Tony Laubach
EF5
Yep! Happens to me a lot when I am in higher watt transmissions. Not sure why or how, but it does. The higher the wattage, the longer it takes to reaquire.
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Delorme GPS Outage Issues
- Thread starter Bill Tabor
- Start date
Yep! Happens to me a lot when I am in higher watt transmissions. Not sure why or how, but it does. The higher the wattage, the longer it takes to reaquire.
Rick Wilson
EF0
Some vehicles have metallized windshields that will attenuate any RF passing through them. Tollway authorities that use RFID tags to identify the vehicles for toll collection purposes are well aware of this and I found this list from Georgia:
http://www.georgiatolls.com/SRTAExternal/pdf/metallizedWindshieldList.pdf
It seems that several different year model Tahoes are on the list.
Here's a post specifically addressing the DeLorme receiver:
http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=3976
I currently use an external amplified mag mount GPS antenna for my Garmin 76S with good results and no problem when transmitting on 2-meters even with my 110 watt Motorola Spectra with about 4 feet of antenna separation. I notice a substantial improvement in signal strength even though I don't have a metallized windshield.
My backup is exactly what mrobinette uses, a Garmin GPS-18. The 76S sometimes performs APRS tracker duties so I sometimes need a second receiver.
I hope that this helps.
http://www.georgiatolls.com/SRTAExternal/pdf/metallizedWindshieldList.pdf
It seems that several different year model Tahoes are on the list.
Here's a post specifically addressing the DeLorme receiver:
http://forum.delorme.com/viewtopic.php?t=3976
I currently use an external amplified mag mount GPS antenna for my Garmin 76S with good results and no problem when transmitting on 2-meters even with my 110 watt Motorola Spectra with about 4 feet of antenna separation. I notice a substantial improvement in signal strength even though I don't have a metallized windshield.
My backup is exactly what mrobinette uses, a Garmin GPS-18. The 76S sometimes performs APRS tracker duties so I sometimes need a second receiver.
I hope that this helps.
bill mudd
EF4
Was on those storms, but not transmitting so didnt have the problem with my delorme gps.
HOWEVER - I was getting a constant shock through my teathered cell phone that was connected to my trucker antenna...everytime I touched it I got shocked - this lasted for about 10 straight minutes all the way back to Plainview. The shock was enough that I couldnt touch the phone.
This happened at exactly the same time as the LBB radar failure. Any connection?
Obviously I should ground my antenna, but where was this constant charge being generated? And why did it last so long?
HOWEVER - I was getting a constant shock through my teathered cell phone that was connected to my trucker antenna...everytime I touched it I got shocked - this lasted for about 10 straight minutes all the way back to Plainview. The shock was enough that I couldnt touch the phone.
This happened at exactly the same time as the LBB radar failure. Any connection?
Obviously I should ground my antenna, but where was this constant charge being generated? And why did it last so long?
John Diel
EF5
Bill,
A static charge (pretty hefty one at that) can be built with the air moving over the antenna if the conditions are right. We used to see this quite a bit in the New Mexico mountains a lot with Helicopters dropping a sling. We always made sure to let the sling hook touch the ground be fore grabbing it.
I watched a couple of firefighters get knocked to the ground from the built up static charge as they grabbed the sling hook before it hit the ground. They were hooking up a "rain bucket" to knock out hot spots on a range fire at White Sands.
I've received that kind of shock only a couple of times, but it's enough to convince you in a hurry!
A static charge (pretty hefty one at that) can be built with the air moving over the antenna if the conditions are right. We used to see this quite a bit in the New Mexico mountains a lot with Helicopters dropping a sling. We always made sure to let the sling hook touch the ground be fore grabbing it.
I watched a couple of firefighters get knocked to the ground from the built up static charge as they grabbed the sling hook before it hit the ground. They were hooking up a "rain bucket" to knock out hot spots on a range fire at White Sands.
I've received that kind of shock only a couple of times, but it's enough to convince you in a hurry!
Paul Knightley
EF5
We sometimes lost coverage when heading north - we have the receiver on the dash, but I suppose heading north, the roof of the car can get in the way and block the signal. However, it was only very intermittent.
