Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us
Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network
Home
Discussion Groups
General
General TopicsGSMBluetooth
Providers
AlltelATT WirelessCingularFidoNextelSprint PCST-MobileVerizon
Manufacturers
EricssonNokiaMotorola
Country Specific
Australian GroupUK Group
Related Topics
PocketPCPalmMore Topics ...

Cellular Phone Forum / General / General Topics / July 2008

Tip: Looking for answers? Try searching our database.

Bluetooth gps receiver is better?

Thread view: 
Enable EMail Alerts  Start New Thread
Thread rating: 
drishaq - 27 Jul 2008 09:46 GMT
For some people there is a debate over which to choose a Bluetooth gps
receiver or a compact flash gps receiver.
http://gadgetupdates.googlepages.com/bluetooth_gps_cf_gps
Larry - 27 Jul 2008 21:46 GMT
drishaq <drishaqazhar@gmail.com> wrote in news:944b1c6d-4369-4f85-82a4-
3609cfec756c@b30g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

> For some people there is a debate over which to choose a Bluetooth gps
> receiver or a compact flash gps receiver.
> http://gadgetupdates.googlepages.com/bluetooth_gps_cf_gps

GPS receiver is always better because of the nature of GPS.....

GPS antennas must ALWAYS, regardless of the cellphone nonsense, have a
clear view of the sky to it can receive the really miniscule, near-
noise-level UHF signals from up to 12 satellites in very high orbits,
compared, for instance, to INMARSAT phone satellites just on the very
edge of the thin atmosphere.  You can see their current positions about
halfway between the near earth orbit cluster where the shuttle, Hubble
and ISS orbit, hardly out of the air, and the stationary satellite ring
of birds orbiting at the same speed the earth turns so they appear to be
stationary from earth.  A JAVA applet fed with NORAD data is here:
http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3d.html
It is continuously updated.  If you watch it over time, the birds are
all moving in their orbits.  Click on a point and the track and
satellite info appear on the applet.

Around 16,000 miles from your massive iPhone antenna, you can imagine
the immense power level available to your receiver, which in the daytime
barely overcomes the noise from the hot tarmac of the parking lot and
the sun which radiates billions of watts on all frequencies of noise.  
(It's that bright object it hurts to look at.)

So, here we set, perhaps in an airplane with our little sellphone GPS or
as the OP states a compact flash GPS stuck in the side of the
laptop.....

GPS signals are RADIO and do not pass through anything conductive, like
the  metal roof over your office, all those floors full of junk over
your floor in a big building, thru the roof of your car or the skin of
Flight 77 heading out to sea to be scuttled with all aboard.  So, it is
a fantastic advantage of the Bluetooth GPS receiver that it can be
positioned SEPARATELY from where the laptop or sellphone or internet
tablet is being used...under the above obstructions.  The little BT GPS
receiver can be placed in the window of the airplane so it has a clear
RF view of even a few of the birds available, if only in one hemisphere
of one that is outside.  Placing the GPS in the window, allows you to
run the BT connected computer or other device in a more convenient
position that is NOT GPS signal friendly up to 30' away.

For this reason, alone, a BT GPS is always better than one mounted on
your laptop or inside your.....er, ah.......iPhone.

I'm using the fantastically sensitive Nokia LD-3W 20 channel, WAAS
compensated, sellphone battery powered, rechargeable, GPS receiver.  It
is so sensitive, it can most times get a lock INSIDE the windows of a
restaurant, but to get a good fix you must not be running off signals
reflected off objects in this manner.  GPS will ONLY give you an
accurate fix, especially a 3D fix, if it can see a minimum of THREE
birds DIRECTLY.  Signals bouncing off objects screw up GPS's analog
timing and make your position fix appear in a different place, moving
around the correct location by up to 100 ft in all directions.  Sitting
with a good view, say on the dash of your car under its windscreen, the
LD-3W will place its position on a mapping program within 2-3 feet of
perfect.  Nokia has a newer, smaller model than this huge 3x2x1/2" box
that weighs 65 grams:
http://www.nokiahowto.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_184774
It's called the LD-4W:
http://europe.nokia.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_350700
It's so small it comes with a suction cup to stick it to any window so
it doesn't fall off the little windowsill....and a keyring so you can
also use it as the world's most expensive RF key fob.
Both these receivers use the SiRF Star III LT, 20 parallel channels
receiver on a chip, which cold starts in 45 seconds and hot starts in 2
seconds (last fix within 2 hours from start).

