade that does not replace the basemap. May be it is safer to find and use that version instead.

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Go to secret menu 03. It will tell you what WAAS satellites the GPS is looking for. If its 120 & 122, then it is looking for the old WAAS birds and you are out of luck. If it is 135 and 138 then its looking for the new ones and you should be able to get WAAS. Also if you are on the east coast, the old birds will show up low in the SE on the satellite screen while the new ones will show up low in the SW. Hope that helps.

 

This is based on one Maggie gold that I had all along which got the updates last year and a broken one I picked up on eBay and repaired which was inactive during the transition and did not get the updates. (Broken one had loose battery contacts which was an easy fix)

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"secret menu 03" I have tried getting to these using the FAQ at

 

 

several times but guess I don't understand how they work.

 

My 2 locked sats are in the WSW

 

To get to secret menu 03, press the keys in this order:

 

MENU

LEFT

RIGHT

LEFT

RIGHT

LEFT

 

Then a square box with the number 00 will appear, the right number should be highlighted, using the UP key change the number to 03 and then hit ENTER

 

A screen will appear with a table of numbers - the numbers in the upper table, left columns are the designations for the WAAS satellites. If they are 135 and 138 you are in luck.

 

Hit the ESC key twice to get out of this menu.

 

Be very careful in the secret menus. Some of them will wipe the memory of the unit clean. Don't call any up unless you know what you are doing and use at your own risk.

 

Also W in the SW sounds good. Seeing WAAS Averaging on the data screen is the best.

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There is no mention about the Meridian Color with firmware v5.40, any information on it? I am indoors, Cocoa, FL, checking and see 2 WAAS sats locked (the W is blocked in red versus just a red W) showing in 3D mode but know have seen at least 1 more.

 

If your GPSr shows 120 and something other than 122 then your Color must have been turned on during the satellite broadcast that informed all GPSr's of the WAAS satellite change. But if you do a master reset then you will be reset to whatever date your firmware was written, and it will not know about the changed satellites.

I.E. My Gold with 5.40 has a firmware date of something like May 2004, the WAAS satellite change happened in June 2007.

I'm hoping for other satellite changes so that the broadcast would happen again. Then using some hidden menus I'd try to download from my GPSr to my computer the RAM version of the firmware that's in the GPSr, you know, the ROM version with whatever overlays are done such as the information on the WAAS system, the most recent almanac and/or full ephemerides replacing the pre-programmed 2004 version, any fancy icons using the programs at the yahoo magellan_meridian users group and whatever else can be changed by the user and so on. P.S. Hidden menu 01 shows you the status of the ephemeris, for example all satellites above the horizon will have something there. And page 2 will show you all 32 satelites and what ones are 'current', mine shows 00 for all except PRN07 and PRN32 which are not functioning. And hidden menu 03 can allow you to turn WAAS off, frees upa channel or 2 of your 12 channel GPSr.

 

P.S. The other mention of the European is interesting. But, the WAAS almanac on a GPSr will show the 10 or so defines WAAS satellites, Europe calls it EGNOS not WAAS but they are also programmed. As Europe has their own satellites and does not see PRN122 it will never look for 122 unless it's brought to the USA. Or perhaps the European firmware is more recent than June 2007 when the WAAS change took place. Or perhaps the EGNOS do broadcast that signal, if that's the case then why didn't the FAA and NASA tell me to send my GPSr overseas to obtain the current information. But I've read that the EGNOS sats are broadcasting a Do Not Use flag.

http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/sbas.txt

 

In my firmware investigation I'll look at whatever Magellan firmware I can find, not just Meridians.

 

Definately join the yahoo magellan_meridian users group, check the online FAQ of which http://www.gpsinformation.net/MeridianFAQv2_0.pdf might be current. UIse secret menus with caution. Prior to any firmware upgrades one should always download their BaseMap, Magellan support will charge an arm and a leg to fix a hosed GPSr that they consider a Legacy Product.

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<SNIP>

Magellan support will charge an arm and a leg to fix a hosed GPSr that they consider a Legacy Product.

