9500i GPS Problems

[Rawr256]

Recently with my 9500i it has been loosing its GPS signal for what appears to be no reason at all. It will have it for a bit than say it is lost and spend however long trying to reconnect. Eventually it might say that it has got a signal again but the MPH readout is 0MPH. If I turn it off and back on than I get a read out again but only for a short while.

Has anyone heard of this happening before? I was planning on calling Escort Monday to see if there is anything they can do about it, this unit is coming up on one year old, and I got this one as a replacement from a previous one that would detect bogus signals as soon as it was turned on... So far my Escort experience isn't turning out to be the greatest. :cry:

[Armanius]

Where are you mounting the 9500i?

[Rawr256]

Dead center of the windshield. Same place I have mounted it for the past year, cleaned over the top of it on the windshield and everything, nothing to obstruct it. Something that has been happening out of the blue and happens with all the cars. :?

[MEM-TEK]

Last weekend my 9500i took over 2 minutes to get a GPS lock after a cold start. Come to think of it, my TomTom also seemed to take considerably longer to get its GPS lock when I powered it up. I wonder if the military is upgrading the software on their GPS birds one at a time lately. :?

[CJR238]

It can happen, i experienced it with all 3 of my 9500I's at some point but within a day or so it was fine. I sum it up to satellite position or random interference.
1-2min is ok in my book. However i did have a problem with 8min acquisition of GPS, apparently it was just me. :?
see thread: http://www.radardetector.net/viewtopic.php?t=36313

[TSi+WRX]

I think I need to start a spreadsheet, to track all the variables.... :lol:

Honestly, I've seen no reliable measures to gauge whether I'll get faster or slower lock-on of either my 9500i or Cheetah GPS-Mirror.

It just seems to happen faster on some days, slower on others.

[Rawr256]

Well over the weekend it did it a couple more times and towards the end of the weekend kind of faded away. On the drive in this morning no problems. Was wondering if it could be from satalite interference but is strange that it will have it for a second and loose it, than turn it off and back on and it gets it back within 5 seconds.

[CJR238]

If i don’t sit for the full minuet and take off i will get acquisition then loose it than 5-10 seconds later acquisition again.
Its always a combo of satellites, ease of acquisition, obstructions and the 1 minute to acquire GPS initially.

this realy explains it all:


I think you got a quick satellite lock,because there were more satellites in view,not because of cloudy day.GPS satellites transmit on 1575MHz and the main reason why this frequency was selected,was because signal propagation of 1575MHz is the least affected by iono/tropo/atmosferic conditions.In other words,sun,clouds,fog...etc have no effect on GPS ability to lock on satellites.

You said in one thread, that your TTFF(time-to-first-fix) is much longer if you are moving.That's because your 9500i needs 30sec with minimal signal strenght of -28dBHz to download emphemeris data from sats.When you are moving sats go in-and-out of 9500i view,as you drive by tall buildings,trees...etc. ,that causes sat signal to fluctuate(drop below -28dBHz) and the whole 30sec cycle starts over.

[Rawr256]

Have thought it could be complications with communicating with the satalites but it has kind of happened out of no where and is getting worse. All of Sunday it was fine except for one time it hiccup'd and was fine after it got a signal back. Yesterday and today it would have a signal for 5 seconds, show an old speed and loose it again. Brother-in-Law has taken his the same route that I go and he has no problems whatsoever.

Called Escort today and got a return number, so guess it just means I will have to drive slow for a week or two now. :lol: They said they don't know what could be wrong with it but they will take a look at it and do normal maintenance to make sure it isn't just me.