GPS signal... weak? - Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General

I find the GPS signal of Kaiser to be a bit weak, when inside the office, I don't get the signal anymore. Is there any tweak to strengthen the signal?
Also, What is the purpose of the baud rate?

Of course the signal is weak inside a room, because the room might block it.
And the signal strength may vary. I found it is not consistant (obvious).
I was driving in Belgium area (country road) with only 1 signal bar on TomTom 6 and it worked fine

Hi
GPS is designed to be used when the device has a clear view to the sky, if you get anything inside a room that's a big bonus!
Regards
Phil

? Why do you need a GPS signal in house? Do you need navigating from your room to the kitchen?
Sorry wanted to be funny, but it's like PhilipL says GPS was made to work best in a clear view of the sky

Very funny ... Thanks bro, you enlighten my day (slecht weer vandaag).
Ves said:
? Why do you need a GPS signal in house? Do you need navigating from your room to the kitchen?
Sorry wanted to be funny, but it's like PhilipL says GPS was made to work best in a clear view of the sky
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Does anyone know what phones have best GPS signal? I cannot find any group that tests phones in this regard. I found that ZTE Skate is really good.

Related

GPS and power consuption

Hi,
today I upgraded my htc3600 to test gps version, and gps work's really nice! But I can't find gps on/off button and wondering is gps working all the time or just when gps programs running!!?
Regards
I believe it's auto on off. Because after a certain time if I leave my navigation software off and turn it back on it has to redetect the satellites. But I could be wrong. Then again I don't notice any difference in uptime. Still get about 2 days per pull charge.
Mikroft said:
I believe it's auto on off. Because after a certain time if I leave my navigation software off and turn it back on it has to redetect the satellites. But I could be wrong. Then again I don't notice any difference in uptime. Still get about 2 days per pull charge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok, i believe so.....
tnx
Tiberius23 said:
ok, i believe so.....
tnx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS will be activated as soon as an application send a request on com-port 9. By default GPS is off. When a program stop listening on com-port 9 the GPS turns off.
Furthermore GPS requires little power usage. In a common Bluetooth GPS mouse the bluetooth radio part consumes most power.
Guys, so can we confirm that it's GPS and not A-GPS? And yes, I'm a rookie in the field.
A-GPS and GPS are both working GPS... it is just that A-GPS also incorporate additional functions which allow position fixing based on cellular network position signal. In fact, A-GPS is better than normal GPS in city environment as it allow quicker and more accurate position fix when compare to just using GPS satellite along. I hope this will make it more clear to everyone regarding A-GPS and normal GPS... they are both the same thing but A-GPS is better for city environment.
Anyway, just my two cents.
wowpeter said:
A-GPS and GPS are both working GPS... it is just that A-GPS also incorporate additional functions which allow position fixing based on cellular network position signal. In fact, A-GPS is better than normal GPS in city environment as it allow quicker and more accurate position fix when compare to just using GPS satellite along. I hope this will make it more clear to everyone regarding A-GPS and normal GPS... they are both the same thing but A-GPS is better for city environment.
Anyway, just my two cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I understand that A-GPS may allow you to get your position quicker because it's assisted by cell towers but what I don't understand is that I don't know if cellular towers must be present for it to work? In other words, can I use A-GPS in the middle of no-where? If not, then I need GPS and need to know if the Trinity has GPS or A-GPS...
forcedalias said:
Yes, I understand that A-GPS may allow you to get your position quicker because it's assisted by cell towers but what I don't understand is that I don't know if cellular towers must be present for it to work? In other words, can I use A-GPS in the middle of no-where? If not, then I need GPS and need to know if the Trinity has GPS or A-GPS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my country, A-GPS is not supported by the mobile operators. However, my trinity doe have functionable GPS, therefot, the GPS will work without celltowers...
(allthough in my opinion, the quality of the GPS recieving is poor at best)
forcedalias said:
Yes, I understand that A-GPS may allow you to get your position quicker because it's assisted by cell towers but what I don't understand is that I don't know if cellular towers must be present for it to work? In other words, can I use A-GPS in the middle of no-where? If not, then I need GPS and need to know if the Trinity has GPS or A-GPS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A-GPS assists, it doesn't need to be there for the GPS to work, the receiver just locks in slower without it. You could be out in the middle of nowhere with no phone service but GPS is still sending signals from space and the GPS receiver will work. It would be stupid to have GPS that only worked when there are reliable cell towers...we know how reliable they are .
Hi, anybody with this test rom can do a benchmark for battery life with gps always on and see how long it lasts?
tks
Matterhorn said:
A-GPS assists, it doesn't need to be there for the GPS to work, the receiver just locks in slower without it. You could be out in the middle of nowhere with no phone service but GPS is still sending signals from space and the GPS receiver will work. It would be stupid to have GPS that only worked when there are reliable cell towers...we know how reliable they are .
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Click to collapse
I was under the impression that towers were necessary the way everyone's always bummed out to hear that a phone's GPS unit is an A-GPS one. Glad to hear it's better (?).
I found a link at wikipedia.com that gives a good explanation of a-gps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-GPS
[email protected] said:
Hi, anybody with this test rom can do a benchmark for battery life with gps always on and see how long it lasts?
tks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nobody ?
Mfg Ulti
Ulti said:
Nobody ?
Mfg Ulti
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not a benchmark but my experience are very good.
I drove 2 hours and had a battery drain of 10%.
If the battery drain scales linear it means I can drive 20 hours nonstop.
I think 20 hours is not possible but you can easely drive up to 8 hours on your battery.
Hi,
wow 8 hours that´s enough !
in how is the signal quality by comparison
with an SIRF III or another GPS-Mouse ?
Cu Ulti and THX !
Ulti said:
Hi,
in how is the signal quality by comparison
with an SIRF III or another GPS-Mouse ?
Cu Ulti and THX !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion not as good as a stand alone GPS. I own a SiRF XTrac GPS (royaltek rbt1000) and it is far superior. P3600 fix times are in the multiple minutes sometimes/mostly, and reception is worse. My stand alone GPS almost allways recieved 6 to 10 satellites, my P3600 usually 2 to 4, sometimes only 1, hardly ever more then 5
I just tested my built in GPS in downtown area, lots of buildings. It cannot always hold the signal and drops sometimes. The standalone has never dropped a signal for me yet.
Hi,
that makes me sad !
Is there a possibility to improve the quality with a new ROM ?
I don´t think so but perhaps somebody knows more than I !
Mfg Ulti
Ulti said:
Hi,
that makes me sad !
Is there a possibility to improve the quality with a new ROM ?
I don´t think so but perhaps somebody knows more than I !
Mfg Ulti
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I mean if you're not in downtown core area it works fine. Still takes a bit longer to get a fix than my BT unit but other than that it works fine.
Comparison ..
Ulti said:
Hi,
wow 8 hours that´s enough !
in how is the signal quality by comparison
with an SIRF III or another GPS-Mouse ?
Cu Ulti and THX !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a comparison between the trinity internal GPS and a SiRFIII GPSr.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1123327&posted=1#post1123327
Have a look for yourself.

