my GPS is on strike!

[Cub Driver]

I am going quietly mad. I fired up my Garmin III Plus this afternoon
and plugged in the airport, and behold! The airport is to my south,
and the compass needle pointed north. Then I realized that if I turned
360 degrees, the display never changed: the needle always pointed to
the bottom of the compass rose, and north was always at the top.

Am I in simulator mode? What's going on here?

Thanks!

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[Stan Prevost]

Dan, it is telling you that the airport is to your south. It knows its
current position, and it knows where the airport is, and it indicates the
bearing to the airport. The needle will not move if you rotate the unit in
place, since a GPS receiver has no sensing of its orientation, only its
position. Go by the bearing it indicates, not whether the needle points to
actual north or south.

Stan


"Cub Driver" > wrote in message
...
>
> I am going quietly mad. I fired up my Garmin III Plus this afternoon
> and plugged in the airport, and behold! The airport is to my south,
> and the compass needle pointed north. Then I realized that if I turned
> 360 degrees, the display never changed: the needle always pointed to
> the bottom of the compass rose, and north was always at the top.
>
> Am I in simulator mode? What's going on here?
>
> Thanks!
>
> all the best -- Dan Ford
> email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)
>
> The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
> The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
> Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[G. Burkhart]

"Cub Driver" > wrote in message
...
>
> I am going quietly mad. I fired up my Garmin III Plus this afternoon
> and plugged in the airport, and behold! The airport is to my south,
> and the compass needle pointed north. Then I realized that if I turned
> 360 degrees, the display never changed: the needle always pointed to
> the bottom of the compass rose, and north was always at the top.
>
> Am I in simulator mode? What's going on here?
>

Are you moving? If you're stationary and turn the GPS around, it has no
sense of direction to point North. The GPS must be in motion to determine
which direction is North. Usually walking with the GPS in one direction is
fast enough for it to give direction (and speed) and point North correctly.

Now, if you were moving and it still doesn't register speed and direction
correctly, make sure that you're locked onto enough satellites and not in
demo mode. I'm not familiar with the Garmins but all GPS's work similar to
this...

[EDR]

In article >, Cub Driver
> wrote:

> I am going quietly mad. I fired up my Garmin III Plus this afternoon
> and plugged in the airport, and behold! The airport is to my south,
> and the compass needle pointed north. Then I realized that if I turned
> 360 degrees, the display never changed: the needle always pointed to
> the bottom of the compass rose, and north was always at the top.
> Am I in simulator mode? What's going on here?


Are the Canadian's still playing their jamming games?

[Cub Driver]

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 15:58:11 -0500, "Stan Prevost"
> wrote:

>Dan, it is telling you that the airport is to your south. It knows its
>current position, and it knows where the airport is, and it indicates the
>bearing to the airport. The needle will not move if you rotate the unit in
>place, since a GPS receiver has no sensing of its orientation, only its
>position. Go by the bearing it indicates, not whether the needle points to
>actual north or south.

But it's telling me to go away from the airport!

I know where the bloody airport is: it's beyond the south shore of
Great Bay. But the GPS is telling me to head north, toward town. In
that direction, 7B3 is 25,000 miles away!

Besides, I can't leave the continental U.S. with my recreational
certificate.

But that's only when I'm facing south. If I'm facing east, it's
telling me that south is east.

I realize that I could take the bearing off the GPS and use the
whiskey compass to navigate, but that seems a bit baroque.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[Cub Driver]

>Now, if you were moving and it still doesn't register speed and direction
>correctly, make sure that you're locked onto enough satellites and not in
>demo mode. I'm not familiar with the Garmins but all GPS's work similar to
>this...

Ah. Is *that* it?

Normally I just get in the Cub and switch the Garmin on. But I had
trouble using waypoints the other week and I wanted to get some
dry-land practice.

It may also be delayed brain malfunction due to a slight concussion I
suffered on Saturday, walking into the aileron horn while putting the
plane away. I noticed that I had a bit of difficulty working out how
many hours I had flown so I could pay my bill. (I use my watch, not
the tach.)

(I had lots of satellites, since I was sitting at the picnic table. I
never saw so many satellites here at 43 north!)


