GPS updates

[Geotanker]

I borrowed a GPS from a friend the other day and it locked a few times, and then , when it did start to receive, it jumped around something like the bad old days before selective availability was turned off. There was no coherent reading from one jump to the next. My question is, there are mapping software updates, but if a GPS is maybe 5 years old, have there been coding updates to the sattelites that would make the original software act up like i described?

Thanks

Mike

[+PDOP's]

... but if a GPS is maybe 5 years old, have there been coding updates to the sattelites that would make the original software act up like i described?

If the GPS hasn't been turned on for a long time in will have to reacquire satellite data before it will operate properly. It could also be that the view of the sky was restricted and you were experiencing multi-pathing where signals from the satellites bounce off obstructions.

 

While nothing has changed with the satellite signals that should cause what you saw there well may be firmware updates for the GPSr that may have fixed some bugs.