GPS question

i have a tilt running at&t bigstorage rom when i try to use my telenav inside it says the gps signal is weak. is there any update to get the gps to work inside?
GPS requires a (fairly) clear view of the sky. No GPS unit works well indoors.
Sleuth255 said:
GPS requires a (fairly) clear view of the sky. No GPS unit works well indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
true but with my old hp 6515 when I bought it, it didn't work inside. then I found an update and it work perfectly inside. also saw on mobity todays website a video review of the tytn 2 and he found satellites inside.
LuXx said:
true but with my old hp 6515 when I bought it, it didn't work inside. then I found an update and it work perfectly inside. also saw on mobity todays website a video review of the tytn 2 and he found satellites inside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sleuth255 didn't say it WON'T work inside ... he said it won't work well
common sense really ... mine works inside & outside ... just fewer satellites when indoor compared to open outdoor
another note :
I get better GPS strength signal when using IGO compared to TomTom ... so it also might be software bug ... just a guess
but the part about indoor/outdoor still hold true
UnicornKaz said:
another note :
I get better GPS strength signal when using IGO compared to TomTom ... so it also might be software bug ... just a guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, the software may be under or over reporting the signal strength or the software may assign different parameters to what it decides it optimum.
UnicornKaz said:
but the part about indoor/outdoor still hold true
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Click to collapse
Steel framed buildings, heat reflective glass/coatings, stucco walls .. all affect signal strength to some extent.
I've got 4 GPS units and they all get a signal in most buildings. Eventually. The GPS Chip in the kaiser is remarkably sensitive, imo & ime.

GPS Issue: Loss of satellites -> Softreset necessary?

