Recently I noticed my Raymarine (year 2000) chartplotter could not get a position fix, an hour later it was fine. Then it happenned again. According to Boatus there has been a satellite upgrade called prn32 that may cause adverse affects to some recievers? Raymarine was no help. Can anyone comment?
GPS upgrade
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Which Raymarine chartplotter do you have? Does it use an external GPS antenna?? If so, which antenna do you have?
BTW, it really helps if you say what make/model equipment you've got when asking a question like this, since the problem may be specific to the make/model. In general, when asking a question about equipment, the more information you can provide about the equipment, the better the results will be.
BTW, it really helps if you say what make/model equipment you've got when asking a question like this, since the problem may be specific to the make/model. In general, when asking a question about equipment, the more information you can provide about the equipment, the better the results will be.
Prn32
PRN32 is the designation of one of the GPS satellites.
I don't know but, you may be experiencing this problem:
On February 26, GPS satellite SVN23 began transmitting L-band code as PRN32. GPS receivers initially were built to accommodate up to 31 satellite signals, and a PRN designated with the number 32 can't be tracked by some manufacturers' devices that look for PRNs numbered 0 through 31; typically these are older-model receivers.
From website GPS World
I noticed a few months ago in the Local Notice to Mariners mention of some problems with AIS units not reporting positions when PRN32 is in view.
I'm not sure what age they refer to as being "older-model receivers"
PRN32 is the designation of one of the GPS satellites.
I don't know but, you may be experiencing this problem:
On February 26, GPS satellite SVN23 began transmitting L-band code as PRN32. GPS receivers initially were built to accommodate up to 31 satellite signals, and a PRN designated with the number 32 can't be tracked by some manufacturers' devices that look for PRNs numbered 0 through 31; typically these are older-model receivers.
From website GPS World
I noticed a few months ago in the Local Notice to Mariners mention of some problems with AIS units not reporting positions when PRN32 is in view.
I'm not sure what age they refer to as being "older-model receivers"
May be because of Death Star
It seems that if this satellite is above the horizon some sets just stop working - one step forward and two steps back?:cussing:
See http://www.reedsonline.com/news/2008/7/older-marine-gps-ais-systems-troubled-by-prn32-sat
It has been discovered that the ‘Death Star’ satellite is causing problems with older GPS systems, notably the older Northstar series
The 'Death Star' GPS satellite
The Northstar 951 Navigator - just one of the many GPS sets affected
Some older marine GPS receivers are having problems with GPS satellite PRN32 - nicknamed ‘Death Star'- particularly some marine navigation receivers used by Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The problem stems from the older receivers' non-compliance with the GPS interface standard, IS-GPS-200. They use a 5-bit digital stream to recognise each satellite's allocated pseudo-random noise (PRN) code - this covers PRNs 00 to 31, but not the newly-allocated PRN32.
On 26 February, GPS satellite SVN23 began transmitting L-band code as PRN32.
The affected systems are notably the Northstar GPS receivers, and consequently Northstar have posted this technical bulletin:
It seems that if this satellite is above the horizon some sets just stop working - one step forward and two steps back?:cussing:
See http://www.reedsonline.com/news/2008/7/older-marine-gps-ais-systems-troubled-by-prn32-sat
It has been discovered that the ‘Death Star’ satellite is causing problems with older GPS systems, notably the older Northstar series
Some older marine GPS receivers are having problems with GPS satellite PRN32 - nicknamed ‘Death Star'- particularly some marine navigation receivers used by Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The problem stems from the older receivers' non-compliance with the GPS interface standard, IS-GPS-200. They use a 5-bit digital stream to recognise each satellite's allocated pseudo-random noise (PRN) code - this covers PRNs 00 to 31, but not the newly-allocated PRN32.
On 26 February, GPS satellite SVN23 began transmitting L-band code as PRN32.
The affected systems are notably the Northstar GPS receivers, and consequently Northstar have posted this technical bulletin:
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