Hi All,

I've had an eTrex Vista for about a year now, which was an upgrade
from an eTrex Summit. When I first got the Vista, I was a little
disappointed by the sensitivity of the receiver compared to the Summit
- the Vista seemed far less able to get a satellite lock in marginal
conditions than the Summit had.

For example, the Vista could pretty much always get a satellite lock
from my desk at home, which is inside a room on the top floor with a
medium-sized window facing south. The Vista usually completely failed
to get lock in the same place - very occasionally, it would see one or
two satellites, but it was the exception rather than the rule.

But recently, the Vista seems to have been easily finding satellites
when sat on the desk, and achieving lock within 20 seconds or so. I
have noticed this over the last week or so - it's not just down to
improved satellite geometry on one or two occasions.

I upgrade to new firmware as soon as Garmin publish it, but on the
download page for the Vista, none of the recent upgrades mention any
improvements to sensitivity, satellite lock etc - only to WAAS, which
I'm not currently using as I'm in Europe.

Has anyone else noticed the RF performance of a Vista improve with
recent firmware? Obviously, I'm not complaining - I'm just wondering
if I'm imagining this!

Cheers,

Simon

(E-Mail Removed) (Simon Long) wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...

> I upgrade to new firmware as soon as Garmin publish it, but on the
> download page for the Vista, none of the recent upgrades mention any
> improvements to sensitivity, satellite lock etc - only to WAAS, which
> I'm not currently using as I'm in Europe.

Why?? In Europe we use Egnos, but the obnly difference is the name.

Personally I noticed improvement with the last upgrade. However I
think it is the calculation that goes better (faster) and it has
nothing to do with sensitivity.

Han

"Han" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> (E-Mail Removed) (Simon Long) wrote in message
news:<(E-Mail Removed). com>...
>
> > I upgrade to new firmware as soon as Garmin publish it, but on the
> > download page for the Vista, none of the recent upgrades mention any
> > improvements to sensitivity, satellite lock etc - only to WAAS, which
> > I'm not currently using as I'm in Europe.
>
> Why?? In Europe we use Egnos, but the obnly difference is the name.
>
> Personally I noticed improvement with the last upgrade. However I
> think it is the calculation that goes better (faster) and it has
> nothing to do with sensitivity.
>
> Han

My Vista seems to be working better lately, also but I haven't
updated the firmware since the last change was made avail-
able. So, I think something might be happening on the other
end.

I still can't get any WAAS bird to lock on - I was at 37.41
by 97.19 and got 35 no sweat but since I moved 2 months
ago to 39.5 by 104.8 I haven't got a lock.

Still, the new apartment is better than the old one - I can
now get a 10 foot 3d lock indoors. Must be the difference
in roof construction........

KG0WX

Han schrieb:

> Why?? In Europe we use Egnos, but the obnly difference is the name.

The other difference is that WAAS is working, while EGNOS is not (yet).

- Carsten
--
Audio Visual Systems fon: +49 (0)2238 967926
Carsten Kurz fax: +49 (0)2238 967925
Fasanenweg 38a email: (E-Mail Removed)
50259 Pulheim / Germany WGS84:N50°58'44.7" E06°47'03.5"

I think it has improved also. When I got the Vista when it first came out,
it wouldn't lock onto anything. From what I had, it was apparently a
software problem. Fortunately, I was able to return the unit. When the
software was updated, I bought a vista again and uploaded the software. The
vista has been working normally since. I too have been now able to
"lock-on" to a few from inside the house.

--
Dana
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =


"Simon Long" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> Hi All,
>
> I've had an eTrex Vista for about a year now, which was an upgrade
> from an eTrex Summit. When I first got the Vista, I was a little
> disappointed by the sensitivity of the receiver compared to the Summit
> - the Vista seemed far less able to get a satellite lock in marginal
> conditions than the Summit had.
>
> For example, the Vista could pretty much always get a satellite lock
> from my desk at home, which is inside a room on the top floor with a
> medium-sized window facing south. The Vista usually completely failed
> to get lock in the same place - very occasionally, it would see one or
> two satellites, but it was the exception rather than the rule.
>
> But recently, the Vista seems to have been easily finding satellites
> when sat on the desk, and achieving lock within 20 seconds or so. I
> have noticed this over the last week or so - it's not just down to
> improved satellite geometry on one or two occasions.
>
> I upgrade to new firmware as soon as Garmin publish it, but on the
> download page for the Vista, none of the recent upgrades mention any
> improvements to sensitivity, satellite lock etc - only to WAAS, which
> I'm not currently using as I'm in Europe.
>
> Has anyone else noticed the RF performance of a Vista improve with
> recent firmware? Obviously, I'm not complaining - I'm just wondering
> if I'm imagining this!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Simon

Carsten Kurz <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Han schrieb:
>
> > Why?? In Europe we use Egnos, but the obnly difference is the name.
>
> The other difference is that WAAS is working, while EGNOS is not (yet).