Bluetooth is just better because of the clearview-to-the-birds
requirement of this UHF analog GPS system.  It's much more flexible to
use.  Walking?  Carry it in your watch pocket, shirt pocket, best would
be a little pocket sewn into the very top of your ballcap for best
reception....(c;

Recharges on same Nokia power supplies the sellphones, Linux tablets
use...(c;
Todd Allcock - 28 Jul 2008 03:28 GMT
> So, it is
> a fantastic advantage of the Bluetooth GPS receiver that it can be
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> run the BT connected computer or other device in a more convenient
> position that is NOT GPS signal friendly up to 30' away.

Or I can just use my external GPS antenna with 25' extension cord that
plugs into my GPS-enabled "sellphone."
Larry - 28 Jul 2008 05:47 GMT
Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AmericaOnLine.com> wrote in news:g6jgd5$4hf$1
@aioe.org:

>> So, it is
>> a fantastic advantage of the Bluetooth GPS receiver that it can be
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> plugs into my GPS-enabled "sellphone."
>  

How handy!  25 ft of coax cable draped over the seats in the Escalade...

Sorry....BT is easily better....IF I remember to charge the GPS every few
days.  MY GPS doesn't run down the tablet's battery.  It has its own...
Todd Allcock - 28 Jul 2008 14:08 GMT
> > Or I can just use my external GPS antenna with 25' extension cord that
> > plugs into my GPS-enabled "sellphone."
>
> How handy!  25 ft of coax cable draped over the seats in the Escalade...

I haven't needed to use it yet, but the option is there.  The Tilt's
internal GPS works fine anywhere in the car I've used it.   I got a little
magmount GPS antenna with my first receiver in 2002- a Pharos Compact Flash
card GPS for my Pocket PC.  By today's GPS standards it was almost as
sensitive to GPS signals as Stevie Wonder's eyes are to light, but even
then I didn't need the antenna for in-car navigation.  The Tilt is easilty
sensitive enough to be used in a car unaided by an external antenna.  Few
places in a car aren't very near a large window!  

> Sorry....BT is easily better....IF I remember to charge the GPS every few
> days.  MY GPS doesn't run down the tablet's battery.  It has its own...

Been there done that.  The internal GPS on my Tilt is more convenient than
carrying yet one more small device with it's own battery that needs
recharging, like I did with my HTC Wizard and iBlue GPS.  An internal GPS
means never having to say "crap!  I forgot to pack the GPS!" (like I did on
trip several months ago!)
Larry - 28 Jul 2008 19:34 GMT
> Been there done that.  The internal GPS on my Tilt is more convenient
> than carrying yet one more small device with it's own battery that
> needs recharging, like I did with my HTC Wizard and iBlue GPS.  An
> internal GPS means never having to say "crap!  I forgot to pack the
> GPS!" (like I did on trip several months ago!)  

Touche'.....stabbed in the heart by the absurd.

I can't forget the GPS because it's always in my neat little camera bag
with the tablet and everything else...even the sellphone, now.

The OP was asking which worked better....and the Bluetooth GPS easily
remoteable DOES work better....unless you forget and leave it home, of
course, or some other absurdity excuse.

--------------------------------------

I also got some really nice desktop battery chargers for the N800's BP-5L
Li-Polymer battery.  You plug either the AC or DC Nokia charging cord into
it and just drop the battery into the top, changing the green power LED to
RED during the charging.  When it goes green again, as it did after only 40
minutes, the battery's full and ready for use.  NOW I can charge my extra
batteries in the car parked at the mall while I'm screwing around with the
tablet inside during lunch.  Battery dead from watching too many new
movies?  Just swap with the hot one by the gearshift lever and be on your
way, leaving the dead cell on the new charger, which will be ready for you
by the time you get back...continuous power, no matter how much you use
it...

Oh, a company in England on Ebay sold them to me for the PRINCELY sum of
$1.97, so I bought 5 for all the places I want to charge the cells...I
already have 5 charging cords, AC and DC.  Now it doesn't matter if I'm in
a hurry and have no time to charge.  There's a hot battery waiting in FIVE
places to grab!
 
Sign In
Join
My Latest Posts
My Monitored Threads
My Blog
My Photo Gallery
My Profile
My Homepage

Start New Thread
Enable EMail Alerts
Rate this Thread



©2008 Advenet LLC   Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.