Hi!
I encountered a strange GPS behaviour and wanted to share this with you / maybe someone has an idea bout this one:
On a businessjourney i wanted to log my way with my kaiser, and everything went fine so far. But after several hunderts of kilometres, kaiser lost more and more satellites till only 1 was left and the values were unuseable (phantasy-koordinates, speed and altitude too).
I am 100% sure that it was not a problem with our jet or any kind of shielding in it - because after a softreset it could lock again on 8 to 12 satellites. I could approve this strange loss of statellites on longer flights and car etappes (lets say 500km+) now several times.
Any idea what could be the reason?
Did the airline crew know you were using a gps device?
unwired4 said:
Did the airline crew know you were using a gps device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who cares, GPS device is just a receiver, they use several of them in cockpit. Even GSM mobile phone intereference is exaggerated...
Well, since it was our own jet and pilot i guess that its ok
But back to the issue: A friend of mine could acknowledge that he has the same problem when traveling over a certain distance by car.
Is it possible, that this has something to do with QuickGPS where the receiver calculates extimated postitions of the satellites (and those triangulations will be false when moving too far)? Is QuickGPS postition-dependend?
Any ideas highly appreciated...
licht77 said:
Well, since it was our own jet and pilot i guess that its ok
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good answer
It could be, but quickgps only provides a pre-download of the ephemeris data so that the GPS unit does not have to download it from the satellites. If it does not have the quickgps data, it could download it from the sats (thats why a normal lock takes so long), so I would guess not, unless maybe download of new data from sats is turned off if quickgps is turned on.
I see no option to specify location in quickgps but then again it could look at the handset's country code or something. Surely though it is kilobytes in size at max so downloading the whole world's data via GSM/3G would be no biggie.
On a side note, I get the same issue on my Kaiser even if I stay local sometimes. I *think* it may be getting stuck on A-GPS (Using cell phone masts to get a rough fix) - maybe try and disable A-GPS as it would be no use in a jet?
I have experienced the same thing once - and that was after using the Kaiser in a jet for only a few minutes. Once I landed, I started TomTom and was placed over 700 miles from my actual position. A soft rest cured it; I was a bit worried that the high speeds of a jet might have confused/fried my GPS, but all was fine after a soft reset.
You may see what I mean here: xxx (username and password: test): Right above Toledo / Madrid the GPS readings go crazy... :-(
Could this be the mythical 'Barcelona Triangle' ?
Interesting, you might try posting this at GPSpassion.com forum. They are the experts in GPS. It's odd that it would loose sats as the view of the sky couldn't be much better and you'd think that it would be able to keep up things, even at jet speeds the number of visible satellites wouldn't change. I would try it with GPS ON and Phone radio OFF as this might rule out any cell tower issues.
RemE said:
Interesting, you might try posting this at GPSpassion.com forum. They are the experts in GPS. It's odd that it would loose sats as the view of the sky couldn't be much better and you'd think that it would be able to keep up things, even at jet speeds the number of visible satellites wouldn't change. I would try it with GPS ON and Phone radio OFF as this might rule out any cell tower issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi! I tried it with GSM off - with no improvement. It seems that this is some kind of bug in the GPS-receiver?
If you have an user in that forum - feel free to post this issue!
Thx, Licht
I do experience this problem too. I was thinking it is the problem of the chip, has anyone tried the external antenna and does the problem still persist?
ZorMi said:
Who cares, GPS device is just a receiver, they use several of them in cockpit. Even GSM mobile phone intereference is exaggerated...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be exaggerated... but considering how much interference a normal GSM signal has with household electronics (and yes, commercial jetliners are heavily shielded)... it's still kind of scary.
I actually discovered I left my phone on in my bag on a Frontier Airlines flight when the GSM modem started up at around 15,000 feet and the in-seat screen in front of me started flickering and I got that cool 'ch-ch-ch-ch' noise in my headphones.
Whoops.
It's probably safe to have the GPS on, but you really should turn off the radio.. there's no telling what wiring is running next to/under your seat, and there might just be an antenna above your head that you don't know about. It's just not worth the risk (plus, if you get caught.. well.. it's a federal offense).
If you just ask, some pilots will let you turn your GPS unit on in the plane (the flight attendants will ask him/her)... Delta Airlines doesn't seem to have any problem with this, while United and American do.
I think you'll find the answer to this thread is to do with the travelling speed and height.
Dedicated flight GPS units have a much faster baud rate for data transfer and the unit itself has virtually no other background tasks to take care of.
The 'Kaiser' GPS is primarily designed as a 'walkabout' unit and can just cope with vehicle speeds. If the data shows a marked change in position (due to say travelling at a few hundred kph) then the GPS firmware believes it has an erroneous sat lock and tries to re-aquire causing the confused output.
