Quote:
Originally Posted by phunzoid
that would be me....i leave for st. maarten in the caribbean on friday, houston-miami-st. maarten, and will try to have the GPS on for as much of the trip as i can, while also using TrackMe 
will update the thread with my results |
well, i got back from St. Maarten yesterday...with somewhat strange & mixed results
my trip started in Houston, through Miami, to St. Maarten....i used the GPS tracking program, TrackMe....and i tried to keep the GPS on the for pretty much the whole way
after looking at the points that were recorded by TrackMe and using Google Earth, it looks like i lost GPS signal about 1 hour outside of Houston, somewhere out over the Gulf of Mexico....i then turned the GPS off to conserve battery...i turned the GPS back on as we approached Miami, but did not get a GPS signal lock until after we landed
we had a couple of hours layover in Miami, so i turned the GPS off gain for sake of battery....i'm not sure what happened when leaving Miami, either the points didn't get recorded by TrackMe, or i forgot to turn the GPS back on, but i have no points recorded until 2 hours later, way down in the caribbean
....i somehow got a GPS lock from about 45 minutes outside of SXM all the way to the ground
again, i don't remember what happened then, whether i lost signal and turned GPS off, or just turned GPS to conserve battery, but i never got a GPS lock again for the rest of my stay
i tried periodically, but no satellites where found...i would try for about 10-15 minutes at a time....not sure if that was long enough
and this is what i thought was strange....i had excellent digital cell phone signal....i got a text message and an automated phone call from Sprint soon after landing in St. Maarten, telling me i would have cell coverage (@ 1.99 minute !) ...so i assumed getting a GPS signal would be no problem, but obviously it was
so anyway, i proved you CAN get a GPS signal well outside the US, but exactly how to ensure you get one is a mystery to me
looks like another trip to the caribbean may be necessary
here's a Google Earth screenshot