Oregon 300 Satellite Reception

[Barrikady]

I fired up my Oregon 300 (2.95b and 2.80 software) this morning on the Pacific coast of North America... like I do every morning. Shortly afterwards the 300 beeped and I noticed it lost satellite reception. Hmm, that's strange, this never happened before. I shut the unit off and restarted, same problem. I then took out the batteries and reinserted them, still not fixed.

 

I then fired up my 60Cx and all is well. About 10 satellite's are being received. At the same time the Oregon shows that 2-3 satellite's are being received.

 

Has anyone else experienced this phenomena?

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks.

 

Barrikady

[+Team JATA]

I saw the same phenomena today in Sweden when i was searching for caches. My old 76CS found far more satellites than the Oregon. The Oregon did not do a good job today, before I have had no problems with the reception and the number of satellites. I also run the latest Beta software.

/T

[Grasscatcher]

Totally different chipset in 60/76 series than in Oregon.

 

Another example that "newer" does not necessarily mean "better".

[+SamSpade47]

Same here... yesterday I was getting 7/8 Sat's. Today only three. Nuvi sitting right next to the OR is seeing 8 Sats. Just reverted to 2.85, getting 9 Sats now.

Edited April 4, 2009 by SamSpade47

[+Tequila]

My OR is sitting on the dining room table and getting 9 satellites, 8 WAAS enabled plus Sat 51 (WAAS).

 

No problems here.

[+BetaMan]

My Oregon 400t is doing the same thing. I am running 2.95Beta. It did the same thing after I upgraded to 2.94beta. It took several days for it to register the other satelites. Even after I switched to "Demo" mode and back wo WAAS and left it in full view of sky for about an hour.

 

Strange.

[Barrikady]

Update from original poster.

 

Well, this morning all was working fine with the Oregon 300's satellite reception.

 

Strange indeed.

Edited April 5, 2009 by Barrikady

[+BetaMan]

Update from original poster.

 

Well, this morning all was working fine with the Oregon 300's satellite reception.

 

Strange indeed.

 

I just went back to version 2.94 with the same result. Then I went back to 2.85 and all works perfectly! What's up with the new GPS firmware? Does it take FOREVER to build a new almanac?

[+SamSpade47]

Yesterday, I reloaded 2.85 and immediately got 8+ sats. I then reloaded 2.95 and again immediately (within a couple of minutes) got 8+ sats. I had been running 2.95 for a few days prior to yesterday and had been seeing 8+ sats. Then yesterday only three, with very weak signals. Not sure what's up...

[+fingers crossed]

I had similar issues along with others at another thread here.

Dropped back and then reloaded 2.95, will see what happens!

[+g-o-cashers]

I keep thinking back to this note from 2.94:

 

Note: After updating, the first GPS acquisition will take longer than normal. After the Oregon has been on long enough to collect the necessary GPS data, acquisition times will return to normal.

 

I assumed that this was a normal almanac rebuild but I'm wondering if people upgraded and turned off the unit before this step was completed whether it might corrupt something internally.

 

Here's another thought: I wonder if you never upgraded to 2.94 whether this rebuild would be triggered by 2.95. Maybe everyone needs to upgrade to 2.94 _before_ upgrading to 2.95. I'll check with Garmin.

[+Tequila]

I keep thinking back to this note from 2.94:

 

Note: After updating, the first GPS acquisition will take longer than normal. After the Oregon has been on long enough to collect the necessary GPS data, acquisition times will return to normal.

 

I assumed that this was a normal almanac rebuild but I'm wondering if people upgraded and turned off the unit before this step was completed whether it might corrupt something internally.

 

Here's another thought: I wonder if you never upgraded to 2.94 whether this rebuild would be triggered by 2.95. Maybe everyone needs to upgrade to 2.94 _before_ upgrading to 2.95. I'll check with Garmin.

 

Interesting possibilities.

 

I have upgraded to all of the various beta releases. When I installed 2.95, I left the unit on all day in the living room.

 

I have not seen any sat reception issues.

