Columbus can't fint my current location

[boxer]

GPS satellites orbit at 20,000km (16,000 miles).  They orbit in groups aligned at angles to each other so that the whole world is covered (hence 'global').  Exception is that there are land-based transmitters, but I am not sure if the Columbus uses these (know as DGPS, D for differential, refers to how they are used).

 

But you do need to be outside, you won't pick up in a garage!

 

If you turn off a GPS and don't move it, turning on within a few days, then it will pick up satellites faster than if you move it while off, or if you leave it for a few weeks.  Depending on the GPS hardware, the potential locations of satellites and the required data are "cached" and the system can locate itself faster. Moving or long downtime means the system starts from scratch.  TomTom has a "faststart" that you can load/update from an internet connection; this gives the unit a large list of satellites, locations, any orbit changes etc.  But needs still regular updates to work.

 

In this case it sounds like the Nav system is not activated or broken.  If it's  a new car, then back to the Dealer!

[Supurbia]

GPS satellites orbit at 20,000km (16,000 miles).  They orbit in groups aligned at angles to each other so that the whole world is covered (hence 'global').  Exception is that there are land-based transmitters, but I am not sure if the Columbus uses these (know as DGPS, D for differential, refers to how they are used).

 

But you do need to be outside, you won't pick up in a garage!

 

If you turn off a GPS and don't move it, turning on within a few days, then it will pick up satellites faster than if you move it while off, or if you leave it for a few weeks.  Depending on the GPS hardware, the potential locations of satellites and the required data are "cached" and the system can locate itself faster. Moving or long downtime means the system starts from scratch.  TomTom has a "faststart" that you can load/update from an internet connection; this gives the unit a large list of satellites, locations, any orbit changes etc.  But needs still regular updates to work.

 

In this case it sounds like the Nav system is not activated or broken.  If it's  a new car, then back to the Dealer!

 

 

Thank you, that was basically what I was trying to say.

[Rustynuts]

Thank you, that was basically what I was trying to say.

 

But not what your first post was pointing out...

 

You are aware that the sats won't be stored each time, as you get in the car and start it the gps will have to re-locate the sats before the system will work, this can take 5 minutes or longer from starting up as a gps fix has to be established.

 

As has been made clear, this has been going on for a week now and should (by any reasonable stretch of the imagination) have managed to locate a satellite by now, don't you think?

[Rustynuts]

As a comparison, up here in the outer wilds of North Yorkshire, I sold a Columbus to someone about five days ago. We both watched as I booted it up on the desk here and connected a GPS antenna to it, and within a minute it had located 8 satellites and locked onto 5. He then put it on the front seat of his car and drove some 100 miles south, where he then installed it in his car. I had a message the next day that it was installed and working great.

 

A week?....

 

Something is wrong with the unit, and the further fact that it has an apparent boot up fault by not displaying the Skoda logo, points to the fact that it's possibly faulty. I doubt waiting any longer for a satellite lock will help to be honest.

[Supurbia]

Ok lets try again,

 

Option 1

 

Undo both battery terminals and leave it like that for an hour and hope it's just a bug that will die without residual power

 

Option 2

 

Book it in with the dealer if it's a new car,

 

Those are the options realistically, I was trying to save you a wasted trip as I noticed where you are located and Sweden is a bit more spaced out than the UK is and you may live somewhere remote that doesn't get a sat signal easily, my Navigon one takes a little while to aquire sats where I am and the mobile phone doesn't cover internet unless I go to the front of the house, my VX standard one picks em up easyanyway I hope you get it sorted out ok.

 

I don't suppose there is anything in the manual to say about it being on a certain radio station first time of use like RDS TM FW updates sometimes need to be?

Edited 16 January, 2015 by Supurbia

[boxer]

 

you are located and Sweden is a bit more spaced out than the UK is and you may live somewhere remote that doesn't get a sat signal easily

Veering off-topic a bit, but satellite GPS does not work like that.

The availability of satellites has no dependence on being anywhere in particular, and not related to population density.  Except that well away from buildings and interfering radio waves, you might get a better signal in the middle of nowhere!

