I have indoor reception.

[+Spudgunner]

I had my legend with me on a drive and brought it in the restaurant we stopped at to have dinner. My mom was looking at it and turned it on, but did not turn it to Use with GPS off. When she handed it to me I noticed that it had locked on a satelite. I thought that was a bit strange but figured it was picking it up through a window or something. Later we went to a movie and while I was waiting for the movie I figured I would turn it on and see what would happen, and it locked onto a satelite again. Now there were no windows in the theatre. So what is going on? The unit seems to work just fine outside. Is there a way for a signal to make its way indoors? I noticed if I put my hand over the antenna I would loose the signal. Anybody have any ideas on this???

[+phantom4099]

I once had a 3d lock inside a movie theater (long previews) with my magellan 330. I not sure what the actual accuracy was, but it appeared to be ok as I judged my position to a point I made outside of the theater.

 

Wyatt W.

 

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.

[peter]

It depends on the materials used in the roof and walls. In general, materials with a high water content and metals will block signal reception. I can get a 3D lock through the spanish tiles on our roof and in quite a few commercial buildings, but in others all signals are completely blocked. I was able to compare reception between my eMap and a Magellan Meridian in the middle of an REI store while very far from any windows.

[Bagbug]

had many 3d lock inside buildings with a Magellan Meridian (Merigreen). A few times with no windows in the room. On the opposite, I couldnt keep a lock with my eTrex Legend in my car or under tree cover, go figure ...

[Mossy Oak]

Reading the above postings, getting reception indoors without a visual sight to the sky, the Legend, Magellan 330 & Magellan Meridian all have a WAAS receivers.

 

Could this be the reason why they are receiving some limited reception indoors?

[Mossy Oak]

Reading the above postings, getting reception indoors without a visual sight to the sky, the Legend, Magellan 330 & Magellan Meridian all have a WAAS receivers.

 

Could this be the reason why they are receiving some limited reception indoors?

[mwelch8404]

Picked up a Magellan 315 yesterday. I noticed I had 5 sats at home (inside). As I sit in my office right now, I can get 4 sats. I'm really curious about this, since no one can even get a decent cell signal in the building.

 

I'm in a metal framed building, surrounded by more than 20 servers, 60 T-1's and no window- (I'm in an "inside" room) - anyway what I'm getting at is a HUGH amount of interferrence...

 

Am I reading something wrong?

 

I see the 315 find the sats, gives me lat and long and an EPE of 49 feet...

 

[This message was edited by mwelch8404 on June 11, 2002 at 09:23 AM.]

[+MrGigabyte]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mossy Oak:

reception indoors without a visual sight to the sky, ... all have a WAAS receivers. Could this be the reason why they are receiving some limited reception indoors?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by mwelch8404:

As I sit in my office right now, I can get 4 sats. I'm really curious about this, since no one can even get a decent cell signal in the building. I'm in a metal framed building, surrounded by more than 20 servers,

---

A "clear view of the sky" to you is not the same as a clear view to your GPSr. All that is required for your unit to receive a signal is that there be no obstructions between it and the satellites that attenuate that satellites signal.

 

WAAS signals are simply normal signals that carry corrections and have no other significance in terms of reception. In fact, as the 2 WAAS birds visible in North America are low on the horizon, having WAAS enabled will most certainly reduce your reception capabilities indoors as you are forfeiting 2 usable channels.

 

Cell phone reception is unrelated. Cell reception is based on your relationship to well,... the cell network.

 

Servers, wires, steal frames, voodoo and everything else have no effect on signal reception UNLESS they are in line of sight between the receiver and the SV's, AND they are comprised of material that attenuates the GPS signal. Standard roofing materials such as dry wood, asphalt shingles, fiberglass insulation, drywall, do not affect the RF signals. Thus, you can obtain reception in your house or office. Add a solid metallic layer to the mix or any material comprised of high moisture content, and you will certainly be out of luck.

 

[mwelch8404]

Thanks for the reply. I was just surprised, since I've had several folks try and show me theirs indoors and could get no signal.

 

Can the receiver itself play a large part in this?

[+MrGigabyte]

quote:

---

Can the receiver itself play a large part in this?

---

 

Only if it is turned off.

 

For all intents and purposes, all consumer grade GPSr have the same reception characteristics, regardless of make, model, antenna etc.

[+leatherman]

quote:

---

Can the receiver itself play a large part in this?

---

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by MrGigabyte:Only if it is turned off.

 

For all intents and purposes, all consumer grade GPSr have the same reception characteristics, regardless of make, model, antenna etc.

---

 

Fundamentally all GPSrs are simular. However all those little things, antenna firm ware make model, do effect the reception.