 

One interesting note: On Saturday evening I had two OR 300's beside each other on the dash. Mine (2.95) had an entirely differenct combo of sat dishes than my friend's unit (not on 2.95). Both units were getting less than 5 meter accuracy and mine was picking up WAAS on all of them. But the number of dishes and which dishes was completely different.

[+talkytoaster]

Installed 2.95 beta as soon as it came out.

 

The same day I used my Oregon 200 with the 2.95 beta firmware to place a cache, good solid lock, no issues.

 

Yesterday, I used my Oregon 200 with 2.95 Beta all day; I had a lovely day out hiking in the Arundel and Patching area of the South Downs; covering over 23 miles and 37 caches attempted and found during the day.

 

Again, no issues at all, not even in thick woodland or in the valleys on the South Downs.

 

In fact 2.95 Beta seems very fast, battery gauge is reliable, and the new features most welcome.

 

Regards,

Martin

[kafkar]

Installed 2.95 beta as soon as it came out.

 

The same day I used my Oregon 200 with the 2.95 beta firmware to place a cache, good solid lock, no issues.

 

Yesterday, I used my Oregon 200 with 2.95 Beta all day; I had a lovely day out hiking in the Arundel and Patching area of the South Downs; covering over 23 miles and 37 caches attempted and found during the day.

 

Again, no issues at all, not even in thick woodland or in the valleys on the South Downs.

 

In fact 2.95 Beta seems very fast, battery gauge is reliable, and the new features most welcome.

 

Regards,

Martin

 

I also find out this type of problem of 4th-5th April. Just speculation. Could it be connected with Mr. Obama visit in Europe ? There could be applied some GPS acuracy error for limited area and time in GPS system and maybe Oregon devices are not able to handle this specific setting correctly... (incorrect interpretation of almanac and when it was fully reloaded it is working fine).

Also there is probably relation to upgrade path. Who upgraded directly from non beta version has troubles. Who upgraded each step it is ok ..

[+ceeG]

It's not just Europe. I've noticed it for the last 48 hours or so here in New Zealand (300, 2.95)

 

The OR will be chugging away doing it's thing just fine then the accuracy will slowly start to drop, by the time it gets to 50 metres accuracy the reported position and the actual position can be several hundred metres apart. Then the OR loses reception. Sometimes a reboot fixes it, sometimes not ...

 

Time for an email to the beta team I think !

 

Gary

[+2Wheel'in]

Not to derail the Oregon 300 thread, but this anomaly doesn't seem to be unique to the 300..it's happening with the 400t as well. Read the last 5 or 6 posts to this forum topic: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=218281

 

Same conditions, same results...must be something "in" the Ver 2.95b release.

 

Bill

[+Maingray]

In response to g-o-cashers I did the 2.94 upgrade and let it sit when it came out... I then installed 2.95 when it came out. I saw the same weak signal as the others yesterday with 2.95. This morning I had full WAAS and numerous satellites and high accuracy with 2.95 so .. dunno. .

 

OR 300 2.95 + CN NA NT 2009 + Topo 2008 + non-garmin NC 24K Topo

Edited April 6, 2009 by Maingray

[Barrikady]

A note from the original poster.

 

Thanks for all of the comments.

 

The Oregon was working fine this morning.

 

My guess is that I did not give the device enough time for the almanac to rebuild. After I did the 2.95 update, I shut down the Oregon shortly thereafter. The next time I started up, was when I had the satellite acquisition problem.

 

Thanks again.

 

Barrikady

[+2Wheel'in]

A note from the original poster.

Thanks for all of the comments.

The Oregon was working fine this morning.

My guess is that I did not give the device enough time for the almanac to rebuild. After I did the 2.95 update, I shut down the Oregon shortly thereafter. The next time I started up, was when I had the satellite acquisition problem.

Thanks again.

Barrikady

 

Glad to hear your Oregon is working again with Ver 2.95b installed, but I do not think it suffered problems just due to a lack of a complete Almanac. I ran my Oregon for 5 days (performed flawlessly) and I know it had a full Almanac (including WAAS Satellite 51). The reception problem you described, and I experienced yesterday was "right out of the blue" (no pun intended). I am awaiting a reply from Garmin.

