WAAS in AUS?

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 29 August 05 10:55 am

Kerry wrote:Ah! require 24 hour blocks of 1 second data as raw as possible and also an accurate and "absolute" reference position. A 30 minute track log means ziltch.

Cheers, Kerry.

I don't believe many GPS owners here would leave the unit anywhere without watching it, and 25 hours is a long time. I understand that long term data is better however I would have expected that a plot of points from a WASS corrected GPS would show a smaller cluster than one not corrected if the tracklog was displayed on something like GPSMapEdit

Kerry · Post by **Kerry** » 29 August 05 11:20 am

Yes 24 hours is a long time but that is what is really required. Just being a plot of points without reference to absolute coordinates really means little. One really needs the facility to do this and also the data files are quite large but this is what it generally takes to stop a myth becoming defact.

One thing that keeps niggling at me is that there is absolutely no supporting evidence from all and sundry including the manufacturers as if they could use WADGPS as a selling point in Aus it would be up in flashing lights.

Also there are permanent stations in Australia from which WAAS type corrections could be derived (with additional equipment) but the last time I heard this was not going to be an option due to the overhead required and the purpose for which these stations are currently used. To be WAAS compliant the data has to be logged in Aus, zapped to the States, analized into the overall WAAS correction grid, uploaded and received by the user, all in less than 6 seconds. That 6 seconds is an extremely difficult time constraint to meet.

Even the FAA has downgraded WAAS (won't/doesn't meet original specs) and congress has effectively cut funding as the system has been classified as "technologically immature".

Cheers, Kerry.

Hounddog · Post by **Hounddog** » 29 August 05 11:46 am

Picking up POR on your GPS in this country is the same as listening to any enctrypetd/scrambled radio signal. It will move your S meter and you'll hear something. But you won't be able to understand a thing. Why have your GPS wasting time and battery continaully trying to figure out what the signal is when it can't.

A couple of years ago I tried an experiment with my Magellan MAP330. One thing was for certain, warm start aquisitions were significantly faster with WAAS turned off.

Team Pathfinder · Post by **Team Pathfinder** » 29 August 05 6:14 pm

We have picked up WAAS on our Etrex Vista - Ian says its because we live so far north.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 30 August 05 10:54 am

riblit wrote:Well this is easy.
All those who are receiving WAAS corrections please turn your GPSr on, place it on the ground for 30 mins and post the resulting track log.

well i did this last night for two hours with a WAAS signal and then 2 hours with WAAS turned off but i have no results,

the track log will only log a point every 10meters so in all that time the coords didn't move greater then 10m from its start point so no track log was recorded.

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 30 August 05 11:05 am

GIN51E wrote:
riblit wrote:Well this is easy.
All those who are receiving WAAS corrections please turn your GPSr on, place it on the ground for 30 mins and post the resulting track log.
well i did this last night for two hours with a WAAS signal and then 2 hours with WAAS turned off but i have no results,

the track log will only log a point every 10meters so in all that time the coords didn't move greater then 10m from its start point so no track log was recorded.

Thats a worry. 10 meters is a long way on a twisty track. Can't you set it to record a point every 2 seconds?

acts2youthgroup · Post by **acts2youthgroup** » 30 August 05 11:27 am

The Rebel Allaince would like to make the following statement.
Just go caching, some of the listed coordinates are that far off

, WAAS is not going to help you even if we had it.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 30 August 05 11:31 am

10meters is the smallest i can set it,

and i think if you can't find yourself from one point to another point 10meters away then you really shouldn't be out in the bush

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 30 August 05 11:57 am

GIN51E wrote:10meters is the smallest i can set it,

and i think if you can't find yourself from one point to another point 10meters away then you really shouldn't be out in the bush

A GPSr has uses other than geocaching. Mapping tracks and roads is another. The closer the points the more accurate the track map.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 30 August 05 2:16 pm

riblit wrote:
GIN51E wrote:10meters is the smallest i can set it,

and i think if you can't find yourself from one point to another point 10meters away then you really shouldn't be out in the bush
A GPSr has uses other than geocaching. Mapping tracks and roads is another. The closer the points the more accurate the track map.

In which if that was your job then you would have a GPS which has been designed for that task and not a explorist 600 which is designed as a general purpose GPS for the public

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 30 August 05 5:12 pm

GIN51E wrote:
riblit wrote:
GIN51E wrote:10meters is the smallest i can set it,

and i think if you can't find yourself from one point to another point 10meters away then you really shouldn't be out in the bush
A GPSr has uses other than geocaching. Mapping tracks and roads is another. The closer the points the more accurate the track map.
In which if that was your job then you would have a GPS which has been designed for that task and not a explorist 600 which is designed as a general purpose GPS for the public

It's not my job, it's just something I do and you're correct, I use a Garmin general purpose GPSr.

riblit · Post by **riblit** » 30 August 05 7:35 pm

<a href="http://www.gpsoz.com.au/WAAS.htm">GPSOZ </a>has some interesting info regarding WAAS on their web site. I found the graphs illuminating.

GIN51E · Post by **GIN51E** » 30 August 05 9:49 pm

They also show a big differance between Garmin and Magellan.

to me it appears the Magellan is less nerves then the Garmin tested

also isn't the idea to have both the circles as close to each other as possible? which they are more so with WAAS on rather than WAAS off.
and it looks as if with WAAS on a Garmin makes it jump around a lot more then the magellan.

between the magellan WAAS on and off there is no where near the diff to the Garmin with WAAS on and off.

but they still say to turn WAAS off? yet from my interpritation of the pictures i'd say it doesn't make much of a diff on the magellan and it puts the circles closer together? i'd like it if they put their interpritation of the pics on the site so i could see how they came to their conclusion.

Biggles Bear · Post by **Biggles Bear** » 30 August 05 9:50 pm

Interesting. Although I'm still not quite sure I understand, why having changed no settings on my GPS, it is suddenly starting to show that it is using/picking up WAAS information.

Alby · Post by **Alby** » 30 August 05 9:52 pm

We nearly fell over with suprise this arvo as we saw WAAS in place of the averaging display.(magelan meridian) We were only meters from our Lookout fischer cache (1100 mtrs alt) when this happend. Only briefly though!!