GPS unit Help please

[Flint]

Hello,
I just got a Magellan GPS NAV 1000M , any one else here have or used one of these units before? Tying to get it lock on to sats and having a hard time, maybe because I'm trying it the back yard and the houses are to close or something, I did get it to update the almanac, I think, it dose not ask for it to be updated when I turn it on but the date of it shows kinda funny, says its 31/01/87! I need help setting it up? I followed the manual and tryed google but not much help. :borg:
Here is the unit I got http://www.milspec.ca/canforce/gps/nav1000m.html

Thanks! :salute:

[HC.BDS]

I would suggest that you go to an open area to get your sat link setup. When I tried to have mine linked, i had to go to a football field to get a strong enough signal, backyard didn't work for me either. As of the date, I am not sure, maybe it's becasue that 1000 system was introduced back in the 80's?
Hope that helps, and good luck.

[PTE. Pyle]

one of the guys at the opfor millsim had the same problem. he could not get a signal al all the whole night it was fubared. id sugest taking it back and investing in a rhino iv herd nothing but good about those units.

[Flint]

I got the unit for $50 at a surplus place, I'll have to try it again in open area, as for the date I did some searching on the net and turns out the unit was not Y2K compatible so the date gets messed up when reading from the sats, so at least I know its reading from a sat but its maybe not getting the three sats it needs to get a position. I know the unit was used by the CF, wondering if any one here has any experiance with that model of GPS?

[bbstriker]

I just bought one.

It does the same with me- it starts looking for the wrong sat due to wrong date.

The workaround that works for me at least is that in the AUX function, you can manually tell it what satellite it needs to download the almanac from. How do you know that? Use a modern GPS unit that gives you a skyview of available sats- just choose the one most directly overhead!

After that it works great.

Does anyone have a pdf NAV 1000M user manual to share?

There is very scarce info on the NAV1000M so I might try a thread dedicated to NAV 1000M units.

[Drake]

Almanac and ephemeris data broadcasts are all the same, selecting a specific satellite to download from won't change anything. If you aren't in open terrain, however, stay put while downloading (expect ~20 mins for a complete almanac, which you'll need since your unit likely hasn't been used in months).

Skyviews are based on almanac data (which are only very rough locations in the sky).

The ephemeris contains precise orbital data and clock corrections, and thats the chart positions are calculated from when receiving a GPS signal. So you need to be able to set the correct date for this to work.

It's "normal" that your clock will give some retarded date (1-1-87) when it's in its "factory start" condition (that is, it doesn't have a valid almanac or ephemeris), but you'll have to be sure the unit is Y2K compatible or it'll never be able to set the time/date right.

[bbstriker]

No almanc (or ephemeris) will be downloaded from a sat that is not there. 20 minutes will not do it- it'll take alot longer as it slowly checks for sats that may not be in view or close to the horizon. During initialisation, when you set a 2007 date, the unit reverts to 1987 which is why I presume it's looking for a satellite that's not in view.

Telling the unit to look at a specific satellite number/id directly overhead does work. Done it multiple times to verify the work around. I use a very accurate modern unit that gives a detailed skyview clearly showing overhead

As soon as I tell the NAV 1000M to look at the sat directly overhead, suddenly it starts to download data- the unit appends a 'D' next to the sat number. This has worked 100% on six tests where I cleared the unit's memory by removing battery power for 10 mins each time.

[testtube]

I purchaed a garmin Rhino 130 and was wondering how the search for other rhino units works. sorry for the thread jack.

[Whozat]

They have to be using the same radio channel as you, and you have to "Ping" each other every so often using the Talk button or the one above it (at least you have to with the 120, not sure if the 130 does it automaticly or not).

[testtube]

Thank's for the help bought it used without manual so going crazy trying to learn it.