 

Bill

[Barrikady]

A note from the original poster.

Thanks for all of the comments.

The Oregon was working fine this morning.

My guess is that I did not give the device enough time for the almanac to rebuild. After I did the 2.95 update, I shut down the Oregon shortly thereafter. The next time I started up, was when I had the satellite acquisition problem.

Thanks again.

Barrikady

 

I ran my Oregon for 5 days (performed flawlessly) and I know it had a full Almanac (including WAAS Satellite 51). The reception problem you described, and I experienced yesterday was "right out of the blue" (no pun intended). I am awaiting a reply from Garmin.

 

Bill

Interesting. Please keep us informed.

 

Thanks.

[+ceeG]

Glad to hear your Oregon is working again with Ver 2.95b installed, but I do not think it suffered problems just due to a lack of a complete Almanac.

Seconded, and I'm waiting to hear back from the beta team as well.

 

I think too many people have had the same problem for it to be just an incomplete almanac, and surely reverting to 2.85 wouldn't cure that ???

 

Gary

 

edit - How long does it take to download a complete almanac ? My OR has been sitting in the doorway showing 4-5 metre accuracy now for about an hour, I'll leave it there for an hour or so longer, that should be plenty long enough. Then I'll take it out and see what sort of results I get doing as close as possible to what I was doing yesterday.

Edited April 6, 2009 by ceeG

[+kayakers2]

I too had trouble with satellite reception...Oregon 300 firmware 2.93. Worked fine until about 10:30 am DST. April 4. Could only get 2 bars with an accuracy in the 170 m range & then would loose reception entirely. Thought it was because we were doing a lot of caching in the Darlington Nuclear Plant area (east of Toronto) with extremely large hydro lines. Ended the day finding several caches with the Nuvi 650 which performed admirably. When we got home ( 70 km away )I fired up the 60CSX & it immediately acquired 9 satellites with an accuracy of 4 m. No reception on the Oregon. What gives?

Since downloaded 2.95...will leave on overnight & see what happens in the morning.

[+g-o-cashers]

Garmin confirmed today that even if you skipped 2.94, that 2.95 would reset the almanac and do the right thing. Sounds like this is something else.

 

I was out caching on Saturday AM with mine and reception issues as well -- although the 60csx wasn't doing much better, I just figured it was a bad constellation day.

[+GPSlug]

This is just speculation, but given the wide area, it sounds like they are picking up some data they can't handle.

 

Once in a great while, satellites that are set "unhealthy" can put out some funky nav data. It shouldn't be anything the receiver can't ignore, but it can expose bugs; like buffer overruns.

 

There is a new prn 01 that isn't set healthy yet, but started transmitting on the 28th. I'll try to capture some data to see if there's anything noticeably weird. But it might be too late now.

[+ClimbGuy]

I was using my Oregon just fine for the first part of the day. Working great actually! Then this afternoon it just zonked out. Went really poor for accuracy and only had a few satellites locked.

[+g-o-cashers]

I believe that GPSlug is correct.

 

Seems to have something to do with the Oregon when it has visibility to PRN 01:

 

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...t&p=3892971

[+Maingray]

Used for an hour this morning... WAAS locked and stayed on, 5-6 birds visible, <10feet accuracy. I couldn't tell you if I had PRN 01 visible or not. I will look again this afternoon.

[+kayakers2]

Oregon 300 is fine this morning....9 satellites....+/- 4 m accuracy...everything appears to be back to normal. Left it on for about 5 hours after downloading 2.95 last night.

[sctusa]

I too had trouble with satellite reception...Oregon 300 firmware 2.93. Worked fine until about 10:30 am DST. April 4. Could only get 2 bars with an accuracy in the 170 m range & then would loose reception entirely. Thought it was because we were doing a lot of caching in the Darlington Nuclear Plant area (east of Toronto) with extremely large hydro lines. Ended the day finding several caches with the Nuvi 650 which performed admirably. When we got home ( 70 km away )I fired up the 60CSX & it immediately acquired 9 satellites with an accuracy of 4 m. No reception on the Oregon. What gives?

