Please help with Magellan 310!

[Guest Amethyst]

I finally got my hands on a gps and it's not working properly The coordinates it's giving me aren't where I am! I'm in north birmingham and my friend with a posh gps tells me my coordinates are for coventry.

When I put my coordinates into geocaching.com it tells me a cache that I know is south of me is north of me (which makes sense with coventry) but when I put the cache coordinates into my gps it tells me to go south which is correct. Confused yet? I am!

I have coord system set to LAT/LONG and DEG MIN, map datum is WGS84.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Amethyst

[Guest yJar]

I'd go through the "Initialize" procedure (again?). It's probably in the menus under "Setup". If you go through the init procedure and then leave it stationary outside with a good view of the sky, it should acquire the satellites and get a fix, let it stay there for 15-20 minutes, and it'll have the full satellite almanac and should lock quickly from then on.

[Guest navdog]

That old carpentry saying;

 

"Measure twice... cut once."

 

The old geocache saying;

 

Something about check your coordinates twice...?

 

Just a thought.

[Guest JasonW]

Welcome to Geocaching!

 

A warm welcome awaits you in the United Kingdom forum.

 

Come along and join the party

[Guest cedricmackay]

I have a 310 and Once my time was off on my gps and that made the cordinates off a little make sure you give it time to lock on sats before moving it

[Guest Trafcon]

Amethyst,

What GPS are you using? If it's know to me I will try to help.

 

Oops, sorry I just noticed it is a Magellan. I only speak Garminese. Sorry.

 

[This message has been edited by Trafcon (edited 20 October 2001).]

[Guest Amethyst]

Thanks for the advice and welcome. I've gone through the set up so many times and changed everything there is to change and it still says I'm somewhere else. Only thing to do is try and find a local cache and see where that gets me! Scotland probably! lol

[Guest Gliderguy]

I have seen GPSR's (specifically both a Magellan Blazer 12 and a Garmin III) give really weird readings if they have been off for a long time (months). When they were restarted, the almanac data was really out of date and gave weird readings. If the unit is left turned on and stationary somewhere for a while (perhaps 30 minutes) after satellite lock is aquired, it will eventually get all the new almanac data downloaded and be OK.

This may or may not be your problem, but it is worth trying. I don't know if the 310 has a data port where new firmware can be uploaded, but if it does I would try updating the firmware.

[Guest Olar]

quote:

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Originally posted by Gliderguy:

If the unit is left turned on and stationary somewhere for a while (perhaps 30 minutes) after satellite lock is aquired, it will eventually get all the new almanac data downloaded and be OK.

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Once you have done this and the time shown on your position screen is correct then try going to http://maps.excite.com/address/?adv=1 and input the coordinates of your location and see if it shows correctly on the resulting map. Good Luck!

 

 

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Happy Caching, Olar

 

"if you come to a fork in the trail, then take it!"

[Guest Rootbeer]

quote:

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Originally posted by Amethyst:

The coordinates it's giving me aren't where I am!

---

 

This reminds me of an old story from Boy Scouts:

 

quote:

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The scouts have been following the scoutmaster further and further into the woods, getting more and more worried as sunset approaches.

 

"Mr. Hamilton, sir, I think we're lost," one scout finally says.

 

"Nonsense," says Scoutmaster Hamilton. "Here, I'll show you on the map." He pulls the map from his pocket and begins studying it. A moment later, he gets out the compass and takes a sighting. He keeps peering intently at the map for several minutes.

 

Finally, when the scouts have nearly given up all hope, the scoutmaster cries out. "Ha, here it is! We're not lost!" He straightened and pointed at a hill dimly visible in the waning light. "Okay, boys, do you see that craggy hill over there?" The boys nod cautiously. "Well, don't worry: We're right on top of it!"

---

 

[Guest rusty]

quote:

---

Originally posted by navdog:

That old carpentry saying;

 

"Measure twice... cut once."

 

 

The old geocache saying;

 

Something about check your coordinates twice...?

 

Just a thought.

---

 

Saw a cool T-shirt today, it said:

REAL MEN - measure once... then cut!

 

 

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Rusty & Libby's Geocache Page

[Guest phantom4099]

he reason for the diffrence. It might be that some one else who marked the spot used a diffrent datum.

 

Wyatt