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#292097 - 04/04/19 05:09 AM Time to chech your GPS unit!
Phaedrus Online   content
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
Due to the ten bit week format of the GPS standard there will some issues with "rollover" on April 6th, 2019. Many devices will already be prepared for it but others might display errors ranging from displaying the incorrect time to displaying the wrong location. If you're using GPS for something critical you should make sure your device is up to date. Here's a link where you look up your device. I must note that I'm not qualified to testify to the veracity of their answer but it's a good place to start.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

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#292098 - 04/04/19 11:58 AM Re: Time to chech your GPS unit! [Re: Phaedrus]
chaosmagnet Offline
Sheriff
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/03/09
Posts: 3819
Loc: USA
Good share.

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#292099 - 04/04/19 12:20 PM Re: Time to check your GPS unit! [Re: Phaedrus]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
The link is good for TomTom units. I couldn’t find a corresponding link for Garmin. I’ll just check my receivers after the rollover and update them as required.

Edit: GPS Week Rollover April 2019 - May affect older (pre-2010) GPS devices | GPS | ST-Owners.com
Quote:
If you use a GPS device that was manufactured after 2010, you probably don't need to worry. Beginning in 2010, most manufacturers began manufacturing devices that used a 13 bit parameter for week numbers, meaning that they won't be affected by a week number rollover until 2057 - long after the owner has turned to dust.

This will probably effect my Garmin GPS V. I’ll check with Garmin regarding my GPSMAP 60 and my old Nuvi 760. The receivers I’m using most often now are all post 2010. Still, it’s a good time to update the software.

Edit 2: Garmin GPS Week Number Rollover Statement | Garmin Support
Quote:
What is the GPS Week Number Rollover (WNRO)?

The GPS system is world renowned for its ability to provide accurate and reliable positioning and timing information worldwide. The GPS satellites transmit to users the date and time accurate to nanoseconds. However, back in 1980, when the GPS system first began to keep track of time, the date and time was represented by a counter that could only count forward to a maximum of 1024 weeks, or about 19.7 years. After 1024 weeks had elapsed, this counter “rolled over” to zero, and GPS time started counting forward again. This first rollover occurred in August of 1999. The second rollover will occur on April 6, 2019.

Is My Device Affected?

For many years, Garmin has anticipated and prepared for this event. Regardless, Garmin has been performing exhaustive testing of current and legacy devices to determine if they will be affected by the GPS week number rollover. Our testing shows the vast majority of Garmin GPS devices will handle the WNRO without issues.

What is the Effect of a GPS Week Number Rollover Issue?

For GPS devices that are affected, after the rollover occurs, an incorrect date and time will be displayed. This incorrect time will also be used to timestamp track logs, compute sunrise and sunset, and other functions that rely upon the correct date and time. However, the positioning accuracy will not be affected. The device will continue to deliver the same positioning performance as before the rollover.


So positioning will still be good, time might be way off. I’ll just wait and see which of my older units have an issue and go from there.


Edited by Russ (04/04/19 01:01 PM)
Edit Reason: added Garmin link

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#292101 - 04/04/19 01:48 PM Re: Time to check your GPS unit! [Re: Phaedrus]
haertig Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/13/05
Posts: 2322
Loc: Colorado
The last GPS "week rollover" was in August 1999 per the Garmin statement. That would have been right in the middle of the Y2K panic, which was a "year rollover" BTW. And at that time some GPS manufacturers still managed to ignore the next GPS week rollover due in only 20 years (which is now upon us)??? That doesn't say much about the engineering skill of those complacent manufacturers.

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#292102 - 04/04/19 03:34 PM Re: Time to check your GPS unit! [Re: haertig]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
My first GPS was a Garmin GPS V acquired in 2002 iirc. Then there’s a Geko 301 and a Foretrex 301; Garmin may consider those to be legacy systems, maybe not. I’ll probably fire them all up this weekend and see what happens. The GPS receivers I use as a routine these days should not be effected.

Edit: Just off the phone with Garmin. The only receiver I have that might be effected is the Garmin GPS V which I don’t use. If you have a Garmin receiver go to: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/ and enter your GPS product name. The example used was for the Geko 201. On the line “enter a topic”, type “Date” and hit enter. The article, “Geko 201 Time and Date are Incorrect”, indicates the Geko 201 may have an issue.
I did that for my Geko 301 and the corresponding article does not show, which is Garmin’s way of letting you know they haven’t identified that receiver as having the rollover issue. So it would seem that sometime between the Geko 201 and Geko 301 (~2006), the rollover date issue was fixed — not sure. I thought the only difference was the 301 had sensors, apparently it was more than that.

The only receiver I haven’t been able to check is my GPS V, but it predates the Geko 201 by a few years so it’s probably not going to know the date and time after April 6th. The rest are good to go. That said, I’ll be checking all of them on Sunday just to see.


Edited by Russ (04/04/19 04:45 PM)

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#292123 - 04/06/19 02:50 PM Re: Time to check your GPS unit! [Re: Phaedrus]
pforeman Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 04/23/08
Posts: 237
Loc: Iowa
This made me think about that old unit out in the cabinet, a Magellan Meridian Platinum. Quite the unit in its day! I just fired it up and went out on the southern facing deck and got a solid lock in under a couple of minutes and the track from last summer showed up along with several solid hits on satellites.

I will guess it's good to go. I will take it out again during the week and see how it does around town. The next thing I will look at is the car GPS - it's in a 2008 Prius (I expect it to be OK).

It's interesting how some legacy equipment just keeps going and is dependable. I dug into some old computer files (Microsoft Streets and Trips) and an old SD card that I had used with it and there are trips and trails on there from early 2004. Near as I can figure I have had this thing since 2003 - the store I got it at (and the mall it was in) are long gone. I used this thing a lot back then hunting and traveling - good times!

I also discovered all the connection cables for it this morning and I think I can Mcgiver a connection to one of my hand held radios and I'll have a 'state-of-the-art' unit for APRS and Ham use - I have an expensive multi hundred dollar radio to this and from what I see I can get this old GPS and the $20.00 hand held to do just as good or even better!

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#292124 - 04/06/19 03:56 PM Re: Time to check your GPS unit! [Re: pforeman]
Russ Offline
Geezer

Registered: 06/02/06
Posts: 5357
Loc: SOCAL
Per Garmin, the location accuracy of the effected GPS receivers should not be an issue, correct time & date are the issue. Did your Magellan Meridian Platinum show the correct time & date?

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#292127 - 04/06/19 09:36 PM Re: Time to check your GPS unit! [Re: Russ]
pforeman Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 04/23/08
Posts: 237
Loc: Iowa
Just looked at it again and the time/date are right on. I guess the old tech will keep on ticking - sort of like John Cameron Swayze and Timex!

Paul -

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#292130 - 04/06/19 11:46 PM Re: Time to chech your GPS unit! [Re: Phaedrus]
Teslinhiker Offline
Veteran

Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1418
Loc: Nothern Ontario
Checked my old Magellan GPS and it is affected by the date and time problem. When it starts, the time will reset to 12:00 am even though it is set to auto update the time. But it is still accurate, location wise.
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Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock

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#292132 - 04/07/19 12:56 AM Re: Time to chech your GPS unit! [Re: Phaedrus]
Phaedrus Online   content
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
It's good to see that location information is still correct.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

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