Since downloaded 2.95...will leave on overnight & see what happens in the morning.

 

I got my Oregon 300 about a week ago and it was loaded with 2.80. I immediately loaded the 2.95 beta and have had no problems with reception...

 

Scott

[+pklong911]

There had to be something up, more then with the receivers. I had the same problem, crummy reception. Anyone do any searches on if they were doing maintenance on the birds? I headed from Olympia to Central Oregon on Sunday and reception stunk the whole way down.

[+pklong911]

There had to be something up, more then with the receivers. I had the same problem, crummy reception. Anyone do any searches on if they were doing maintenance on the birds? I headed from Olympia to Central Oregon on Sunday and reception stunk the whole way down.

[+ceeG]

I was watching my satellite screen closely yesterday as I drove around downtown and the suburbs.

 

Worst accuracy without 01 showing - in the CBD 12 metres, in the burbs 5 metres.

 

Best accuracy with 01 showing - in the CBD 25 metres showing although the reported position was more like 200 metres away from where I was, in the burbs 20 metres.

 

Firmware 2.95 really doesn't seem to like bird 01 !

 

Gary

[+g-o-cashers]

I drove home tonight with both 01 and 05 in sight and EPE was 8' with 8-9 satellites -- everything I could see was locked. Not sure what is going on but hopefully Garmin will get their heads around this one quickly.

[+ClimbGuy]

Went for a walk this evening. A little over 1 hour. The following satellites were visible: 01 13 14 16 20 23 29 30 31 32 44

 

Only 6 @ best were ever locked. Last I checked the locked ones were: 16 20 23 29 30 32.

 

Seems the number of locked sats should be better than this.

 

I just compared my track files from tonight to the one I recorded on the 2nd and there are several strange jumps. The one from the second was smooth as can be.

[+mrbort]

I got my 300 in the mail today and was eager to see if the problem would manifest itself... I left it on for a while with very good view of the sky and was interested to see that 01 was there and that I was not picking up many more satellites; my accuracy was around 60m. Then I just let it sit out there for a while.. brought it in, loaded maps, brought it back out and while I could still see 01 (and was getting no signal, as anticipated) the amount of birds I was able to see was almost maxed out. I was looking at error margins on the order of 2.8m... I went back out later and 01 wasn't visible and I was achieving the same accuracies. Maybe Garmin fixed 2.95 in the past few days, maybe I don't have enough data yet, maybe 01 needs to be in a more prominent position (hence my horrible error bars on my initial tests)... I would be willing to say that in the first parts my GPSr was still in the acquire and calibrate mode; later, I haven't seen any problems. I'll update when I see more data from my receiver

[+g-o-cashers]

After seeing the same issue for the last 3-4 days at the same time of day I tried again this morning to reproduce the issue and could not. The time, location and constellation were almost identical to the previous days except that I had visibility to one additional satellite this morning (20). All the satellites which I had problems locking to (10, 12, 13 and 23) on previous days locked fine this morning. And as usual 01 and 05 were visible but not locked.

 

So there must be some other variable(s) at work since I've heard from a number of people who have seen the problem w/o any visibility to either 01 or 05. Maybe it has something to do with the constellation which is visible when the unit is powered on and how it gets its ephemeris or maybe the HotFix data get corrupted somehow.

 

OregonBeta seems to have gone quiet on this issue so I'm hoping that means they've at least been able to reproduce the issue that they are working a fix.

[+Maingray]

 

Bloody Number 1 It Stayed like this for about 5 minutes unable to get a lock.

 

 

PRN1 then cleared and it acquired.

 

 

few min later...No WAAS though.

 

 

And Signal was happy.

[Barrikady]

An observation by the original poster

 

Well, the same problem that occurred exactly one week ago, happened again this morning.

 

Satellite reception was lost shortly after booting up the Oregon, which is still running 2.95b and 2.80 software. Satellite reception was fine between last Saturday and today.

 

Very strange behavior, indeed.