rallyingden
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:04 AM |
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Any GPS Experts
On my recent trip to Spain I took my sat nav with me as we were hiring a car.
After getting bored on the plane I decided to turn the sat nav on and see if it could tell me where we were.
I waited quite a while but it did not pick up any satalite signal.
WHY ?
Is it because we were going too fast ?
Answers or ideas welcome
Cheers
RD 
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balidey
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:09 AM |
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because you were inside a metal structure? Most I have used only like being directly under the windscreen, inside or even in the back of the car they
struggle to pick up signal
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:10 AM |
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It’s because you’re sitting in a metal tube that the satellite signal can't get through. The plane will have its own GPS system anyway these
days.
[Edited on 7/9/09 by Mr Whippy]
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tomgregory2000
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:10 AM |
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its because you were in a tin can and gps signals dont go through metal or water
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twybrow
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:10 AM |
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The aircraft would have acted as a very good signal blocker, plus, the GPS unit would be rather confused as to where to look for the satelites....
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rallyingden
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:12 AM |
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I did have it presses against the window but I did think the faraday cage syndrome might be a cause........ just wondering.
RD
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cd.thomson
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:13 AM |
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lol 
Craig
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:16 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
GPS unit would be rather confused as to where to look for the satelites....
it doesn't look anywhere, only picks up radio signals
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rallyingden
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 09:22 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
The plane will have its own GPS system anyway these days.
[Edited on 7/9/09 by Mr Whippy]
It was Ryan air ........... Lucky to get wheels nevermind sat nav
RD
[Edited on 7/9/09 by rallyingden]
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twybrow
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 03:19 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
GPS unit would be rather confused as to where to look for the satelites....
it doesn't look anywhere, only picks up radio signals
But it also knows the location of the satelites. Hence if you plug your satnav in for the latest updates, it will find the satelites quickly for the
next week or so. If you don't update it, the GPS unit doesn't know where to look for the signals, and takes a couple of mitues to find
them from scratch. That is what I was told, but I am happy to be corrected....!
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Liam
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| posted on 7/9/09 at 03:28 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
quote:
Originally posted by twybrow
GPS unit would be rather confused as to where to look for the satelites....
it doesn't look anywhere, only picks up radio signals
But it also knows the location of the satelites. Hence if you plug your satnav in for the latest updates, it will find the satelites quickly for the
next week or so. If you don't update it, the GPS unit doesn't know where to look for the signals, and takes a couple of mitues to find
them from scratch. That is what I was told, but I am happy to be corrected....!
Sounds like a good way to get people to pay for sat nav updates . As above, as far as i understand, the receiver is just a passive device that
picks up signals from satellites and uses them to calculate its position. Anyway - if the receiver was looking up at where it thought the satellites
were previously, they'd have bu**ered off in minutes, never mind a week!
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