Delorme Street Atlas USA(was: Gas mileage)

M

mr.c

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Jul 11, 1998
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Before you buy the Garmin II, the features of the III+ are worth looking at.
Although it does cost about $300 it has some great features. I really like it
better than the II. I do upload and download from my Mac to the Garmin and
let it track my travels. More toys

al

> >

> > >BTW, my Delorme CD says Tulsa to Fort Lauderdale is
> > >1430 miles, did you only record half the trip or are
> > >you still there?
> >
> > Patrick:
> > Your CD is darn close, I had 1465 miles total trip
> > (1381 was to last fill up).
>
> I'm an unrepentant gadget freak and Delorme SAUSA has got to be the best
> money I've spent in a long time. IIRC, I got Ver. 6.0 on eBay for around
> $35. The routings it comes up with in town can get a little funny, so you
> have to be careful if you don't know the area. Ver. 5.0 tried to put me on
> a virtual US highway in Savannah once where there was actually only swamp,
> but it was easy enough to backtrack and find the real road. I've got the
> Tripmate GPS and run SAUSA in full screen mode on the Libretto. If I were
> buying now, I'd pass on Delorme's GPS and buy a Garmin GPS II Plus(which
> I've found on line for around $200 recently). More expensive, but it has
> better performance, is easier to find cables and adaptors for, accepts an
> external antenna, and functions without the laptop.
>
> I doubt that I would buy a laptop just to do this, but, if you already have
> the laptop, you can equip your GMC with satellite navigation for under
> $300(under $200 if you settle for the Delorme Earthmate(identical to
> Tripmate - just a smaller package) GPS). Even without a laptop, SAUSA is a
> great trip planning tool.
>
> My $.02,
> Patrick
 
>

> >BTW, my Delorme CD says Tulsa to Fort Lauderdale is
> >1430 miles, did you only record half the trip or are
> >you still there?
>
> Patrick:
> Your CD is darn close, I had 1465 miles total trip
> (1381 was to last fill up).

I'm an unrepentant gadget freak and Delorme SAUSA has got to be the best
money I've spent in a long time. IIRC, I got Ver. 6.0 on eBay for around
$35. The routings it comes up with in town can get a little funny, so you
have to be careful if you don't know the area. Ver. 5.0 tried to put me on
a virtual US highway in Savannah once where there was actually only swamp,
but it was easy enough to backtrack and find the real road. I've got the
Tripmate GPS and run SAUSA in full screen mode on the Libretto. If I were
buying now, I'd pass on Delorme's GPS and buy a Garmin GPS II Plus(which
I've found on line for around $200 recently). More expensive, but it has
better performance, is easier to find cables and adaptors for, accepts an
external antenna, and functions without the laptop.

I doubt that I would buy a laptop just to do this, but, if you already have
the laptop, you can equip your GMC with satellite navigation for under
$300(under $200 if you settle for the Delorme Earthmate(identical to
Tripmate - just a smaller package) GPS). Even without a laptop, SAUSA is a
great trip planning tool.

My $.02,
Patrick
 
Justin,
You're right. Interesting thing. The insurance company that covers
my airplane has an exclusion in our policy for a date in August that
says if there is damage to the plane on that day, caused by navigation
errors caused by the GPS, they don't have to pay. I don't remember
the exact day, but I know we won't be flying then. I can look it up
if anyone wants to know.
I think the problem is that there are only so many weeks that the GPS
is programmed for and this month they start over again. No one really
knows what will happen then. I seem to recall that the magic number is
400 weeks. And this month the 400 starts over again. It must be
significant if the insurance company is afraid. Apparently it's going to
take some time for the GPS to recalculate its position when the week/date
rolls over and if you are in a critical phase of navigation, such as an
instrument approach, you could be screwed.
Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI

> Patrick
> I was watching TV the other night through "closed eye lids" (more or less)
> and they came on saying that all the satelites would be resetting their
> clocks shortly. Gave the date, but didn't catch it, and made the point that
> GPS systems would be the most likely to be affected. Suggested we check with
> the manufacturer of our units to see if they need any tweeking. Sorry I
> wasn't alert enough to catch all of it. Have you heard anything. It was on
> one of the major networks this week, probably late news.
> Justin
 
This is one of those "Y2K" things that it's hard to get firm info on. It's
a "date rollover" for the system. Personally, I'm not worried about it as
my GPS is not a critical system. If it doesn't work next month, I'll go
ahead and buy the Garmin.

Patrick

> -----Original Message-----
> From: GMC77PB [mailto:GMC77PB]
> Sent: Thursday, August 19, 1999 9:55 PM
> To: gmcmotorhome
> Subject: Re: GMC: Delorme Street Atlas USA(was: Gas mileage)
>
>
> Patrick
> I was watching TV the other night through "closed eye lids"
> (more or less)
> and they came on saying that all the satelites would be
> resetting their
> clocks shortly. Gave the date, but didn't catch it, and made
> the point that
> GPS systems would be the most likely to be affected.
> Suggested we check with
> the manufacturer of our units to see if they need any
> tweeking. Sorry I
> wasn't alert enough to catch all of it. Have you heard
> anything. It was on
> one of the major networks this week, probably late news.
> Justin
>
 
Al,

If my wife saw this, she'd rake you for encouraging me! Since 99% of the
time I'd use the GPS just to drive the laptop software, I only need a unit
that accepts external antennas and has a serial port. Maybe this is once I
can avoid "feature creep"!

