Oregon 400t wireless transfer

[+Winstonsdad]

My wife and I both use the Oregon 400t and yesterday I tried to send her a cache. My GPSr said it was searching and hers was set on receive, but nothing ever tranferred between the two. It worked once and then didn't work again after that. Anybody have any ideas why this might happen?

[+fegan]

Were they right next to each other? Try moving them a foot or two apart.

[+Winstonsdad]

Were they right next to each other? Try moving them a foot or two apart.

 

hmmm they were right next to each other. I'll separate the little buggers a bit and see how that works.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

[+Curioddity]

I tried sending a cache to a friend's GPS in a busy Starbucks once but it wouldn't work no matter what we tried. We tried again later on the bike path and it worked perfectly first time. That leads me to believe that RF interference was playing a role in the Starbucks. There were at least a dozen people wirelessly surfing the Internet and everyone seemed to have a gizmo with a blinking blue LED plugged into the side of their head. 'Course that also meant there was at least one cell phone in the room for each of those gizmos with a blinking blue LED.

 

With all that RF energy in the room, I'm surprised everyone's coffee wasn't at a rolling boil.

 

Pete

[Keystone]

I am moving this thread from the Geocaching Topics forum to the GPS and Technology forum.

[+webscouter.]

I have a theory that if you point the transmitting gps directly at the receiving gps it will not transfer.

 

I base this on the fact that my RC airplane radio antenna cannot be pointed directly at the airplane.

 

I also have tried this several times last weekend and it seems to hold true. But I could just be imagining it.

[+HeliGeek]

I have a theory that if you point the transmitting gps directly at the receiving gps it will not transfer.

 

I base this on the fact that my RC airplane radio antenna cannot be pointed directly at the airplane.

 

I also have tried this several times last weekend and it seems to hold true. But I could just be imagining it.

 

What you're experiencing is called Cross-Polarization Loss. For maximum transfer of RF energy between two antennas, both should be parallel to each other. Radio waves leave the transmitting antenna and stay aligned in the same direction as that antenna. If the receiving antenna is perpendicular to the transmitting antenna, there is less surface area exposed to the RF wave and therefore, it doesn't receive as well. This means you have less range. That said, at the short range these GPSrs are designed to operate, you shouldn't even notice a cross-polarization effect at all.

 

As for the GPSrs needing to be separated, think of it this way: Given the inability to decrease volume, If you're listening to music, how distorted would the sound be if your ear were right up against the speaker grill? Radio receivers (especially ones transmitting digital data which is prone to data errors) have to be sensitive enough that they can detect radio signals from a distance. Such sensitivity makes them REALLY dislike being right next to the transmitter and they work much better if there's a bit of separation between them.

 

BTW, in addition to being a (noob) geocacher, I'm also a Ham Radio operator and an RC Helicopter pilot

Edited September 22, 2009 by HeliGeek

[+Curioddity]

That will depend entirely on what kind of antenna. In the case of R/C TX-RX communication, point a telescoping whip antenna at plane = bad, but point loaded "rubber duck" style antenna at plane = good.

 

I haven't taken my 400t apart but I'll bet dollars to donuts that the antenna is etched onto a circuit board and if that's the case, it's probably quite directional. I don't recall having any problem transferring data with them pointing nose-to-nose, though. That's how my caching partner and I typically do it with about a foot between devices.

 

Pete (also a rabid R/C pilot and amateur radio operator)

 

And HeliGeek, check out my videos at www.vimeo.com/pgr/videos and www.youtube.com/LowAltidude. I'm one of the team who runs the Indoor Flight Venue at the AMA Convention every year and I've managed to get some real good video of some of the best fixed-wing and heli pilots in the world flying their routines and just horsing around.

 

rePete

Edited September 22, 2009 by Curioddity

[+Rockin Roddy]

This feature was one of the things I liked about the OR, I wondered how well it worked.

[+JetSkier]

Has anyone actually transferred caches with the Oregon? My understanding is that it only transfers the cache name and coordinates and not the desc, hint or logs. Is this the case? I haven't tested it with my 300 because none of my friends have an Oregon or Colorado.

 

JetSkier

Edited September 22, 2009 by JetSkier

[+Maingray]

Use this feature all the time, works even from back of an SUV to the front. Never had a problem next to each other or some distance apart, OR / OR, OR /CO.

 

Yes, all you get is the name, GC#, co-ordinates, terrain / diff... I assume a LOC file. I read this was a restriction put in place by Groundspeak, but no idea. It's fast.

 

Has been very handy feature, and I always keep 10 geoaching slots spare for such things. Seeing much more market penetrance of the Oregon unit with NC cachers so often transfer.. very useful at events where new caches are listed.

 

One thing I just discovered the other day that for the receiving unit, once you received one cache, it looks like you should press the "ok" button once you receive the confirmation before you can get another... not the case!! Keep the unit as is and you can keep on receiving more caches, even from different units, with no user input. Very very handy and quick.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Maingray

[+g-o-cashers]

http://garminoregon.wikispaces.com/wireless#toc1

 

And thanks Maingray for the multi-receive tip -- I'm adding that one to the wiki!

[+Winstonsdad]

Thanks for the many responses. I separated the two units this morning and the transfer worked just fine. I will continue to play with it.

 

I tried a search on the wikispaces.com, but obviously used the wrong search terms. Doh well!

 

Thanks again everybody.

[+Red90]

This feature was one of the things I liked about the OR, I wondered how well it worked.

 

It works great. I do it all the time and have never not had it work. Just about everyone I cache with has a wireless capable Garmin....

[+Rockin Roddy]

This feature was one of the things I liked about the OR, I wondered how well it worked.

 

It works great. I do it all the time and have never not had it work. Just about everyone I cache with has a wireless capable Garmin....

 

I know of one person in my area, and her name is Garmin! (just not spelled exactly the same)

 

It would probably be good for at events and such, I would like to see this feature in future PNs!

Edited September 22, 2009 by Rockin Roddy