CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

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Thomas M
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CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by Thomas M » November 15th, 2018, 2:07 pm

I've been using my Delorme PN-60 for many years. I have 4 of them and do not want to invest in any others.

Garmin doesn't want to help Delorme users and actually wiped out the great Delorme user forums when they bought Delorme.

My PN-60s seem to have reset the internal date to March 9, 1999. Can this be reset?

There is nothing about this in the use manual.

I thought that the date was set by the satellites?

I turned the unit on and left it outside for several hours, but the date did not reset.

Is this a firmware issue? There is no more firmware as Delorme is defunct.

All GPS functions seem in tact. The clock resets to the satellites ok.

CAN THE INTERNAL DATE BE RESET?? I guess I can live with this, but would like to fix if possible.

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aiwetir
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by aiwetir » November 15th, 2018, 11:15 pm

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/56022 ... =20#manual


According to the manual it's set by the satellites, however the change to DST may have messed something up. Maybe try to do some kind of full reset?
- Michael

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retired jerry
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by retired jerry » November 16th, 2018, 7:27 am

let's see...

if you do a full reset on one, there's a chance it will never come back to life but you have 3 others

start with the one you like least :)

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Peabody
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by Peabody » November 20th, 2018, 8:13 pm

This thread on another forum points to the likely cause of your problem.

https://www.gps-forums.com/threads/what ... lem.46549/

Hopefully there's a software update out there that'll help, otherwise you might need to re-purpose it as a cool Christmas Tree ornament.

Edit.
Going down the rabbit hole............

You can download the latest/last firmware update here:
https://support.garmin.com/ms-MY/?faq=v ... V85bzseCe7

Edit 2
.....a little further..........

Here's a link (from the Wayback Machine) that explains in a little more detail about GPS time.

Fun fact: GPS time is 18 seconds ahead of UTC time due to leap seconds. Can't wait to spring that one on Mrs. P outta the blue on our next hike.

Me: Spews out a fun fact.
Mrs. P: What's wrong with you?
Me: Do you mean How do I know so many fun facts?
Mrs. P: No, I mean What's wrong with you?

but I digress.

So the 10 bit week number used by a GPS can track 1024 weeks (the article above says 20 years). If you add 1024 weeks to the March 9, 1999 date you get Tuesday, October 23, 2018. Which puts us right in the ballpark of when your GPS crapped out.

Hopefully that last firmware update can fix your issue.

It's also possible / likely? that your GPS unit will lose the ability to track satellites as time goes on. So if you rely on these while hiking I'd suggest breaking down and purchasing a new one.
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
― E.B. White

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retired jerry
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by retired jerry » November 24th, 2018, 6:05 pm

great, Peabody is back!!! :)

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aiwetir
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by aiwetir » November 24th, 2018, 11:29 pm

I don't think it's impossible to get a position without an almanac file but I could be wrong. I think what will eventually kill the thing is when they retire all the satellites with the radio signals that it uses.
- Michael

DaveStud
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by DaveStud » April 11th, 2019, 2:08 am

I had the same problem with my PN-60. I found the fix with the following firmware update:

[Firmward 3.7][https://support.garmin.com/en-PH/?faq=d ... 0Ly9z8uym5]

Now if only they would fix the problem I have been having connecting my PN=60 to my computer! I'm getting error messages that the device malfunctioned.

Dave

Lurch
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Re: CAN ONE RESET THE DATE ON DELORME PN-60???

Post by Lurch » April 11th, 2019, 6:15 pm

Peabody wrote:
November 20th, 2018, 8:13 pm
.
Fun fact: GPS time is 18 seconds ahead of UTC time due to leap seconds.
Funner fact: Because the satellites are orbiting 20,000km up traveling at 14,000km/hr, and need an accuracy of about 30 billionths of a second, the system needs to account for both general and special relativity.

Because of the speed difference, special relativity has the satellite clocks falling behind by about 7 microseconds / day. But general relativity says their distance from the earth's mass in comparison to the surface should have their clocks ticking faster by about 45 microseconds. 45-7 would have a daily drift of about 38 microseconds a day. Or 38,000 nanoseconds... Remember accuracy relies on 20 to 30 nanoseconds...

Without accounting for relativity, coordinates wouldn't be accurate for more than a few seconds, and the whole system would drift by about 10 km per day

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