Thread starter
Apparently the GPS network has to reset its internal clock every 19.7 years and this weekend is the time. If you have a newer GPS, it should be OK, but older ones may malfunction. See this report.
If your GPS appears to malfunction
- Thread starter Cormanus
- Start date
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
None of my ol' GPS with built-in batteries lasted more than five years. :-/
Stichill
Road warrior
I heard about that - Y2K all over again!
I'm with GO. All my older GPS units malfunctioned almost as soon as they came out of their boxes.
I'm with GO. All my older GPS units malfunctioned almost as soon as they came out of their boxes.
max
Road warrior
Nice one Cormanus,i did not know this, in addition to that i would mention that gps time has no leap seconds because that would present a problem to time based networks like cellular networks who deal with accurate timeslots for data transfer over long distances.
So whilst we adjust for leap seconds to keep summer time in summer whilst the earth slows down the gps just keeps accurately ticking away and takes no notice, this causes the gps time and utc to present us with a time difference that increases with every leap second we adjust our clocks.
The satellites have more than one atomic clock on board and are being "trimmed" from earth to maintain step with the master atomic clock at n.i.s.t. in Boulder Colorado.
The difference was 0 seconds in 1980 but has increased to 18 seconds today.
just in case you want to adjust the time on your gps, which of course is not possible.
this page has four clocks on it at the bottom of the page that indicate the different systems and explains why;
https://www.ipses.com/eng/In-depth-analysis/Standard-of-time-definition
So whilst we adjust for leap seconds to keep summer time in summer whilst the earth slows down the gps just keeps accurately ticking away and takes no notice, this causes the gps time and utc to present us with a time difference that increases with every leap second we adjust our clocks.
The satellites have more than one atomic clock on board and are being "trimmed" from earth to maintain step with the master atomic clock at n.i.s.t. in Boulder Colorado.
The difference was 0 seconds in 1980 but has increased to 18 seconds today.
just in case you want to adjust the time on your gps, which of course is not possible.
this page has four clocks on it at the bottom of the page that indicate the different systems and explains why;
https://www.ipses.com/eng/In-depth-analysis/Standard-of-time-definition
Offroad
Road warrior
Very interesting!
flynrider
Road warrior
Should be interesting to see what happens with the 20 yr. old Garmin GPS that I use in my plane (I can still buy map updates for it). I suspect it will be OK, as it survived the previous rollover back in 1999. I would be surprised that any GPS manufactured in the last 20 years would be affected.
I did have a mid 90s Magellan GPS that didn't survive the first date rollover.
I did have a mid 90s Magellan GPS that didn't survive the first date rollover.
Django
Road warrior
Hm, I guess that's the reason, why Renault recently was very insisting to make me to install an update to the TomTom gps device in my car...
Nortoon_imp
Road warrior
My wife bought me a Garmin GPS with lifetime maps for Christmas. The first time we tried to update the maps it failed. It showed us living in a field instead of a new suburb. Spent a morning on the phone with the Garmin techs trying to update them. They finally gave up at lunch time. Good thing the call was at their expense.
Our next car had GPS. So the Garmin is somewhere in the storage area with a dead battery. I now use homemade maps printed from Google Maps.
Our next car had GPS. So the Garmin is somewhere in the storage area with a dead battery. I now use homemade maps printed from Google Maps.
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Navmii for Android works very well and is designed to work when there is no network connection.
I use it to supplement Google Maps because when in the Arizona desert, the network connection drops out on me. Also, same thing somewhere in Indiana.
I use it to supplement Google Maps because when in the Arizona desert, the network connection drops out on me. Also, same thing somewhere in Indiana.
LongRanger_imp
Road warrior
I've got a GPS unit on the RT. I never turn it on. I don't need it and just don't see the purpose.
rboe
Road warrior
I have a telescope I picked up in 2003 or there abouts with a built in GPS. Last used - last weekend! Guess I need to check it out. But I have never replaced the battery in her (several folks have had to). Got some TomToms I should test now too.
flynrider
Road warrior
My 20 yr. old GPS survived just fine. All of my flying buddies were hoping that it wouldn't, so I would finally upgrade to 21st century navigation technology. Nope. The old reliable Garmin still does what I originally bought it for, so why replace it. 