Also, Ephemeris data is incorrect for ionospheric distortion when you are at above 25,000 thousand feet so if it tries to use QuickGPS it will actually lengthen the acquisition time.
Try it next time with both A-GPS and QuickGPS off (QuickGPS auto disables if data is out of date so just disable downloads) and note what speed/height you are when is goes crazy.
As far as i know, there is no profen evidence that one single plane was downed by a gsm signal. Additionally, i have seen Boeings where all TFT Flatscreens started heavy flickering when the intercom was running - so dont mix up important avionic board systems with unimportant, unshielded secondary systems Here in europe all commercial planes have excellent shielding standards - and there are several commerical and private planetypes around which already come up with internal gsm-repeaters and satellite connections to the gsm-groundstations (the reasons for low usage are missing business models and - i guess annoyance). And - as i said - it was our own jet and pilot, and so its me who makes the rules in there :-D
So much for offtopic.
But I really would like to know what causes this "satellite loss" and "mis-positioning" problems... - this probably makes some killerapplications impossible
Does anybody know if a-gps is geographically influenced? Anybody has further informations about how our Kaisers keep the fix on the satellites?
Farsquidge said:
I think you'll find the answer to this thread is to do with the travelling speed and height.
Dedicated flight GPS units have a much faster baud rate for data transfer and the unit itself has virtually no other background tasks to take care of.
The 'Kaiser' GPS is primarily designed as a 'walkabout' unit and can just cope with vehicle speeds. If the data shows a marked change in position (due to say travelling at a few hundred kph) then the GPS firmware believes it has an erroneous sat lock and tries to re-aquire causing the confused output.
Also, Ephemeris data is incorrect for ionospheric distortion when you are at above 25,000 thousand feet so if it tries to use QuickGPS it will actually lengthen the acquisition time.
Try it next time with both A-GPS and QuickGPS off (QuickGPS auto disables if data is out of date so just disable downloads) and note what speed/height you are when is goes crazy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for your informations - your ideas sound plausible! But on the flight i posted before, u can see that we were travelling about 2.5 hours at 10.000 metres and 800 km/h before everything went crazy within 60 seconds (Placemark 273 is plausible, 275 insane)... but i turned GSM off to save battery... so a-gps and quick-gps should have been off too (correct me if i am wrong)...?
licht77 said:
Thx for your informations - your ideas sound plausible! But on the flight i posted before, u can see that we were travelling about 2.5 hours at 10.000 metres and 800 km/h before everything went crazy within 60 seconds (Placemark 273 is plausible, 275 insane)... but i turned GSM off to save battery... so a-gps and quick-gps should have been off too (correct me if i am wrong)...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A-GPS would be disabled but QuickGPS would still be active as it is just a downloaded info table.
It would only need loss of signal for a few seconds, say your reception was detuned by a flight manouver or you moved the location of the unit within the plane (signal strength is poor within an aircraft body without external antenna) to cause it to get confused and at speed it takes ages for a lock. You can see a big difference just starting the GPS standing still against starting it in a moving car.
Consumer GPS devices misread at high speeds and altitudes. Government regulations keep them from functioning to prohibit their use in the construction of ICBM's since most devices use a version of a generic GPS chip. Think I'm nuts? Google it.
xconradx said:
Consumer GPS devices misread at high speeds and altitudes. Government regulations keep them from functioning to prohibit their use in the construction of ICBM's since most devices use a version of a generic GPS chip. Think I'm nuts? Google it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I don't think you are nuts! You are perfectly correct!
There are 3 types, consumer, commercial and military. (four if you count the US who contol the network and have the best).
Farsquidge said:
A-GPS would be disabled but QuickGPS would still be active as it is just a downloaded info table.
It would only need loss of signal for a few seconds, say your reception was detuned by a flight manouver or you moved the location of the unit within the plane (signal strength is poor within an aircraft body without external antenna) to cause it to get confused and at speed it takes ages for a lock. You can see a big difference just starting the GPS standing still against starting it in a moving car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I guess i will give this a try as i found out how to deactivate QuickGPS
@xconradx: No youre not nuts - i can confirm that there are regulations (thats why we are gonna send up Gallileo *g*) - but i can hardly believe that this was the bugger: The readings were accurate (too accurate to prevent abuse) for 2:45min - and then the readings were just insane.
I hope we can find a workaround...
Haha, I'm glad people dont think I'm a nutjob... I've tried to explain the regulated GPS to people before and was called "paranoid, crazy", whatever....
Thats weird that it read so well for a period. I just know that basics!

