Anyone know how many sats the CF-29 GPS tracks?

I'm glad to here its a good GPS, I assume they Use the same Antenna as the Wireless? But how many Sats can it track? I tried a search here and on the web and cant seem to find any info?

Also does the cf-29 GPS's have a transponder or are strickly Reciever? I heard that they have the ability to be tracked if units got lost? May be untrue but still worth to find out.

 

the gps uses an antenna that goes into the spot above the battery. where the cdma and evdo modems go.

 

GPS antennas receive... They don't transmit. They use a separate antenna hidden in the left palmrest edge. (Above the battery) This isn't a smart a$$ answer but it will track as many as it can find. It will find more satellites some times more than other depending on what time of day/night, etc. (My personal experience) Here's a pic of how they orbit...

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Here's a clip out of GPS - EXPLAINED

The satellites orbit the earth with a speed of 3.9 km per second and have a circulation time of 12 h sidereal time, corresponding to 11 h 58 min earth time. This means that the same satellite reaches a certain position about 4 minutes earlier each day. The mean distance from the middle of the earth is 26560 km. With a mean earth radius of 6360 km, the height of the orbits is then about 20200 km. Orbits in this height are referred to as MEO – medium earth orbit. In comparison, geostationary satellites like ASTRA or Meteosat – satellites orbit the earth at 42300 km, which is about twice the distance of GPS satellites.
The satellites are arranged on 6 planes, each of them containing at least 4 slots where satellites can be arranged equidistantly. Today, typically more than 24 satellites orbit the earth, improving the availability of the system.
The inclination angle of the planes towards the equator is 55°, the planes are rotated in the equatorial plane by 60° against each other. This means that the orbits range from 55° north to 55° degrees south. Block I satellites had an inclination of 63° against the equator.

Personally I get more satellites at night and fewer during the day. But since it only takes a lock on 3 satellites to get a 3D fix you'll be okay. You should always receive more satellites than that. The rest should just help pinpoint your location a little better. With my CF-29 I typically get a fix on 7-8 satellites and with the custom GPS in the CF-28 I get 9-12 sats. As mentioned soooooo omany times in other areas of this forum and also the Internet... The stock setup in the CF-28 STINKS! That is why we change them out!

 

Thanks, I just wanted to know. As you know alot of GPS say they can track 4,8 12 and now 20, Some GPS units only can keep record of so many. I was just curious sounds like its firmware is 12 sats at most.

As for Transmitting, GPS transponders can be added to GPS units, since this is NOT your normal laptop and because of such the high quality and costs, Its not impossible they could add that feature, I just doubt it, but I wanted to make sure.

So on the GPS in the CF-29 they use an antenna incased in the side over the battery? I wonder why it works in the CF-29 and in the CF-28 it blocked the signal, I heard one oculd modify the CF-28 with a different Antenna and it didnt perform to bad it was not having an external antenna that was the Problem.

Also when using your CF-29 have you tried indoors to see how well it responds some recievers are more better than others, I am just trying to fin out info until my laptop arrives.

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.

Also do you know when I can get a Rubber waterproof Backlit Keyboard for the CF-29 for a good price, I hate to spend $150 for a keyboard.

 

you can get a keyboard here for $49.99 but I would hold out for a new one for more money, this is barley worth the $49.99 due to condition.

http://www.bobjohnson.com/_store/Dis...D=PANA-CF28-RBe

 

My 29 came with stock GPS. The antenna is a "bump out" on the left palm rest on the front of the machine (by the power LED). It is maybe a 1/4 inch square and hardly noticeable. I pick up 3-5 satellites regularly, even indoors, with hits in the mid-40's to 50's on WinFAST. Fewer satellites than the 28 after-market mod we did with the GeoHelix antenna, but much higher signal strength. With the 28 I got 8-10 satellites, but a strength in the high 20's to low 30's. As TB said, you only need 3. So fewer satellites with a stronger signal seems a fair trade-off all things being equal. I still want to tinker to see if a GeoHelix antenna can be added to the 29 GPS. I doubt it can, but I would cry to see 8-10 satellites at 40-50 strength! Hope this helps...