Thanks anyway!
Patrick

>
> Before you buy the Garmin II, the features of the III+ are
> worth looking at. Although it does cost about $300 it has
> some great features. I really like it better than the II.
> I do upload and download from my Mac to the Garmin and
> let it track my travels. More toys
 
> This is one of those "Y2K" things that it's hard to get firm info on. It's
> a "date rollover" for the system.
>

The problem should only be for older GPS receivers. Below is a copy of a
Reuters story. Included in the story is a website for finding out if your
receiver is involved and, if so, what the patch is.

Lorry

US Coast Guard Warns On Upcoming GPS Changes

By Tim Dobbyn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday urged boaters and other
civilian
users of the Global Positioning System to play it safe over the next few days
and make sure alternative
navigation methods are available.

In a final appeal to private citizens and businesses to check their equipment,
the Coast Guard warned that some initial
problems for older GPS receivers could begin Thursday although the weekend
loomed as the most likely time for units made
more than five years ago to shut down or give wrong information.

``Don't rely totally on GPS. You should have some alternative means of
navigation,'' said Capt. Tom Rice, Commander of
the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center, in Alexandria, Va.

This coming weekend, the 1,024-week time clock in the satellite-based GPS
system turns over to zero after nearly 20 years,
creating difficulties for some receivers.

Complicating the matter is a major update of time and position data that starts
being uploaded to the satellites Thursday. That
may confuse some older receivers as the time information will assume the
weekend clock rollover. Designed for the military,
the constellation of 27 satellites orbiting 11,000 miles above the Earth plays
an increasingly important role in civilian life.

GPS applications include airline operations, truck fleet tracking and computer
maps in cars in addition to allowing boaters to
find favorite fishing holes in an otherwise featureless sea.

A less well-known but extremely important use of GPS involves using the precise
time signals from the system to coordinate
telecommunications networks.

Coast Guard officials told reporters that users needed to be aware of possible
problems but not be alarmed. The majority of
users were expected to have no problems but the owners of older units were
urged to check with manufacturers.

Many makers have developed software patches or new chips to allow older
receivers to cope. A list of manufacturers and
contacts is available on the Internet at
http://www.navcen.uscg.mil/gps/geninfo/y2k/default.htm.

Rice and other Coast Guard officials at first said the weekend rollover coming
up on Aug. 21 at 8.00 p.m. on the U.S. east
coast (midnight GMT) was the key time to focus on.

But later they agreed it was impossible to predict how the older GPS units
would react to the ``almanac'' updates to the
satellites that begins Thursday at 6.00 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT).

``If it sees something that it just doesn't understand, we are going into an
area where anything can happen,'' said Commander
Gary Shank, chief of GPS planning for the Coast Guard.

The U.S. Air Force, which manages the GPS system, told Reuters Tuesday that the
same receiver software bugs that cause
problems coping with the 20-year clock rollover could trip up a unit on almanac
changes that include their own five-year
clock reset.

John Lovell, director of quality at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Trimble Navigation
Ltd (Nasdaq:TRMB - news)., said his
company had been testing its products for two years.

Some Trimble GPS systems described as non-compliant would still operate after a
delay or a resetting of the memory. ``In
many products it will roll through without a hitch,'' he said.

The Air Transport Association, that represents the major airlines, said the GPS
changes presented no safety or operational
problems for commercial carriers.

``It's been well known this was going to happen, the fixes have been done and
we think there's going to be no problem at
all,'' said ATA spokesman David Fuscus.
 
Lorry,
Thanks for posting the GPS info. After I read my comments on the
number of weeks I realized that 400 wasn't right. It had to be a date that
would be used in a computer like 1024.

Our airplane's GPS is older then 5 years (King 90B). I'm surprised
that King has never sent us anything regarding the possible problem
of the week roll over considering how much we have invested in the unit.

By the time I get a GPS for the GMC it will be will into the new year
so I won't have to worry about Y2K issues or the 1024 week rollover.

Interesting that the Coast Guard would be issuing a warning and so far
I don't recall getting or reading anything from the FAA about this.
It seems to me that a problem with navigation could have far worse
consequences in an airplane then a ship at sea. Maybe I've just
been too busy fixing up my GMC to have noticed.

Richard Waters '76PB Troy, MI

> The problem should only be for older GPS receivers. Below is a copy of a
> Reuters story. Included in the story is a website for finding out if your
> receiver is involved and, if so, what the patch is.
>
> In a final appeal to private citizens and businesses to check their equipment,
> the Coast Guard warned that some initial
> problems for older GPS receivers could begin Thursday although the weekend
> loomed as the most likely time for units made
> more than five years ago to shut down or give wrong information.
>
> ``Don't rely totally on GPS. You should have some alternative means of
> navigation,'' said Capt. Tom Rice, Commander of
> the U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center, in Alexandria, Va.
>
> This coming weekend, the 1,024-week time clock in the satellite-based GPS
> system turns over to zero after nearly 20 years,
> creating difficulties for some receivers.
>
 
>
> Interesting that the Coast Guard would be issuing a warning and so far
> I don't recall getting or reading anything from the FAA about this.
> It seems to me that a problem with navigation could have far worse
> consequences in an airplane then a ship at sea. Maybe I've just
> been too busy fixing up my GMC to have noticed.

Well, the air carriers don't use GPS as a primary system so it's probably
not real high on their priorities. Remember, it took forever to get them to
approve the things for approach use, even after they knew the NDB's and
VOR's were gonna' be decommissioned. I'm not active now, so I'm not keeping
up with NOTAMs - but I'd be surprised if you filed an IFR flight plan and
didn't get a NOTAM on this.

BTW, I don't recommend GPS use for approaches in the GMC - only enroute
use(obligatory GMC content).

TGIF!
Patrick
 
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