Getting narked off with TT2

g8 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 14, 2003 Posts: 12

Having come from a Garmin Streetpilot III , which to be fair has proved a reliable - if a little slow (!!) companion, I was so looking forward to running TomTom2 on my PDA.

Well it would be nice if the flipping thing would get a sat lock - I have been so close to lobbing the whole lot out the car window I am considering turning to alcohol (any excuse!)

My setup is this;

Ipaq 3870 running PC2002

TomTom2 with Rikaline 6010 mouse GPS

I installed TT2 without hitch and all the functions are there and working. In the GPS box I have selected 'Rikaline 6010' COM port 1 and checked the square box to the left. I have ensured that no other devices are interfering with the COM port as this was my first problem. I have switched of the infra-red function and closed down any previously running programmes. I have tried turning TT2 on before connecting to the GPS and vice-versa. The iPaq and GPS antenna are communicating because the grey dots turn black and 'scan'. Not even a solitary grey block appears in the 12 block Status bar until all of a sudden ages later it all seems to happen at once

Today it took 35 minuted to lock onto the satellites, yesterday was 15 minutes and in between times, when I have stopped for an hour or more it is about 5 mintues Confused

. Warm start is about a minute or three. What the heck is going on?!?! I thought these things were supposed to 'logon' from cold in about 48 seconds - not when my first journey of the day is half finished and I am using a flippin AA roadmap to get around !!

Can anyone help this 'quickly-going-bald-beginning-to-regret-this' bloke before I commit hari kari !!!??

Many thanks

Graham

g8 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 14, 2003 Posts: 12

Anyone ????

I also use the latest version of TT and GPS.

Is it that the Rikaline 6010 is a crap receiver and there are better things out there (please feel free to give me a clue !!)

I drive a new shape Jeep Cherokee and it doesn't seem to have any issues with the windscreen (it's not heated or tinted etc..) and once TT has got a lock it regularly sees 6 or 7 sats.

Why is the start up time so poor? Do we think it is a hardware or software issue peeps?

Graham Confused

Dave · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 7:44 am Post subject:

Something is definately wrong here, and I would say it's the GPS Receiver at fault. Basically there's two parts of the GPS database you need to download to get quick fixes. The first and major one is the almanac which on a factory reset will take 12.5 minutes to get basic information of where the sats are in the sky and this is current for a couple of months. Without an almanac you will see a fix of 12.5 mins plus. With the almanac you should see a fix of around a couple of minutes (max), the second thing is the Ephemeris table and this when you have a current one (current for 4-5 hours) will give you a fix in around 4-5 seconds (considered HOT Fix). Most Cold fixes occur around the 2+ hour mark which will see a fix in anything from 30 seconds upwards, but usually on average around 50 seconds.

If you are spending this amount of time getting a fix, then there's two things I would suggest. One is you have a UV protected windscreen dampering GPS/RF signals (I'd probably discard this as you say you've been getting a 6-7 sat fix). The next thing is that internal battery on the 6010 isn't charging and requiring a complete download of the Almanac and Ephemeris table.

Go for a drive and leave the GPS powered for a few hours to give it a little charge. Once the battery on the 6010 has a full charge it should hold the almanac when it's powered off, but I suspect this is what is failing in your situation.

I don't think it's the software from the point that all it's doing is looking at the GPS sentences coming through and using that, so if anything it's going to be a hardware issue. The only thing I would suggest is change the driver in TomTom to NMEA 0183v2 COM1 (the second box may list something else like the 6010). Give this a try and see if it makes any difference.

g8 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 14, 2003 Posts: 12

Thanks Very much for the comprehensive reply Dave Smile

I have adjusted the settings as suggested but sadly it seems to have made little difference Sad

- Is there some sort of diagnostic programme I can download and run to see what is happening in the receiver?

My friend has just given me an Ipaq GPS V2 jacket made by Navman to try. Obviously I am only trying to use this as a GPS aerial but have you any idea what I should set the GPS in TT2 to. The things I have tried so far have either locked up my iPaq, put it on a mega go-slow or come up with the message 'unrecognized card...enter the name of the driver for this card.......unknown card in socket 2 OK/Cancel' I have removed the CF card from the slot on the side.

Very many thanks for your help.

Graham

Dave · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2003 11:00 pm Post subject:

WinFast Navigator on our Downloads page under Leadtek Tools is one of the best. You can go into the VIEW | DEVELOPMENT screen and see the data coming through, but you need to know what each item means to decode it.

You can use iNS sleeve, but first of all you need to install the Navman Serial Driver at http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=93

You can then install TomTom Navigator if you wish and select the TomTom Navigator Sleeve driver.

The "Unrecognised Card" error will disappear once you installed the above serial driver and soft reset the iPAQ.

g8 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 14, 2003 Posts: 12

Okey cokey !! I've got the Navman sleeve working a treat now and it took only 40 seconds to get a fix - pure bliss !!! I can keep this jacket for nowt if I want so I will see how it goes over the next day or so. Am I right in assuming that I can't use the CF socket at all because I don't run the Navman software?

Meanwhile I guess that diagnostic programme you mention may be a little complex for me - is there anything I should pay particular attention to when it is running or is it a bit too complicated to explain here? Think I might just chuck this Rikaline 6010 back at them and get a replacement anyway!

Thought I would mention that I have had a look at your photography site Dave - very good it is too !! I am a bit of a motorsport freak myself and regularly compete in Rallies, both Tarmac and Forest. Off to Monte Carlo in January to watch the WRC - is it worth getting some European maps from TT? I guess I have to pay for these?!

Thanks again Dave

Best regards,

Graham

Dave · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 7:54 am Post subject:

No, you can use the CF socket for anything, it's basically a through port.

For more information on using WinFast Navigator take a look at http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/winfastnavigatorppc.php which is designed specifically for people who don't know much about tweaking GPS Receivers and should walk you through most of the steps.

Thanks regarding the photo's, I haven't had much time over the past year to do much, but I would really like to get back into the swing of it next year (new years resolution) Wink

g8 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 14, 2003 Posts: 12

....but everytime I put the CF card in it says 'unrecognized card...blah...blah...' - is this just because it has information on it already (i.e Navman maps) that aren't understood by my PDA because there is no programme to run it? Does this mean I can format it and add my own TT maps to it...and if so how because I can't find the CF card in any 'Settings', Memory etc and Flash Format is only recognises the SD card in the top !!

Thumbs Up

Graham

Dave · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 10:45 am Post subject:

Graham, as per my previous message, you have to install the Navman Serial driver. That means uninstalling what you currently have with TomTom, installing the Serial driver, soft resetting then installing TomTom again and the Navman Serial Driver will rectify the unrecognised card error.

Once you have installed the serial driver you will be able to use the CF slot to store maps with.

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