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

[I'd rather be flying]

> Are the Canadian's still playing their jamming games?

Maybe, but what has this got to do with a guy located in the US? My GPS
works perfectly here in Toronto, Canada.

Richard

"EDR" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, Cub Driver
> > wrote:
>
> > I am going quietly mad. I fired up my Garmin III Plus this afternoon
> > and plugged in the airport, and behold! The airport is to my south,
> > and the compass needle pointed north. Then I realized that if I turned
> > 360 degrees, the display never changed: the needle always pointed to
> > the bottom of the compass rose, and north was always at the top.
> > Am I in simulator mode? What's going on here?
>
>

[EDR]

In article
e.rogers.com>, I'd
rather be flying > wrote:

> > Are the Canadian's still playing their jamming games?

> Maybe, but what has this got to do with a guy located in the US? My GPS
> works perfectly here in Toronto, Canada.

Who knows how a terrestrial jamming signal will propagate. Just because
the jammers think they have designed a test they think will not radiate
beyond a given distance, does not mean atmospheric conditions will not
conduct the signal to a greater distance.

[Nathan Young]

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 16:48:25 -0400, Cub Driver
> wrote:

>
>I am going quietly mad. I fired up my Garmin III Plus this afternoon
>and plugged in the airport, and behold! The airport is to my south,
>and the compass needle pointed north. Then I realized that if I turned
>360 degrees, the display never changed: the needle always pointed to
>the bottom of the compass rose, and north was always at the top.


Does the GIII have a 'sats tracked' page? My 295 does, and it will
tell you if you are in simulator mode, Searching for a fix, 2D or 3D
fix.

Does the GIII have a moving map display? Where does it show you
(relative to the airport)?

-Nathan

[Stan Prevost]

"Cub Driver" > wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 15:58:11 -0500, "Stan Prevost"
> > wrote:
>
> >Dan, it is telling you that the airport is to your south. It knows its
> >current position, and it knows where the airport is, and it indicates the
> >bearing to the airport. The needle will not move if you rotate the unit
in
> >place, since a GPS receiver has no sensing of its orientation, only its
> >position. Go by the bearing it indicates, not whether the needle points
to
> >actual north or south.
>
> But it's telling me to go away from the airport!
>
> I know where the bloody airport is: it's beyond the south shore of
> Great Bay. But the GPS is telling me to head north, toward town. In
> that direction, 7B3 is 25,000 miles away!
>
> Besides, I can't leave the continental U.S. with my recreational
> certificate.
>
> But that's only when I'm facing south. If I'm facing east, it's
> telling me that south is east.
>
> I realize that I could take the bearing off the GPS and use the
> whiskey compass to navigate, but that seems a bit baroque.
>

You said the needle always points to the bottom of the compass rose, with
north always at the top. That means the needle is indicating that the
airport is to your south, as it should.

Draw the proper compass rose indication on a piece of paper, and turn around
and around with it. It will behave exactly as the display on your GPS.
Neither the paper nor the GPS has any idea where actual north is. Once you
start moving, it can figure it which way you are moving, and an HSI display
on the GPS will move to indicate your direction of travel at the top of the
compass rose (toward the top of your display), but it still doesn't know
where actual north is relative to the orientation of your display screen.
Stationary or moving, you can rotate the GPS around and the needle will
rotate with it.

Stan

[Cub Driver]

> Once you
>start moving, it can figure it which way you are moving,

Yes, I have this now. I will try it today at a fast walk :)

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! weblog www.vivabush.org

[Cub Driver]

>Does the GIII have a 'sats tracked' page? My 295 does, and it will
>tell you if you are in simulator mode, Searching for a fix, 2D or 3D
>fix.

Yes, it was showing satellites. A bunch of them!
>
>Does the GIII have a moving map display? Where does it show you
>(relative to the airport)?

Yes again. It did locate me correctly, 5.9 nautical miles from the
airport.

I get a bit queasy recalling that I have been using the thang for
three years and understand it so little! The sensible thing would be
to take it out for a drive in the Accord, but the trees in New
Hampshire tend to block the sky.

I looked for a website with a decent tutorial but came up dry. In any
event, the Garmin III Plus apparently is no longer sold.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! weblog www.vivabush.org