Found this in case it helps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

 

take a look at the animation just a bit less that half way down.  (but note now there are 32 satellites in operation)

[Supurbia]

One last time,

 

Please go watch Ice Road Truckers,

 

This is a show that follows the truckers in Canada who drive on ice made roads through the winter to remote parts of the NWT's,

 

When a truck comes off the road and needs help what do you think they use if it can't be recovered by their own means?

 

A SATPHONE!

 

Now watch the series and see how many times the said Satphone CAN'T locate a signal,

 

Having said that it is probably a broken unit at fault so the fella should simply book it in, but anything like this still has to aquire before it will work so I simply suggest testing another sat nav to make sure it is the nav unit and not the car sitting in a dead spot.

[Rustynuts]

One last time,

 

Please go watch Ice Road Truckers,

 

This is a show that follows the truckers in Canada who drive on ice made roads through the winter to remote parts of the NWT's,

 

When a truck comes off the road and needs help what do you think they use if it can't be recovered by their own means?

 

A SATPHONE!

 

Now watch the series and see how many times the said Satphone CAN'T locate a signal,

 

Having said that it is probably a broken unit at fault so the fella should simply book it in, but anything like this still has to aquire before it will work so I simply suggest testing another sat nav to make sure it is the nav unit and not the car sitting in a dead spot.

Oh FFS. Do you honestly think a Satphone uses the same satellites as GPS systems?

[Supurbia]

Oh FFS. Do you honestly think a Satphone uses the same satellites as GPS systems?

 

 

No silly me I didn't realise the Satphone uses Vodaphone to piggyback

[boxer]

Sorry Superbia but you are way off the mark.

 

Satphones use a completely different satellite system to GPS.  Plus a completely different technology approach.  They really have nothing to do with each other.

Plus some use satphone systems geo-stationary satellites, which do have weaker coverage towards the poles.

 

It is true that GPS can have dead spots, but caused locally by physical barriers e.g. buildings, trees, mountains etc. So if Suprc is in a garage at the bottom of a steep sided, heavily forested valley, then no signal... 

 

But from ANYWHERE in the world, at any time, an unobstructed receiver (note ONLY the satellite transmits, not like a phone) can see 9 satellites.  Only 4 are needed for a fix.

[Supurbia]

Sorry Superbia but you are way off the mark.

 

Satphones use a completely different satellite system to GPS.  Plus a completely different technology approach.  They really have nothing to do with each other.

Plus some use satphone systems geo-stationary satellites, which do have weaker coverage towards the poles.

 

It is true that GPS can have dead spots, but caused locally by physical barriers e.g. buildings, trees, mountains etc. So if Suprc is in a garage at the bottom of a steep sided, heavily forested valley, then no signal... 

 

But from ANYWHERE in the world, at any time, an unobstructed receiver (note ONLY the satellite transmits, not like a phone) can see 9 satellites.  Only 4 are needed for a fix.

 

 

Yeah they probably do but it's the same principal, if one isn't in range you won't pick it up,

 

All I've tried to say is Sweden is a vast place where it's not like jolly UK with crammed cities and the fella could live in the wilderness where like broadband he's too far away from the exchange to get 50MB/s download speeds,

 

I did that because if he does he doesn't need to go hundreds of kilos to a dealer to then find out his house was in a blind spot as such or it needs a simple initiation thing done to it that should've been done in the PDi but got overlooked, probably a factory thing tbh when they bring the completed car online, or a doa unit.

Edited 18 January, 2015 by Supurbia

[BJM]

Supurbia, I'm not sure if you are being deliberately obtuse, or simply attempting to back-pedal from a cul-de-sac of a position.

 

GPS has nothing whatsoever to do with either "normal" cell phone telemetry, which relies on a network of fixed aerials, or with satellite telephone technology.

 

There are currently 24 dedicated GPS satellites, which operate independently from other communications systems, in orbit around the earth. These are not geo-stationary, but are orbiting twice a day at a height of approximately 13,000 miles above the surface of the Earth, and their orbits are arranged so that ANY position on the Earth can "see" at least 4 at any time, most of the time in most places 9 can be "observed"

 

It doesn't matter whether you are in the middle of London, Alaska, the Sahara, Antarctica or a remote corner of Sweden, how big the local population is etc. etc., the GPS receiver can receive the signals from at least 4 satellites.

