Vernier Tech Info Library TIL #1945

Question

My Vernier GPS is detected by Logger Pro, but never finds any satellites.

Answer

The most likely reason for not seeing satellites is poor view of the sky. Test with the GPS outside, with nothing overhead. The GPS is not designed to work indoors. Allow up to ten minutes to capture satellites if the GPS has not been used recently.

The number of satellites it has acquired is indicated by the green LED on the GPS. About every 5 seconds, there is one long flash followed by a series of short flashes. The number of short flashes indicates the number of satellites acquired.

Another reason for a satellite failure is specific to Macintosh computers. You must use OS X 10.4.11, or 10.5.6 or newer. Older versions of the OS, either 10.4 or 10.5, will not work with the VGPS.

Created by: gastineau on January 23 2009
Last updated by: jhopkins on April 21 2009