 

I don't think they will, they'll keep it and try to sell you a Triton! . . . NO $ back, . . . accept or walk!

 

KEY word here is LEGACY!

 

Norm

Edited by RRLover
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Just picked up a meridian color. secret menu shows this:

 

Sat State SNR A? F?

122 Srch blank 104 8

134 Srch blank 251 15

 

So are these good?

 

While I was typing the 122 went to BIT whatever that means for a second.

 

can't quite make out the second letter on a? or f?

Nope, those are the "dirt nap" satellites.

 

A?=Az, F?=El

(Az) is azimuth

(El) is elevation

 

Norm

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Regarding the eXplorist 2.5.7 firmware update. I did this on my 500 when it was first released. I like the extra screens. Another benefit is a better accuracy on the clock/time showing on the position screen in the Date/Time field. It is showing about 5 seconds slower than true time, compared to 30 to 60 seconds off previously. This is helpful for tracklog timestamps and when you sync your camera for geotagging.

Edited by EScout
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Regarding the eXplorist 2.5.7 firmware update. I did this on my 500 when it was first released. I like the extra screens. Another benefit is a better accuracy on the clock/time showing on the position screen in the Date/Time field. It is showing about 5 seconds slower than true time, compared to 30 to 60 seconds off previously. This is helpful for tracklog timestamps and when you sync your camera for geotagging.

 

If your clock time gets out of sync with WWWV shortwave (see a hint/note in my profile) then your GPSr has had a corrupted satellite signal at some point. The more 'off'' you are in time the more off you will be when going to a coordinate. I know that this sems counter intuitive as allour positioning is related to microseconds, but my Gold was off by 3 minutes 40 seconds a few years ago, when walking toa cache, I'd actually walk right past it while the GPS said it was still 100 yards ahead. I get to that point and the GPSr says abouot 0, but if I turn the GPSr off and on again, wait for re-acquisition, it points to that spot 100 yards back along the way I came. Garmins reset their clock each time you turn it on. Magellans do not seem to do so and the time slowly drifts away from reality.

 

The only way to fix this corruption is to do a Master Reset. But save Waypoints and Tracks first. And remember any customization that you did to each screen ad the GPSr in general.

 

This reset will, at least for Golds, bring you back to the Almanac of June 2004 and the WAAS configuration that no longer exists.

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Hi!

 

I'm not all that savvy with the GPSr lingo, so, in reading the other posts on this thread, I'm not sure if I should be throwing my GPSr in the trash heap now.

 

My situation: I use an Explorist 200. The GPSr was working fine just a week or so ago. To find one cache, I switched from one preferred unit to another, then switched back. Now, all of a sudden, my GPS unit is not giving me accurate coordinates. Two different cache sites, it was leading me a few blocks off my target location. Does this mean that it is not not receiving accurate information? Could the unit be malfunctioning? And, if I figure out how many feet off it is in the North and West directions, could I simply add/subtract at every cache and compensate for the inaccurate feedback?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...!

 

Thanks!

 

-- Jeff / jeffgamer

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Oh please stop giving me hope! The fact that my buddy's exact same unit can get much better accuracy

just makes me mad at the company that won't do me right. If Magellan fixed this problem right now right fast I might consider buying from them again. As they will not I would love to get a fix, tell them to shove

it and always buy from someone else. Magellan delenda est!

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I never had WAAS as I got my 500LE at Christmas. I upgraded two weeks ago to 2.57 firmware upgrade and now I have WAAS. I check before in the secrete menu and it was looking at the wrong birds and when I checked now it is looking at the right one. So for people with the 500LE it's an easy fix.

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I called Magellan's technical support phone representatives today...they are avaialble M-F 6AM-5PM PST. 800-707-9971. The woman I spoke with guided me for a system reset on the GPS unit. I was afraid it would not work, as earlier posts suggested this problem is hard-wired into the system, but my coords are mostly on track again. The North coords are almost dead-on from what they'd been before the problem...the West coords still are off .013 from what I had before...but I've got to check that out at a handful of caches before I can be certain. At least I'm not off by several blocks any longer.......

