Jim Galbally

I bought a Fusion X-70 GPS module (of of ebay ) and FINALLY managed to get my XDA to talk to it...

now it talks ok...

but i cant get a sodding signal

ive left it for about 20 minutes sofar and i still aint found a satelite...

any ideas? (apart from it being a shonky ebay one... lol)

i can see the thing communicating with my PDA with the GPSInfo tool... but it dont seem to be getting a satelite signal... aparently its a SIRF and Xtrac one...

andyhardy

Where are you positioning the GPS receiver? If it's underneath a windscreen (front or back) then do you have a heated screen? If so you will have to position the receiver at the edges of the screen because the heater elements in the screen block the signal.

The car-computer systems I build have GPS with them and I often have to spend 10 minutes fiddling about to find a signal.

Also - if you are in a wooded/built-up area you may struggle to get a GPS signal until you drive the car to a more open area.

Cheers,

Andy

EssexBoyRacer

the first time takes a while to pick up a signal. Make sure the battery is fully charged, if not run it off the cig lighter.

andyhardy

Oh yeah - forgot to mention there is a cold-start up time to consider, but it should still be picking up a signal within the kind of time frame he's talking about if all the stuff mentioned above is adhered to

Jim Galbally

its located in my bedroom at the moment, havent gone out to the car...

its deffo picking up a longditude and latitude, just not getting a 3D fix...

the instructions say cold start should only take 50secs anyway!

been reading up on how it works, and looks like im gonna have to go find myself somewhere out in the countryside to get it cold-started... lol

EssexBoyRacer

u need to be outside for it to work. It takes ages to pick up inside - if at all!

Phil

iTrader: (1)

You will struggle to get a signal indoors!

MadMac

As Essex says, my dads one dont pick up shit indoors, has to be outside for it to work.

POPEYE

you still got my pc steve? i only remembered it when i opened my cabnet up the other day

EssexBoyRacer

ops sold that on ebay weeks ago! its still here, nout wrong with it!

POPEYE

you about over the weekend dude,will come and pick it up

Jim Galbally

ok, ive put the thing outside on the conservatory roof

lets see if it'll get a fix now

Jim Galbally

YAY! got a fix!

glad i asked now, didnt realise they didnt work indoors

Jim Galbally

oh joy now it's raining so i cant leave it outside

EssexBoyRacer

Im not dude, Im at emmas all weekend. I can leave it out for u or drop it over to u one nite next week.

andyhardy

They run from satellites so work on 'line of sight' mate - remember what I said in my first reply when installing it in your car

Cheers,

Andy

AlexF

lol @ jim


thats not a uncommon belief thou!!

you'd be amazed the number of car owners who book their car in for repairs as they cant get a signal parked in town.... in a multi-story car park !! LOL


Alex

Jim Galbally

ok, take one guess at which clever person just FRIED their GPS reciever by trying to stick bare wires into a cigarette lighter socket

i was trying to make my own cable

andyhardy

Jim Galbally

sent a "blag it" email to the bloke that sold it to me on ebay

whilst i was there i ordered a "proper" GPS Reciever (Fortuna SIRF III Jobbie)

this PDA lark is costing me a fortune, i musta spent about 700quid so far

EssexBoyRacer

I got my sat nav on a nokia 7610 with a bluetooth GPS reciever. its the nuts!

PhilM

Jim, SATELLITE Nav is a clue, needs to be able to "see" the sky

And stuffing 12v down a device designed to run on 3.3/5v isnt a good idea either

Jim Galbally

phil, it came with a ciggy lighter socket, so i just ripped that off n stuffed the wires in the hole

Markb_s1

i got a fortuna clip on and as long as ti's in x trac it seems to work from inside... just needs to be on a window sill!

Jim Galbally

mark, the one i ordered now is the one up from the clipon, so should be god

i really wish i hadnt bought this peice of shit one off ebay

Billabong

My TomTom bluetooth receiver works indoors

Jim Galbally

ok, went out for a drive earlier and i couldnt get a fix again! this is in about a 20min drive!

if its really cloudy can that affect it?

Taz

I have a laptop I was gonna use for sat nav but was wondering where the best place was to get software and what GPS receiver to get.

I hope someone can help!!

Graham

Jim Galbally

i THINK ms mappoint (autoroute) dioes satnav... not sure tho...

i read a fer reviews etc. untill i decided on the fortuna one...

DONT do what i did and buy a cheap 40quyid one off ebay

Taz

Cheers Jim I wont follow your actions mate!!!!