The charactoristics of a patch antenna will not match theose of an external or quadra helix antenna. Even the same make and model may not have the same hardware in it. I have a Map 330 manufactured in 1999. My friend has one manufactured in 2001. According to the Magellan web site my 330 was the same and all I had to do was upgrade the firm ware. I did upgrade however I have a fraction the sensativity of my friends. Unobstructed it works great, very accurate. In a vehicle I'm lucky to get two sattilites. My friends works great in a car. My new Meridian works great in a car, house, theater where ever. The two Map 330s look alike but I can't see the insides. I speculate that the antennas aren't the same.

I also have a Global Map100. It is about four years old. Everyone that has one seems to love them. Great accuracy and reception. Mine, although it will find sattilites inside, has very poor reception. Even under light cover. On a slight grade under light tree cover my GM100 looses sattalite lock enough to make caching difficult.

Dissclaimer:

This is only an opinion. This is a compillation of experiences with three specific GPSr units. These experiences may or maynot add or detract from the specific capabilities of other units of the same makes or models. Any experiances or opinions by this user may or maynot support or conflict with the experiances or opinions of other users, and will not be held in debate.

This is only an opinion.

 

Just have fun.

 

Preperation, the first law to survival.

[+leatherman]

quote:

---

Can the receiver itself play a large part in this?

---

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by MrGigabyte:Only if it is turned off.

 

For all intents and purposes, all consumer grade GPSr have the same reception characteristics, regardless of make, model, antenna etc.

---

 

Fundamentally all GPSrs are simular. However all those little things, antenna firm ware make model, do effect the reception.

The charactoristics of a patch antenna will not match theose of an external or quadra helix antenna. Even the same make and model may not have the same hardware in it. I have a Map 330 manufactured in 1999. My friend has one manufactured in 2001. According to the Magellan web site my 330 was the same and all I had to do was upgrade the firm ware. I did upgrade however I have a fraction the sensativity of my friends. Unobstructed it works great, very accurate. In a vehicle I'm lucky to get two sattilites. My friends works great in a car. My new Meridian works great in a car, house, theater where ever. The two Map 330s look alike but I can't see the insides. I speculate that the antennas aren't the same.

I also have a Global Map100. It is about four years old. Everyone that has one seems to love them. Great accuracy and reception. Mine, although it will find sattilites inside, has very poor reception. Even under light cover. On a slight grade under light tree cover my GM100 looses sattalite lock enough to make caching difficult.

Dissclaimer:

This is only an opinion. This is a compillation of experiences with three specific GPSr units. These experiences may or maynot add or detract from the specific capabilities of other units of the same makes or models. Any experiances or opinions by this user may or maynot support or conflict with the experiances or opinions of other users, and will not be held in debate.

This is only an opinion.

 

Just have fun.

 

Preperation, the first law to survival.

[mwelch8404]

Thanks, guys.

[kenkl]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MrGigabyte:

For all intents and purposes, all consumer grade GPSr have the same reception characteristics, regardless of make, model, antenna etc.

---

 

Not entirely true. The units with a quadrafiler (or 'quad-helix') antenna will generally do much better at getting a signal where the patch-antenna units will struggle or fail. Also, although it's not really an issue now since most modern GPSr's can do it, having a 12-channel parallel reciever is much better than a 1 or 2 channel mutiplexing unit.

 

I used to carry a Garmin 38, which does ok in the open, but more than slight tree-cover kills it. My GPSMAP76s gets a solid signal under moderate-to-heavy tree cover, and even manages to get a lock inside my house. Granted, comparing these two is probably unfair as the 38 is really old, but the point is that the antenna and receiver technology does matter.

 

I've been trying to get a friend of mine to pick up an eTrex from a vendor with a liberal return policy to do a side-by-side comparison, but I think he's been pretty much convinced that the 76 is the one to get...

[kenkl]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MrGigabyte:

For all intents and purposes, all consumer grade GPSr have the same reception characteristics, regardless of make, model, antenna etc.

---

 

Not entirely true. The units with a quadrafiler (or 'quad-helix') antenna will generally do much better at getting a signal where the patch-antenna units will struggle or fail. Also, although it's not really an issue now since most modern GPSr's can do it, having a 12-channel parallel reciever is much better than a 1 or 2 channel mutiplexing unit.

 

I used to carry a Garmin 38, which does ok in the open, but more than slight tree-cover kills it. My GPSMAP76s gets a solid signal under moderate-to-heavy tree cover, and even manages to get a lock inside my house. Granted, comparing these two is probably unfair as the 38 is really old, but the point is that the antenna and receiver technology does matter.

 

I've been trying to get a friend of mine to pick up an eTrex from a vendor with a liberal return policy to do a side-by-side comparison, but I think he's been pretty much convinced that the 76 is the one to get...

[W4WMM]

Quadrafiler antenna do better for birds on the horizon and patch antenna do better for birds high in the sky.

 

I read that the newer birds they are lanching, some are up now, have a stronger transmitter. That may explain better reception indoors than before. Also newer units may have (should have) better receivers.