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I too am affected by this WAAS issue. Is there anything that can be done?

 

What happened when Magellan was called?

 

Where is trainlove? Are they on vacation? Although bringing this issue up sure is painful, they seem to be very helpful on these boards. What's up?

Knight2K :

 

Have you looked at the YaHoo eXplorist group, Trainlove is active there, as well as the Meridian group.

Also an XL owner said he had luck w/ a secret service menu [95] (NAND clear), and reloaded his basemap

(as that gets wiped), then reloaded the Euro firmware upgrade, and got WAAS back. He also stated that

he loaded the Rev. 9.2.10 firmware, but wasn't specific about WAAS after that particular incarnation.

 

Norm

Edited by RRLover
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Also an XL owner said he had luck w/ a secret service menu [95] (NAND clear), and reloaded his basemap

(as that gets wiped), then reloaded the Euro firmware upgrade, and got WAAS back. He also stated that

he loaded the Rev. 9.2.10 firmware, but wasn't specific about WAAS after that particular incarnation.

YES YES YES

Installing the 1.55 euro firmware worked for me. :D I've got Waas! Is there any reason I should try installing the 9.2.10 NA firmware over it? Do I gain or lose anything?

Hey Magellan you couldn't tell us this! The fix is in the european software but you can't slip it into a little

program for NA. :laughing: Actually I feel sorry for your employees.

 

Magellan delenda est.

Edited by kentwoodkrew
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Hey Magellan you couldn't tell us this! The fix is in the european software but you can't slip it into a little

program for NA. :laughing: Actually I feel sorry for your employees.

Magellan delenda est.

How did 'Savoy Brown' put it? . . . "On a Hellbound Train"

 

Norm

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I just called Magellan. The same service as before with my previous unit. "If it isn't finding the satellites then the unit is broken. The satellites have not changed. Re-initialize and if that doesn't work then you need to trade it in for newer model because your unit is faulty. All of the other meridian and sporTrak users are not having this problem."

 

I had flashbacks of my last frustrating Magellan encounter. I figured if i bought a Meridian that they would work and i wouldn't need CS as so many have had great units. (They seem like such a decent unit. Just this darn WAAS issue!)

 

Am i correct in understanding that upgrading to the latest V5.40 from V5.36 will NOT fix the WAAS issue?

 

new2gunsfiringv110jq.gifMagellan_GPS_Products.jpgbadass7gb.gif

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So on my new explorist 500 the sat page shows 2 W's and they are inside of green boxes. but the secret menu 03 shows 122 and 134. So which am I to believe?

The later, . . . the first page lies, either Magellan thought no one would notice, or they didn't, pick one.

"No WAAS for you!"

 

Norm

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"customer support" = oxymoron.

 

Thank you for contacting Magellan. This email is in response to your query

about the Meridian Marine.

 

I apologize for the delay in replying to your email.

 

I understand from your mail that, the unit does not pick up the WAAS signal.

 

I would like to inform you that, there are no firmware upgrades available for

Meridian Marine to enable the WAAS signal.

 

We have a trade-in program where you can trade your older GPS in for a

different model at a discounted price. Kindly contact our Tech Support to

know more about the trade-in program.

 

If you have further queries, please get back to us.

 

You can also contact our Technical Support at 1-800-707-9971 for further

assistance.

------------------------------------

Regards,

.

Magellan Email Support.

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From the phrasing, I'm going out on a limb here and say his native tongue was not English. What a shame. It was a good unit, too.

 

Thank goodness my Meridian was used often enough during the transition to keep up to date on the WAAS satellites. But of course, I dare not leave it battery free for long, or do a full reset.

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Oh please stop giving me hope! The fact that my buddy's exact same unit can get much better accuracy

just makes me mad at the company that won't do me right. If Magellan fixed this problem right now right fast I might consider buying from them again. As they will not I would love to get a fix, tell them to shove

it and always buy from someone else. Magellan delenda est!

