WAAS enabling

[hobo dude]

I am new to the handheld thing. I have the WAAS enabled but I don't seem to be picking up any. Is this because of the area I am in or am I doing something wrong. I am using a Garmin GPS V. I am no stranger to GPS as it is part of my work duties as a surveyor but we don't use the WAAS system. I am in the N. VA. area. Thanks for any information that you people can give.

[+Renegade Knight]

There are fewer WAAS Satalites (sp) than normal GPS satalites.

 

So without further information I would think you are not getting a good lock on the WAAS birds. With clear skies it takes some time to get your initial lock. Your GPS has to build the WAAS tables. Once you do have your lock you will know when WAAS is working by the D's on your satalite signal strength bars.

 

Once you get WAAS going you can get down to 3' or so accuracy in perfect conditions. Also you will notice (if you haven't already) that having WAAS enabled slows down your GPS and eventually that will bother you more than having the additional accuracy. Then like most of us (you surveyor types are always one step left...) you will probably turn it off and say to your self. "Ah that's better"

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[+Choachy]

I had a similar question, and there were some good replies on this thread.

 

My time, your time is limited, but time itself is unlimited.

[+Criminal]

Check first that you have WAAS enabled, it's in the setup menu somewhere. Then look at the sat page to see if you are getting a signal from sat #35 or #47. I think #35 is on your side of the US. It will be in the southern sky, so be sure your V can see south.

 

I have never understood the idea the the GPS will "slow down", I haven't noticed it.

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

[+deep_6diver]

My new GPS is supposed to have WAAS too but not yet shore if it is working I have a sporttrack

[+Renegade Knight]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Criminal:

Check first that you have WAAS enabled, it's in the setup menu somewhere. Then look at the sat page to see if you are getting a signal from sat #35 or #47. I think #35 is on your side of the US. It will be in the southern sky, so be sure your V can see south.

 

I have never understood the idea the the GPS will "slow down", I haven't noticed it.

 

http://fp1.centurytel.net/Criminal_Page/

 

Where I notice it is when I'm doing the hula dance trying to find ground zero. Then you can tell the extra time it takes between screen updates.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[hobo dude]

Thaks for all your responses. It turned out that I had the battery saver option on. Turned it off and the satellite numbers came up. Took it a while to aquire the numbers but it is now tracking the WAAS but I don't notice any difference in accuracy at this point. I can only hope that it will make a difference when it comes to using it in the woods.

[+nincehelser]

It's not likely it will help you much in the woods.

 

As someone said earlier, there are only two WAAS sats, and you're probably only going to be able to see one. To make matters worse, you must have a pretty clear line-of-sight to this particular sat in order to take advantage of it. Typically, the woods are not going to cooperate with you on this very often.

 

George

[+EraSeek]

Here is a helpful link with lots of good info about WAAS. Look part way down the page.

http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/dgps.htm#waas

 

 

"See the wonderous works of Providence! The uncertainty of human things!" Geo.Washington

[Peregrine007]

quote:

---

Originally posted by deep_6diver:

My new GPS is supposed to have WAAS too but not yet shore if it is working I have a sporttrack

---

I have a SporTrak Map, and this is how you can tell if its getting a WAAS lock. When you're on the Satellite page, all of the sat #s are in the circle. Ones that are not locked onto are black #s, and locked sats are "white" numbers in black boxes. You with me so far? OK. Now, just below the E (East) and W (west), you will probably see little w's. These are the WAAS satellites. If you don't get them, go stand on a mountain or tall local hill for a few minutes until they appear. When you have WAAS reception, the W's will appear in black boxes just like the "regular" sat numbers do when they're locked on to. Also, when you have a WAAS lock and are standing still, you'll get the message "WAAS averaging" on the position screen (instead of just the "Averaging" message).

 

The SporTrak doesn't show the WAAS satellite numbers or signal strength (or the little 'D's) on the lower part of the sat. page, like the WAAS enabled eTrex units (by Garmin) do, so it's not as immediately clear if you have WAAS reception or not.

 

Hope that helps!

[+sbukosky]

I was out for several hours today with both my V and eMap. I don't notice much, if any, improvement with WAAS enabled. What I did notice is that I lost about three hours of my battery life.

 

Steve Bukosky N9BGH

Waukesha Wisconsin

[+nincehelser]

What's the status of WAAS? From what I understand it isn't fully implemented, and availability isn't guaranteed at this time. Could it be something as simple as this?

 

George

[Kerry.]

WAAS certainly hasn't been declared fully operational and I also believe that up until at least March 31 (started sometime back in Jan) there was some deliberate degradation (and possible outages) of the system (at times) for the purposes of testing.

 

Cheers, Kerry.

 

I never get lost everybody keeps telling me where to go

[+sbukosky]

I have to believe WAAS is working as the 3D DIFFERENTIAL will sometimes pop back to 2D DIFFERENTIAL and then degrade to just 3D. This and the D's on the signal strength bars tells me that it's working.

 

When in the open, it will give me a better accuracy, typically 8 foot where the eMap is usually 16 foot. But in the woods where the signal is reduced, the two seem to be similar in accuracy.

 

Steve Bukosky N9BGH

Waukesha Wisconsin

[+deep_6diver]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Peregrine007:

quote:

---

Originally posted by deep_6diver:

My new GPS is supposed to have WAAS too but not yet shore if it is working I have a sporttrack

---

I have a SporTrak Map, and this is how you can tell if its getting a WAAS lock. When you're on the Satellite page, all of the sat #s are in the circle. Ones that are not locked onto are black #s, and locked sats are "white" numbers in black boxes. You with me so far? OK. Now, just below the E (East) and W (west), you will probably see little w's. These are the WAAS satellites. If you don't get them, go stand on a mountain or tall local hill for a few minutes until they appear. When you have WAAS reception, the W's will appear in black boxes just like the "regular" sat numbers do when they're locked on to. Also, when you have a WAAS lock and are standing still, you'll get the message "WAAS averaging" on the position screen (instead of just the "Averaging" message).

 

The SporTrak doesn't show the WAAS satellite numbers or signal strength (or the little 'D's) on the lower part of the sat. page, like the WAAS enabled eTrex units (by Garmin) do, so it's not as immediately clear if you have WAAS reception or not.

 

Hope that helps!

---

 

Thanks! I think I have seen the w's on the sat screen a few times, but don't think I have had WAAS lock.