No Satellite Locks

[annmarie123]

I have not been able to get a satellite lock on my Cobra GPS 100. I drove all around town stopping at places where the sky was in complete view. I got pulled over by a cop for pulling over in a strange area. when I explained what I was doing he said that my town was a "dead area" and there was no way i was going to get a satellite lock here. I live on old fort ord in marina california and he said that it definitely would not work on fort ord. the geocaching website has plenty of caches hidden there though. is it the machine? is it the town? any ideas?

Edited December 19, 2004 by annmarie123

[+GOT GPS?]

Try a reset of the GPS, then lay the GPS down outside, then turn on POWER, without touching any other buttons, and leave it to aquire for 20 minutes. It should then be ok, but being a cobra, it may have defective software/hardware. A Garmin or Magellan would be better.

[+NickL]

Yes it may take up to 20 minutes to cold start the GPSr. After this initial cold start it should start quicker after that. The best way to cold start on is standing still in a wide open area.

 

There are very few areas where your GPSr will not work in the world mainly at the bottom of a canyon, or in the middle of a larger city were the building will look like a canyon blocking the signals from the satellites. The fact that the signal that the GPSr using to compute your location comes from a satellite coupled with the fact that usually there are 12 satellites overhead and you only nned a clear view of 3 or 4 , depending on accuracy and your GPSr (2-D verse 3-D), to get a position fix (aka lock).

[+sbell111]

Some time ago, my Garmin 3+ refused to get a lock. I set it out on my deck for an hour and did a hard boot, but neither helped. Eventually, I reloaded the firmware and it got a lock right away.

[peter]

I agree with the previous posters that you should try leaving it in one spot with a good view of the sky for at least 15 minutes. If it still doesn't pick up the satellite signals you should return it as defective. The Cobra receivers have gotten very mixed reviews so it's certainly possible that you got a bad sample.

 

BTW, I've ridden my bicycle through Fort Ord and Marina on my way down the Pacific coast quite a few times and have never had the least bit of trouble keeping a good satellite lock on my GPS in that area.

[Alphawolf]

You are not living in a "dead" area...Do not move around while the unit is aquiring...This slows down the process. If you can't get a lock after several minutes stationary, it is probably defective.

[Neo_Geo]

I live in a "DEAD ZONE" too, but that term only applies to radio communications such as cell phone usage and two-way radios. It does NOT apply to satellite communications such as GPS signal reception. Satellites are high up in the sky and the signal can get down to the deepest of canyons (if it is high enough in the sky to be "seen" by your GPSr). If you do live in a very deep canyon, then you should at least get one or two sat signals.

 

A few links regarding the "quality" of Cobra GPSrs:

Cobra Gps100, Buyer beware! This is a piece of junk!

Cobra GPS 500 possibly not working???

Cobra GPS100: Worthless for Caching?

Does anybody have any experience with the new Cobra GPS's?

Edited December 19, 2004 by Neo_Geo

[annmarie123]

Thanks everyone. I returned the Cobra100 to the store and spent a few extra dollars on the Garmin ETrex Legend. I dont live in a dead zone afterall and it is so cool. I wonder what kind of GPS the cop must be using. anyway, thanks.

[Neo_Geo]

He's probably got a Cobra too!

 

If you ever see him pulled over in a strange area, tell him he should buy a Garmin!

Edited December 20, 2004 by Neo_Geo

[+Rakusan]

Cold start can be very time-consuming.

 

I had my airplane's Garmin GPS 155 TSO shut down for a year during some major repairs. When I finally had it hooked up again, it took OVER AN HOUR to re-acquire the GPS constellation and start locking on satellites.

[+Bozz]

Glad you got it worked out, it is frustrating when something like that won't work no matter what you do.

 

You'll be happy with your eTrex Legend, a great little GPS with enough features to make a cacher happy.

 

Bozz