 

I have an older Meridian Color and I recently bought a Meridian Color, and apparently de-WAASed both by wiping the memory per Magellan's written instructions. (I think there might be an implied warranty and consumer protection issue here in that they advertise WAAS-enabled and instruct consumers to do something that will de-WAAS the product, or at least not provide information on how to keep WAAS functioning, and it might not matter what they say about warranty periods and "legacy product" when it's a design flaw. But consumer protection assumes a competent producer/vendor, and I have my doubts about whether they know how to write a firmware update anymore.)

 

In each unit, AFTER the wipe, there were two files in the unit's memory: an approximately 16MB file that is the basemap, and a much smaller file (approximately 256KB) with a name like CRITMEM.MEM (The names were different for both units, but the sizes were very close.) It has occurred to me that if I, as a programmer, had to keep track of what satellite is sending a WAAS signal, I would probably store it in a file with name like CRITMEM.MEM. I would also probably store tracks and user-preferences and such in there, and it might get bigger with continued use. (I'm wondering if there are more files are stored in a unit that hasn't had a memory wipe, and what they are.)

 

So here's my suggestion: what if that small file were copied from a unit that got the WAAS-change notification to a unit that didn't? (Your post mentioned a friend with a more accurate GPS.)

and my request is that anyone with a WAAS-working Meridian send me a list of files and their sizes living in memory on their unit. (That data has to be in there somewhere, it's just a matter of finding it.)

 

I have a Meridian Color with v5.36 and another with v5.40 and I would be willing to update to another firmware if need be and if available. Does someone out there have a MeriColor with 5.40 or 5.36 and working WAAS (correct satellite numbers)? I would be willing to try uploading a CRITMEM.MEM file into my unit to see if this takes care of the WAAS-satellite problem.

There are numerous links to the How-to-backup-a-basemap on the web. Just make sure to ignore the part with Clear-All.

 

GWPouch

Edited by GWPouch
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Can someone that has WAAS working on an explorist 500 with firmware 2.03 confirm something for me? On your screen with the location, time accuracy, elevation, and battery info (sorry don't know what that screen is called) does WAAS show up in the accuracy box? I'm having a fun conversation with magellan on the phone right now and need to confirm this.

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Can someone that has WAAS working on an explorist 500 with firmware 2.03 confirm something for me? On your screen with the location, time accuracy, elevation, and battery info (sorry don't know what that screen is called) does WAAS show up in the accuracy box? I'm having a fun conversation with magellan on the phone right now and need to confirm this.

My receiver is different but the most similar of the other eXplorist units, the XL, it DID (when it received a

WAAS signal) have a WAAS designation in the EPE box along w/ the estimate of accuracy, on the location

page, but hasn't since a memory clear. Now it never has that addition in the box, and a check of SSM [03]

shows it searching for the dead birds.

 

Firmware- REV. (9.)2.10 Dec 18 2006

Norm

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Well after going through several technical support people they finally just gave up and sent me to customer service to send my unit in for repair. I just loaded the european version of the firmware instead. WAAS is back and kicking plus I like the speedometer screen. I backed up my basemap, but the upgrade didn't effect it so I didn't need to reload. The tech support people have NO clue what is going on with these explorist 500's. They kept insisting that if I have the green W on the sat page that I was getting WAAS. Then I asked them if I was getting the WAAS signal why did service menu 03 not show it. They concluded that my unit was not interpreting the signal correctly. Anyways I can 100% now say that Magellan has the absolute worste customer support that I have ever encountered bar none. Magellan should just put a link to this forum for customer support everyone here was more informative and more helpful than anybody I talked to. So thanks everyone for the information and help.

Edited by sanramonhunter
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In each unit, AFTER the wipe, there were two files in the unit's memory: an approximately 16MB file that is the basemap, and a much smaller file (approximately 256KB) with a name like CRITMEM.MEM (The names were different for both units, but the sizes were very close.) It has occurred to me that if I, as a programmer, had to keep track of what satellite is sending a WAAS signal, I would probably store it in a file with name like CRITMEM.MEM. I would also probably store tracks and user-preferences and such in there, and it might get bigger with continued use. (I'm wondering if there are more files are stored in a unit that hasn't had a memory wipe, and what they are.)