 

This is OziExplorer using the factory gps (right now). The last two days I'm beginning to wonder if there was some kind of solar activity as there were periods last night where I couldn't get a fix even outside. This is a CF28 but I understand the antenna, the gps module, etc. are the same.

 

Hi! can you give me the exact part no. of the gps engine alone coz i have already an sled for it. Thanks


ohlip

 

The CF-29 uses a 12 channel receiver I think they are using SONY gps engines now same as the CF-19 and CF-30. To be able able to use the GPS for some kind of lojack transponder you would just need some specialized software to send the GPS data to the CDMA modem over cellular this is how they track fleet vehicles also known as AVL. So in essence if you have a WWAN that is your GPS transponder.

 

Sure can. Give me a few minutes...

 

Then why post the link? (Your link is no good BTW!) Have you purchased from them before? How do you know that they are "barely worth the money?"
They are actually a pretty good deal considering a brand new one can run more than twice that price.

Here's the link for the rubber keyboard. It shoudl work fine on the 29... http://www.bobjohnson.com/_store/Display_Buy.asp?prodID=PANA-CF28-RB

I ordered 4 of these from them. 3 looked brand new and 1 was in pretty bad shape. I called them about it and talked with Bob Johnson. He said, "No problem! Send it back!" So it went out yesterday. I would imagine that they will send a new looking one like the others were.
They have already sent me a tracking number of the new one before they have even received the old one back. So they seem UP on customer service... I'll let everyone know how the 4th one turns out.

The 29 works well enough to get a fix indoors. It's not quite as good as the custom GPS in the 28s that we've been doing but it is still very good and has never failed me. The GPS and antenna that was installed in the 28 is totally different than what is installed in the 29... TOTALLY different.

 

Hrmm... where is the GPS engine located on the 29? I expected it to be on the sled considering what you all were saying, but all I see is the PCB and the sprint EVDO card?

 

Found it.. NM
You have to take the plastic "handle" off the sled to reveal the GPS antenna ( The module is located next to the EVDO modem, on the underside of the PCB board)..
The part number for the module appears to be CN-gx0290AA and it has what appears to be an MMCX antenna plug, so, provided we find an alternate locale for a Jim Gray antenna, it should be an easy mod.

 

Thanks for fixing the link.

I will call them and send it back. It isn't horrible but I would of paid more for a better one assuming this was the quality $49. got you. I didn't realize $49. also got you nice ones.

 

It is extremley rare for GPS to go down, ie no signal. There is however a spot in Providence, RI where all of my GPS recievers have gone down for as long as 36 hours. I'm talking Garmin, Furuno, my toughbook with USB gps, and even my CSI Vector Pro($7500 base price, sub-meter twin reciever DGPS). I don't believe it has anything to do with the satellites, but is caused by a local anomaly or interference of some sort. Other dredgemen have mentioned this happening to them in other places. It's a big deal because in this day and age we can't dig without our positioning systems. I have never noticed any particular degradation of GPS signals caused by weather which is odd when you consider how fast sat tv can turn to crap in bad weather. By the way, until this year, when the need for serial input exceeded 6 ports, we were quite satisfied with CF-27's for these applications. Just not enough ways to get the data into the machines.

 

Doobi, thanks for the info that helps and thanks to all the others for their help.

ToughBook, The keyboard they show only has 2 cables doesnt the CF-29 NEED 3 cables? and if not what is the Third small cable for?

Thanks

 

The 28 version has two cables and was built for the 27 & 28 but I have been told (In a post around here somewhere) that it also works in the 29. There is also a rubber keyboard that is built for the 29 and looks exactly the same except for the 3 ribbon cables instead of two. (Duh!) The third cable controls the brightness levels usually but with the two cable keyboard it is controlled by one of the two cables... So it makes you wonder why they made one with three cables.

