No gps signal to 796

jasont

Pre-Flight
Joined
Feb 19, 2012
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50
Location
Liberty Hill, TX
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JasonT
My 796 would acquire satellites quick. It has started taking 5-15 minutes to get a signal and the signal seems lower than it was previously. Do the antenna's go out or should it go back to garmin?

Was curious if anyone had a similar issue before.

Thanks!

Jason
 
Sounds like that could be an internal keep-alive battery issue. Have a known good antenna or known good GPS you can rule out an antenna issue with?
 
I no longer understand the point of aviation specific GPS receivers. Every tablet in the world has a GPS receiver in it, and they're cheap. Heck, pair one with an inexpensive ADS-B receiver and you get free weather.
 
I agree that it is most likely the internal battery which are typically soldered to the circuit board. The battery dies and the unit no longer has the time so it can't look up the position of the satelites. My 396 did the same thing. I replaced the battery and now it aquires quickly again. There may be how to videos on youtube.
 
I no longer understand the point of aviation specific GPS receivers. Every tablet in the world has a GPS receiver in it, and they're cheap. Heck, pair one with an inexpensive ADS-B receiver and you get free weather.
At least some iPads do not have GPS (Wifi only). But those are easily paired with a GPS such as a Bad Elf, Garmin GLO, or a Stratux/Stratus. I'm assuming you mean hand-held GPS such for VFR vs. a panel mount?

As for phone/tablet GPS, with respect to driving, I still find my Garmin GPS better than that in my phones. The Garmin software was far more polished for driving and didn't need a connection to display road maps. It displayed traffic information as it was available and also rerouted me as needed. The phone did the task, but the Garmin was much better at it. One may find the aviation GPS may work better for themselves, perhaps not.
 
Bought a new external gps antenna to try first before trying the internal battery. Plugged in the new antenna and it acquired the signal just like when it was new.
 
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