GPS LOW signal

What can i do about my gps signal its LOW it tells me if im in a building. Im running TomTom7 on my diamond. Is this just a DIAMOND problem?
Can someone send me a link that will fix this problem. Ive search but im a newbie and dont know which is best. thank you
GPS never works well within buildings. It needs a direct line of sight with at least 3 satelliets
Edit: why do you need tomtom in a building?
im in my house. So i walked outside and still says im inside a building.

HTC Kaiser GPS NOT WORKING MAJOR PROBLEMS!

Hi my name is Mike. I am currently having a problem with my AT&T Tilt (8925)s GPS unit. I see the orange light at the top flashing but the phone is not recieving signal at all. I heard if you use HTC GPS Tool it will tell you if it works. I am using it right now and I am noticing all these messages rolling over the screen when I select COM4 4800:
$GPVTG,,T,,M,M,,K*4E
$GPGSV,1,1,00*79
$GPGGA,,,,,,0,,,,,,,,*66
$GPRMC,,V,,,,,,,,,,N*53
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*32
repeated over and over again.
When I click the satellite tab nothing is found.
Also I am not sure if it matters that my keyboard is the old version and it claims to be a 8925 when it looks different in pictures online.
If anyone can help fix this problem I will pay $3 via paypal (IF ALLOWED BY MODS AND ADMINISTRATOR, OTHERWISE FORGET IT)
I found this on a website but I still dont understand why its doing that.
$GPGSV,1,1,00*79 = 0 Satellite Vechicles in view
$GPGGA,,,,,,0,,,,,,,,*66 = No GPS Fix data available
$GPRMC,,V,,,,,,,,,,N*53 = V in field 2 means navigation receiver warning (invalid position)
$GPGSA,A,1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*32 ==> Automatic mode (3D/2D) & Fix not available
$GPVTG,,T,,M,,N,,K*4E = NO GPS data available
EDIT: I tried the GPS on Android 2.1 on the phone and still no connection at all.
I dont understand this.
Please help me!
Thanks,
Mike
I take it you have tried a soft and hard reset?
Are you outside when it is looking for Satellites? It can also take some time to get an initial lock on. Perhaps if you switch off the auto-off/powersaving part of the phone and go outside, set it on a wall and wait...and wait....and wait... and hopefully it will get a lock.
Good luck I recall years ago with a Garmin GPS that was Serial and not Parallel receiver it would take aaaaaaaages to get a lock on ie, up to 45 minutes! Usually after it was OK but even so!
Is this a factory rom?
Not Sure of your location... However when I experienced problems in the STATES it was usually the Radio I need to change... Plus having [QuickGPS] installed to help moved the GPS initialization along [Finding a satellite lock] For me about 2-5 Min on average, depending on location. Also not sure what you use for Navigation but I use TomTom and it's been problem free....
Good luck
jac said:
Not Sure of your location... However when I experienced problems in the STATES It's was usually the Radio I need to change... Plus having [QuickGPS] installed to help moved the GPS initialization along [Finding a satellite lock] For me about 2-5 Min on average, depending on location. Also not sure what you use for Navigation but I use TomTom and it's been problem free....
Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good advice.
Got one questions for you guys, are you using additional antennas or is there's a build-in one? My kaiser really sucks about gps, it hardly ever locks gps even outdoors. But got a solution: Get a cooper wire which fits into GPS antenna socket, cut about 5-5.5cm of it and stick it into the socket you can bend it so it won't disturb. Maybe you can stick it under the rear cover so it won't be visible.
With this short cooper wire i've got a steady gps lock even indoors.
Sorry for my bad english
msichal said:
Got one questions for you guys, are you using additional antennas or is there's a build-in one? My kaiser really sucks about gps, it hardly ever locks gps even outdoors. But got a solution: Get a cooper wire which fits into GPS antenna socket, cut about 5-5.5cm of it and stick it into the socket you can bend it so it won't disturb. Maybe you can stick it under the rear cover so it won't be visible.
With this short cooper wire i've got a steady gps lock even indoors.
Sorry for my bad english
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Msichal,
Could you please provide us with some pics ?
I have the same issue since I have open the phone to replace the SIM card reader :-(
Kind regards,
Nino
NinoFR said:
Dear Msichal,
Could you please provide us with some pics ?
I have the same issue since I have open the phone to replace the SIM card reader :-(
Kind regards,
Nino
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting that you bring up a half a year old post.
ChumleyEX said:
Interesting that you bring up a half a year old post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh sorry
I have, finally, succeed in fixing my GPS issue
I have taken a short wire do a loop with it and plug it into the GPS external port.
I have sticked my cheap installation into the mobile back !
Please find enclosed two pics representing my installation... with a brief scheme!
Hope it helps.
Kind regards from France,
Nino
I think you guys should learn from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=571266
for your gps program could work

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