I'll let you know how my experience with the return goes but the guy seemed very nice about the whole thing. If you don't like the one you got... Call them up and tell them that your "Friends" ordered ones and the ones they received looked almost new. I must say that the 4th one I received certainly wasn't worth $49... It was in such bad shape there is no WAY I'd sell it on one of mine!

Here's a tip for the used rubber keyboards... Use a little slightly soapy water and clean it up... I use a spray bottle. I let it sit on ther for a few minutes and the lightly scrub back and forth with a microfiber towel. Then you can use a quality rubber dressing (same towel) to make it really look great. The ones I did looked better than any new one I ever bought. I've been typing on one in the shop for over a week and it still kept its sheen and new look. Plus it doesn't collect the fuzzies that they normally do.

 

Oh, BTW -

Shell Gasoline is running a promotion (at least here in San Antonio - though I imagine it is or will be chain-wide) where you get for free... with a 10 gallon fuel purchase... One very nifty microfiber cleaning cloth just like TB recommends! As I make it a habit to fill up every third tank or so with the High Detergent Premium in all my vehicles anyhow, it's a nice little pilon for my trouble...

mnem
Step right up... rags for gas... How can you pass THIS ONE UP?

 

Interesting, that means the Rubber Keyboard I got on my 28 shoudl work on the 29, I thought I needed the 2 cables, because on my 28 it has a port for a thrid cable. lol I guess I WILL just have to try.

Also Thats a good Idea on the keyboard, I get fuzzies all the time on mine, Maybe ArmorALL would be a good Idea also?

BTW no one here I suppose has a Power poert rubber cover that is extra for sale? lol I need one for my laptop.

Another question I am curious on is the BIOS battery for the 28 I tried to order one etc, and never could get the right battery even from that heartland place. What type of battery does Panasonic use Lith, MiNh?

And can replacement batteries be bought for the 29's since they are newer?

 

has anyone actualy put the 28 rubber keyboard in a 29 and had it work? Before reading this post I somehow assumed (I know about asuming) it was a tried and true swap. No sarcasm intended.

I'm not a big armour all fan for rubber, I think it makes it gooey and then dries it out rather than protecting it. If you go to a Honda motorcycle dealer you can buy somthing called "honda pollish" it is amazing stuff. Works great on any plastic or rubber or even painted surfaces.

 

KUSA... are the one who posted somewhere that the rubber backlit keyboard, from cf-28 with two ribbon cables works on cf-29.


ohlip

 

Sweet!! I was just making sure.

 

I'll let you know when I get mine. I cant figure why they have a 3rd cable if it doesnt make a difference? There must be something missing when using a 2 cable version on a CF with 3 ports?

 

Does anyone know if the Rubberized lighted keyboard with 3 ribbon cables
will work on the CF-73?

Thanks

 

I guess you didn't read my post above... I explained it. The CF-29s are made to work with the keyboards that are MADE for the CF-29... The 3rd, small cable usually controls the lighting of the keypad. However... The CF-28 also has 3 connections... But it also allows the 2 cable keyboard to work in it since the rubber 2 cable keyboard is made to work with only two connections. I think they did this so it would fit the CF-27/28/29 series without them having to change anything. They DO make a 3 cable rubber keyboard specifically for the CF-29... It will also fit the CF-28 IF you have the correct light sensor and light sensor pc board... But will NOT fit into the CF-27 and work correctly!

It's all a big mix and match... I think I have tried just about every combination of keyboard in CF-28s and some on CF-29s.

Hope this clears this up.

 

thanks, Thats good news, then the 2 cable keyboard should still allow me to control the lighting level on the keys? Wierd why they would even change that to 3 cables to begin with. lol

 

Ya. Im running a two ribbon rubber backlit from a 27 on my 29...backlight works and is adjustable all three stages. The key board is just about 1/16" narrower on the right side than the 29 but still seals up fine.

When I pulled my no backlit cf-29 keyboard it only had two ribbon cables. To be honest I dont even remember seeing a socket for a third????? This machine is also a mk1 so that may have somthing to do with it.