 

The Ice Road Truckers problems are irrelevant for 2 reasons.

Firstly as pointed out above, their Satphones operate on a different system.

Secondly, whilst they use GPS receivers, in many cases the SatNav gives them a precise location, but unfortunately as much of the time they are driving along or across frozen lakes and rivers or temporary tracks, the SatNav knows exactly where it is, but as the region is effectively un-mapped that is of little help to them.

[Supurbia]

I'm not trying to be anything,

 

I'm trying to rule out all possibilities for the fella,

 

If it is as you say why is it I have had 2 navigation units in the past by good makers take 5 minutes to aquire sats?

 

Ever thought he might live next to a power station, missle silo etc etc and there is electro magnetic stuff going on,

 

When trying to sort these things you have to account for all levels of ability, "my internet doesn't work?" have you connected the RJ45 cable? " whats an RJ45 cable?" and so it goes on,

 

It'll probably turn out he'll come back to say false alarm I didn't realise I had to press the button with NAV on it later (not having a go at you OP it's just the way it's gone)

Edited 18 January, 2015 by Supurbia

[boxer]

 

If it is as you say why is it I have had 2 navigation units in the past by good makers take 5 minutes to aquire sats?

Please go read the Wiki page I linked to a few posts ago, it might help you grasp an idea of how GPS works. 

 

Different manufactures can implement the GPS standard in different ways, and therefore achieve slightly different goals (e.g. great performance or low cost).  For a GPS receiver to get a position it must pick up a signal from several satellites and each has an identity.  It must then have some information about each satellite.  If this information is already in the device (such as from a previous connection) it can begin to give a position immediately.  If it has to get all the current GPS information from new, this can take 12.5 minutes for a good signal.  All units can communicate with several satellites at once, some more than others.

So that is why there is often a great deal of variance in time to get a position.  Note that "acquired" means identified and usable.

 

My TomTom normally picks up in less than a minute, but if I dig it out of a drawer after a week, stuff it in  a suitcase and arrive in a UK airport, I can have my hire car on the way down the wrong motorway before it wakes up a shouts at me.

 

"GOOD SIGNAL" has absolutely no relationship to where you are in a coordinate sense.  Middle of the Sahara, Alaska or Hyde Park, all the same.  BUT GPS signals are very weak and work best with unobstructed "line of sight", so in fact the arctic tundra  or Sahara are probably better than Hyde Park.  Middle of the Atlantic is very good, but while the name "Columbus" may suggest otherwise, this is not a good place for even a Skoda

 

Agreed high levels of radio noise can reduce GPS signal availability, but assuming he is outdoors with some view of the sky, Suprc will get a recognised signal within a short while.

 

But the fact it is new car seems to me to rule out water ingress and corrosion, plus the lack of any start-up message/logo suggests a dead unit, or not installed correctly.

[Supurbia]

Thank you, at last you have seen what I was getting at even if I didn't make it clear enough for you,

 

It's all about clear line of sight and interference and potential dead spots,

 

It could also be stuck in an update cycle if someone has tried to flash it and flunked it, assuming this is possible with Skoda units?

[Supurbia]

Here's some more reading that might help the OP

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/298284-guide-upgrading-columbus-firmware-and-maps/

[Suprc]

The dealer will look into it tomorrow. Fingers crossed it is just the software - don't want anybody to poke around in the cabin.

Sent by Tapatalk

[Suprc]

UPDATE.

It was the antenna. Getting a new tomorrow.

Don't like the idea of refitting roof...Don't want marks and/or creaking sounds[emoji52]

Sent by Tapatalk

[Suprc]

UPDATE 2.

They changed the antenna/shark fin.

Without success.

They then borrowed a columbus from a demo car and connected it.

Worked perfectly.

Final conclusion; Columbus unit was broken.

Do I have rights to a compensation from Skoda for my "headache"?

Sent by Tapatalk