My gps receiver doesn't get any satellite from my windows, what's wrong??

sqkev · 11-04-2006, 08:40 PM

I recently bought a used bu-303. I installed the driver from prolific and the computer seems to read the bu-303 fine. I installed Street and Trips 2007 and could not get any satellite from the bu-303. What am I doing wrong?

I've already set the baud rate at the port to 4800.

I really want to get everything to work before installing in the car, so far, I assume that if the receiver doesn't work from my windows, it'd have a hard time locking from the car with many more interference.

Help!

Wiredwrx · 11-05-2006, 12:59 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by sqkev

I recently bought a used bu-303. I installed the driver from prolific and the computer seems to read the bu-303 fine. I installed Street and Trips 2007 and could not get any satellite from the bu-303. What am I doing wrong?

I've already set the baud rate at the port to 4800.

I really want to get everything to work before installing in the car, so far, I assume that if the receiver doesn't work from my windows, it'd have a hard time locking from the car with many more interference.

Help!

Are you inside your house, or outside. Are you saying that S&T isn't working with the receiver, or the receiver isn't working at all. Try putting the receiver outside. Also, you should be able to connect using Hyperterminal, and see if ANY information is coming out. Also, Baud is not the only setting for a GPS receiver. Don't forget the com setting. Are you using a FE, if so, which one.

You know what, on second thought, you haven't provided enough information to help you. Tell us everything about your setup. The computer, the OS, the programs, what you are doing, how are you powering everything.

Michael

sqkev · 11-05-2006, 12:42 PM

Michael,
sorry I wasn't being clear. I'll try to provide as much info as I can.

My OS is XP professional with sp1 installed. I'm currently testing everything from my laptop. I've read many incompatabilities of navigation softwares and frontends, that's why I'm testing the navigation software in stand alone mode. (by itself only)

Last night, I installed the bu-303 with the Prolific driver and the windows reads the gps receiver fine. Streets & Trips 2007 also recognize a gps receiver through the communication port (I tried to change from one usb port to another, the software recognizes everytime).
When I go into gps tracking mode, the software was receiving the data from the gps, but it tells me that the number of satellite is ZERO.
My gps receiver was right by an open window with only either a glass window or a windscreen as the interference.

I did some search and "baud rate" was mentioned, therefore I changed the rate from 9600 (default) to 4800 (as recommended). Everything was still the same, zero satellite.

I have no idea what FE is, so I can't tell you if I'm using that or not.

What else can I do to check to see if my gps receiver is properly working? Is there any software out there I can use?

Alanh · 11-05-2006, 01:14 PM

If you can't tell if the GPS is locking onto any satellites or not, try a utility like http://www.visualgps.net/VisualGPS/default.htm which will show you how many satellites it is receiving a signal from. I don't use Streets & Trips, but doesn't it have some kind of a screen that displays info on the GPS data being received (like the satellites being received and their signal quality)?

sqkev · 11-05-2006, 02:27 PM

Alanh,
thanks for that link.
After the download, I was being to see that my receiver does indeed get a signal and I get latitude/longtitude/altitude now.

I guess somehow Streets and trips 2007 don't like my receiver? It recognized my receiver, yet doesn't receive any data from it. Strange.

BTW, can anyone tell me how to interpret the data from the visualgps program?
I'm not sure how strong my signal is or how many satellites the receiver is locking to.

Wiredwrx · 11-05-2006, 03:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by sqkev

Alanh,
thanks for that link.
After the download, I was being to see that my receiver does indeed get a signal and I get latitude/longtitude/altitude now.

I guess somehow Streets and trips 2007 don't like my receiver? It recognized my receiver, yet doesn't receive any data from it. Strange.

BTW, can anyone tell me how to interpret the data from the visualgps program?
I'm not sure how strong my signal is or how many satellites the receiver is locking to.

Those are the GPS Satelite number at the bottom. As long as you have 3 satelite signals, you wil have a 3d lock, 2 satelites is a 2d lock, and less does nothing. More, well, GPS only needs 3 signals to triangulate, but more can never hurt. Looks like your receiver is working fine. As for S&T, I know that it requires several key presses to get it tracking, I suggest you read the manual.

Michael

Marvin Hlavac · 11-06-2006, 11:58 AM

I suspect all is working just fine, but because you are testing it indoor at home you are not getting sufficiently good signal for S&T to work.