 

So here's my suggestion: what if that small file were copied from a unit that got the WAAS-change notification to a unit that didn't? (Your post mentioned a friend with a more accurate GPS.)

and my request is that anyone with a WAAS-working Meridian send me a list of files and their sizes living in memory on their unit. (That data has to be in there somewhere, it's just a matter of finding it.)

 

I have a Meridian Color with v5.36 and another with v5.40 and I would be willing to update to another firmware if need be and if available. Does someone out there have a MeriColor with 5.40 or 5.36 and working WAAS (correct satellite numbers)? I would be willing to try uploading a CRITMEM.MEM file into my unit to see if this takes care of the WAAS-satellite problem.

There are numerous links to the How-to-backup-a-basemap on the web. Just make sure to ignore the part with Clear-All.

 

GWPouch

 

I tried replacing the CRITMEM.MEM and FIRMWARE.BIN files with versions from my friends Explorist XL but it did not work. The old and new CRITMEM.MEM files were of different size. After restarting the file was always back to it's old size. The european firmware update 1.55 fixed the problem for me. Good luck.

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In each unit, AFTER the wipe, there were two files in the unit's memory: an approximately 16MB file that is the basemap, and a much smaller file (approximately 256KB) with a name like CRITMEM.MEM (The names were different for both units, but the sizes were very close.) It has occurred to me that if I, as a programmer, had to keep track of what satellite is sending a WAAS signal, I would probably store it in a file with name like CRITMEM.MEM. I would also probably store tracks and user-preferences and such in there, and it might get bigger with continued use. (I'm wondering if there are more files are stored in a unit that hasn't had a memory wipe, and what they are.)

 

So here's my suggestion: what if that small file were copied from a unit that got the WAAS-change notification to a unit that didn't? (Your post mentioned a friend with a more accurate GPS.)

and my request is that anyone with a WAAS-working Meridian send me a list of files and their sizes living in memory on their unit. (That data has to be in there somewhere, it's just a matter of finding it.)

 

I have a Meridian Color with v5.36 and another with v5.40 and I would be willing to update to another firmware if need be and if available. Does someone out there have a MeriColor with 5.40 or 5.36 and working WAAS (correct satellite numbers)? I would be willing to try uploading a CRITMEM.MEM file into my unit to see if this takes care of the WAAS-satellite problem.

There are numerous links to the How-to-backup-a-basemap on the web. Just make sure to ignore the part with Clear-All.

 

GWPouch

 

I tried replacing the CRITMEM.MEM and FIRMWARE.BIN files with versions from my friends Explorist XL but it did not work. The old and new CRITMEM.MEM files were of different size. After restarting the file was always back to it's old size. The european firmware update 1.55 fixed the problem for me. Good luck.

That sounds like the software detected that the format of CRITMEM.MEM was wrong for its platform or version and re-wrote the default values.

 

If they are storing the binary information in a way that's close enough to the original WAAS almanac messages, I might be able to poke around in those files and find something to tweak. If anyone's interested, I can send you my email address.

 

But if it has some kind of checksum or security/integrity protection in there, I'm probably out of my league.

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That sounds like the software detected that the format of CRITMEM.MEM was wrong for its platform or version and re-wrote the default values.

 

If they are storing the binary information in a way that's close enough to the original WAAS almanac messages, I might be able to poke around in those files and find something to tweak. If anyone's interested, I can send you my email address.

 

But if it has some kind of checksum or security/integrity protection in there, I'm probably out of my league.

 

I forgot that my friends explorist xl had the original firmware and I had updated mine to the latest

2006 version. That may have made a difference with the critmem.mem replacement. Good luck with your

tinkering and let me know if you ever fix it for meridians. I don't have one but I would love to see it done.

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QMaze: The above thread about GPS units with non-working WAAS is primarily about older Magellan units such as the Meridian series. A new model should be no problem. I'm not an expert on Magellan models, but if you bought it new, check your manual, and you should be able to determine if all is well.

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