I'm running v1.9.9.170 SSDR and v1.9.9.86 hardware firmware.
Any ideas?
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Posted 3 years ago
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I messed up and placed mine outside, water got inside the antenna and the GPSDO stopped getting a lock on sats.
I took the antenna apart and found water inside. I dried it, let it sit for a couplke of days and connected it again and was getting slightly better performance but not a lot of stability. So I went ahead and order a GPS outdoor antenna from ebay for $10.
It has been working great. I will look for the model I got and will post here.
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/External-Amplified-tomtom-GPS-Antenna-for-GlobalSat-AT-65-SMA-28dbi-high-gai...
I liked the fact that it came with 5m of coaxial allowing for many placement options.
You can find them cheaper if you go for 3m of coaxial.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SMA-Male-Plug-connector-Car-GPS-Navigation-External-Antenna-RG174-3M-9-ft-ca...
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I've tried two different antennas; the one from Flex and another small GPS (waterproof, outdoor) antenna that I ordered from Amazon. Neither have been outside; rather they sit in the window sill and have an excellent view of the sky.
I have been using the Amazon antenna for several months now; it used to lock just fine, usually within just a few minutes, but suddenly it has been unable to lock ever since I restarted the computer. I've been trying now for nearly 72 hours.
I have also restarted the 6500 a couple of times to try and get it to lock with no change.
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I, too, notice strange behavior of the GPSDO on my 6700 with the latest SSDR. When the Flex is turned off, it seems to power down the GPSDO because when I turn the unit on the next day, it has
to relocate the GPS satellites and relock. This takes about 10 minutes.
It did not do this prior to version 1.99.
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I'm now going to try SmartSDR v1.9.13 since it just became available.
SDRgadgets
73, Jay - NO5J
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SDRgadgets
73, Jay - NO5J
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It is working OK now with 1.9.13 the one just issued a few minutes ago.
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I'll get my new antenna tomorrow. Although mine have not been outdoors at all (one was never even connected until I was testing), it is possible that they have failed for some reason. Hopefully the new antenna will solve my issues.
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It's a mystery, It was working fine or me on all the releases too, as recently as last Friday, with v1.9.9.
After reading this thread, I powered up the radio this morning, and it was stuck in holdover. So I made sure the GPS antenna had a good connection, rebooted the radio and the PC, then removed power from the radio for about 5 minutes, and booted it back up, and it goes straight into holdover after the warming up phase completes. a couple of times I've seen it find a few of the satellites and indicate it was tracking 4 of them, it then act's like it might be resetting, indicating 0 visible satellites and Then goes into holdover. Normally it finds 12+ visible satellites and indicates 7 - 9 tracked. I'm nearly out of ideas. So, for now, I'm waiting for it to resolve itself like it has in the past.
SDRgadgets
73, Jay - NO5J
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While posting this it switched from Locked, to Locking, and then back to Locked.
I suspect that may continue. I'll keep watching it.
SDRgadgets
73, Jay - NO5J
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I also had my antenna outdoors, but in a rain protected location "under the overhanging eave of the roof" until I saw someone mention it was supposed to be indoor only. Since then it's been inside on the window glass in the air conditioned hamshack for about 9 months. So it should have dried back out. If it remains flakey, I'll probably buy a new antenna. At the moment it's seeing 13 visible and tracking 9 satellites. which was typically how it used to behave. I don't think it ever got all that damp outdoors but can't swear that it stayed dry either. It was suspended upside down, and I suppose condensation could have followed the coax through to the interior of the antenna. I'll feel better once it's replaced.
SDRgadgets
73, Jay - NO5J
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Anyway, today the GPSDO is locked 13\7 visible\tracked,and other than exercising the SMA connection a couple of times and updating to SmartSDR v1.9.13, I've done nothing. So it might have been coincidental, that I was in holdover as this discussion started.
SDRgadgets
73, Jay - NO5J
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I'm very pleased to report that everything is now working again as it should.
Dave
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