Mac Forum / Applications / MS Office / October 2007

Even if you couldn't find one, I'd think that a Macintosh Office group
is probably not the most effective choice. But then, the MS web portal
for newsgroups is fouled up worse than most of their software...

How about this group?

   microsoft.public.streets-trips

I've no idea how to get to that using a web browser, but I'd recommend
using a newsreader in any case...

Well, I don't use Streets and Trips, but I do use a GPS receiver.

It can take up to three minutes for a GPS receiver to "acquire" enough
satellites to begin computing a position.

It depends on how long the receiver has been turned off: if it is more than
12 hours, it loses its predictive satellite map, and has to search for and
register all the satellites individually.

If the receiver has been turned off for only an hour or so, it can acquire
almost instantly if the satellites are all in the positions it expected them
to be in :-)

The acquisition period will be fastest if the receiver is stationary, with a
clear view of the sky and no car roofs or tall buildings in the way, until
it has acquired.  Driving down a congested city street surrounded by tall
buildings, it may "never" acquire.

I would take your laptop and GPS receiver out to the middle of a park and
sit still there for five minutes.  If it hasn't acquired by then, I suggest
it's bad, take it back to the shop and swap it out with a new receiver to
prove it.

Hope this helps

On 30/10/07 3:22 AM, in article
23BD91B1-9DD0-4C69-8EE3-2F1BC59DE081@microsoft.com, "W"

I couldnt find a specific group from that long list.

Anyway,  most, but not all of the time, all I get when using the GPS
tracking feature is that it is "receiving data" but it stays stuck in that
mode with 0 sats.

This happens even when driving down major highways in large cities with the
laptop on the front seat near the window, or even when clipped to the front
window.

People tell me they can connect in seconds.

When connected to the laptop, the gps receiver glows blue, so it is getting
power.

What is the problem? How can I tell if the receiver itself is defective?
thanks