Maybe you have to buy better gear. I am enjoying Egnos every day.

Han schrieb:

> > The other difference is that WAAS is working, while EGNOS is not (yet).
>
> Maybe you have to buy better gear. I am enjoying Egnos every day.

You may just think you are enjoing EGNOS. If you have a look at the ESA
website, it will show you that there are not even any EGNOS signals
around. What you are enjoing is ESTB test signals.

It's not a problem to have a GPSR showing DIF/WAAS in europe. The
problem is that it currently offers no accuracy improvement.

- Carsten


--
Audio Visual Systems fon: +49 (0)2238 967926
Carsten Kurz fax: +49 (0)2238 967925
Fasanenweg 38a email: (E-Mail Removed)
50259 Pulheim / Germany WGS84:N50°58'44.7" E06°47'03.5"

Are the leaves falling where your at? :-)

Wyatt W.


"Dana" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:dCCeb.5228$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I think it has improved also. When I got the Vista when it first came
out,
> it wouldn't lock onto anything. From what I had, it was apparently a
> software problem. Fortunately, I was able to return the unit. When the
> software was updated, I bought a vista again and uploaded the software.
The
> vista has been working normally since. I too have been now able to
> "lock-on" to a few from inside the house.
>
> --
> Dana
> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>
>
> "Simon Long" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I've had an eTrex Vista for about a year now, which was an upgrade
> > from an eTrex Summit. When I first got the Vista, I was a little
> > disappointed by the sensitivity of the receiver compared to the Summit
> > - the Vista seemed far less able to get a satellite lock in marginal
> > conditions than the Summit had.
> >
> > For example, the Vista could pretty much always get a satellite lock
> > from my desk at home, which is inside a room on the top floor with a
> > medium-sized window facing south. The Vista usually completely failed
> > to get lock in the same place - very occasionally, it would see one or
> > two satellites, but it was the exception rather than the rule.
> >
> > But recently, the Vista seems to have been easily finding satellites
> > when sat on the desk, and achieving lock within 20 seconds or so. I
> > have noticed this over the last week or so - it's not just down to
> > improved satellite geometry on one or two occasions.
> >
> > I upgrade to new firmware as soon as Garmin publish it, but on the
> > download page for the Vista, none of the recent upgrades mention any
> > improvements to sensitivity, satellite lock etc - only to WAAS, which
> > I'm not currently using as I'm in Europe.
> >
> > Has anyone else noticed the RF performance of a Vista improve with
> > recent firmware? Obviously, I'm not complaining - I'm just wondering
> > if I'm imagining this!
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Simon
>
>

On 2 Oct 2003 02:22:44 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Han)
wrote:

>Carsten Kurz <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
>> Han schrieb:
>>
>> > Why?? In Europe we use Egnos, but the obnly difference is the name.
>>
>> The other difference is that WAAS is working, while EGNOS is not (yet).
>
>Maybe you have to buy better gear. I am enjoying Egnos every day.

Well tell us what gear YOU are using and HOW you are testing. Carsten
and I have spent many hours logging Egnos corrected positions with SA
Watch and have seen no improvement whatsoever over non Egnos corrected
positions, it's the contrary in fact with additional dispersion. I've
done my testing on SiRF IIe/LP based units with FW 2.1/2.2 and 2.3 and
my Garmin eTrex.
___________________
Keith
www.gpspassion.com
All things GPS and PocketPC

> You may just think you are enjoing EGNOS. If you have a look at the ESA
> website, it will show you that there are not even any EGNOS signals
> around. What you are enjoing is ESTB test signals.
>
> It's not a problem to have a GPSR showing DIF/WAAS in europe. The
> problem is that it currently offers no accuracy improvement.
>

To which should be added that it is not possible to observe this easily
yourself. The GPS assumes that it has a better accuracy because of the
recieved corrections, but if these corrections are incorrect the accuracy
might have become less. There is no way to tell this without logging. Most
users don't understand this, as they simply assume that the displayed
accuracy is real instead of an estimate....

Greetz,

Derob