Why does it take my GPS so long to find a signal?

Question

My parents won a jensen portable gps at a casino. when its up and running it works fine, but it takes a long time for it to find a signal. a gps with no connection the the satellite is useless. i have to wait about 30min to an hour for it to find a signal.

Im always out in the open with a clear view of the sky when operating my gps. why is mine like this? this can't be normal.

Answer 1

Most GPS receivers allow you to set up a margin of error which they refer to as HDOP and VDOP.

HDOP stands for Horizontal Dilution of Precision and VDOP stands for Vertical Dilution of Precision.

By setting these values higher you will likely get a better time to first fix but have a little less accuracy.

You can also try turning off WAAS or SBAS if your device supports it but again expect your precision to go down some.

You can find more information about GPS devices and how to use them at http://www.sourcegps.com

Answer 2

You will need to wait for the gps to be able to communicate with the satellite before u can know the position. It takes longer as u must be in the satellite zone before the GPS can communicate with it and feedback to u your current position.