New, Updated, and Interesting Items
on Joe and Jack's Website
for July, 2000
31 July 2000
Garmin has posted eTrex European software version 2.02.
Changes Made from Versions 2.01 to 2.02:
      New user configurable north reference offset that can be modified on the units setup page.
      New project waypoint feature that allows you to create waypoints from existing waypoints given a distance a bearing.
      New hide/show waypoints feature on the Map page that is accessed from the option menu.
      Editing the location of a waypoint is now displayed correctly.
      Added PVT output support.
      Fixed rare memory anomaly caused by uncontrolled shutdown.
      Added bearing and distance to the map when viewing a waypoint from the Review Waypoint page.
      The elevation on the Review Waypoint page can now be modified.
      Added more time zones. Note: Daylight savings needs to be turned on/off manually for time zones out of the United States.
      More zoom levels on the Map page.
      New display option on the Map page for the Goto navigational line. The line can be displayed from your current position (default) or from your original point of navigation as a course line. This option can be changed from the Map page's option menu by selecting "SHOW BEARING LINE" (default) or "SHOW COURSE LINE".
      The UTC label is no longer displayed on the time when the UTC offset is zero.
      The user selected north reference offset is saved correctly.
      The restore defaults button on the units setup page saves the defaults correctly.
      Elevation is no longer displayed in kilometers or kilofeet when exceeding 1,000. It now remains in meters or feet.
      Shortened the Australian grid abbreviations.
      Improvements in positioning to fix erroneous track logs.
      Improved the arrival alarm.
      Changed the meter unit symbol from 'mt' to 'm' to be consistent with international standards.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
30 July 2000
Garmin has posted eTrex firmware version 2.09.
Changes Made from Versions 2.08 to 2.09:
      Fixed elevation display on the Compass page so that it does not "dash out" after 9999.
      Improvements in positioning to fix erroneous track logs.
      Improved the arrival alarm.
      Changed the meter unit symbol from 'mt' to 'm' to be consistent with international standards.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
Garmin has posted eTrex Summit firmware version 2.03.
Changes Made from Versions 2.03 to 2.04:
      Improvements in positioning to fix erroneous track logs.
      Improved the arrival alarm.
      Changed the meter unit symbol from 'mt' to 'm' to be consistent with international standards.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
Airlines which APPROVE or DISAPPROVE GPS use during flights has been updated.
Under: Information.
Automatic Power ON when you apply external Power to your G-III PLUS: Modification.
Under: Instructions.
Post Process data from your G-12(or xl) for more accuracy: Try ASYNC event logger.
Under: Links to Third-Party GPS Intermediate Software.
23 July 2000
GPS Satellite ORBITS: Where are they RIGHT NOW and which ones can I receive RIGHT NOW? (Link)
Under: Information.
A link has been added to Italiano: Informazioni e tutorial in Italiano sui GPS Garmin da Massimo D'Eramo.
Under: Links to Other GPS Information Sites.
21 July 2000
Garmin has posted MapSource version 3.05.
MapSource Version 3.03 to 3.05 Differences
      Changed software version number from 3.03 to 3.05.
      Fixed a problem where double-clicking on a blank line in the route dialog caused MapSource to fail.
      Added ability to use the new USB Data Card Programmer.
      Maps are now transferred first instead of last.
      Fixed a problem that caused route transfer progress to be displayed incorrectly when transferring to some GPS units.
      Fixed a divide by zero problem in the transfer progress code.
      Fixed a problem that caused the sign of user-specified magnetic variation to be wrong.
      Changed longitude origin value in the user-defined grid dialog to be displayed with 4 digits to the right of the decimal.
      Made several internal changes to improve reliability.
      Uses highest-resolution map data when creating waypoints graphically thus improving waypoint placement.
      Changed text in cursor pop-ups to be mixed case instead of upper case.
      Changed display of British National, Irish Trans Mercator and MGRS grid eastings and northings to include leading zeroes.
      Added display of time remaining when saving to or opening from a device.
      Changed the default grid to be Lat/Lon hddd mm.mmm.
      A more user-friendly dialog is now displayed when MapSource can't find a needed file.
      Moved serial port settings from the preferences dialog to the "Open from Device" and "Save to Device" dialogs.
      Corrected problem which caused altitudes exchanged between MapSource and a GPS to disagree. As a result of this fix, waypoint and track altitude data that was obtained from a GPS and then saved to an MPS file will now display correctly in MapSource with no user intervention required. However, waypoint altitudes in existing MPS files that were manually entered by the user with previous versions of MapSource will now be incorrect and should be corrected by the user.
      Corrected a problem which caused MapSource to fail if the user right- clicked in the title bar while creating a route graphically and then left clicked in the map.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
18 July 2000
Garmin has posted eTrex firmware version 2.08.
Changes Made from Versions 2.07 to 2.08:
      The UTC label is no longer displayed on the time when the UTC offset is zero.
      The user selected north reference offset is saved correctly.
      The restore defaults button on the units setup page saves the defaults correctly.
      Elevation is no longer displayed in kilometers or kilofeet when exceeding 1,000. It now remains in meters or feet.
      Shortened the Australian grid abbreviations.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
Garmin has posted eTrex Summit firmware version 2.03.
Changes Made from Versions 2.02 to 2.03:
      The UTC label is no longer displayed on the time when the UTC offset is zero.
      The user selected north reference offset is saved correctly.
      The restore defaults button on the units setup page saves the defaults correctly.
      Shortened the Australian grid abbreviations in the map datum list.
      Added Support for NMEA magnetic heading sentence $HCHDG - Heading, Deviation, and Variation sentence with HEADING SENSORS: Compass, Magnetic talker ID.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
Garmin has posted GPSMAP 295 firmware version 2.05.
Changes Made from Versions 2.04 to 2.05:
      Corrected map night mode north up arrow and vehicle icon display.
Alpine Automobile Navigation System: Raja Bhat describes his new system.
Under: Feature Items.
Garmin Internal Datum Storage - What Datum is output in GRMN and NMEA modes?
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
FRENCH speaking GPS newsgroup: Where can I find one?
Under: Information.
Aviation Flight Planning Software for various GPS Receivers
Under: Links to Third-Party GPS Intermediate Software.
Other news is a firmware update for the GPSMAP 162/168 Sounder (2.12) and an announcement by TVNAV about a new cardreader and larger capacity cards for the eMap and StreetPilots.
12 July 2000
Peter has asked us to relate that Peter Bennett's GPS Index is now at a backup site due to a server failure.
Under: Links to Other GPS Information Sites.
Dale DePriest has updated several chapters of his GPS User Manual, including the sections on Getting Started, Working with the user interface, Working with the Garmin Screens, Working with databases and Undocumented features.
Under: Instructions.
11 July 2000
Garmin has posted eMap firmware version 2.51.
Changes Made from Versions 2.50 to 2.51:
      Display directions using the North Reference and Magnetic Variation settings from the Advanced Setup Page, instead of always using True North.
      The Points of Interest settings no longer control the display of minor contour lines.
      Reduced park symbol clutter (trees) on displayed maps.
      Display the exit description and distance to the exit, instead of the exit number only, when showing next street on an Interstate.
      Display expanded descriptions for Navaids and Obstructions.
      Added yards units, which are identical to Statute units except that distances from 100 feet to 1000 yards are displayed in yards.
      Store waypoints received through NMEA input WPL sentence.
      Improved synchronization between name and list fields on various pages.
      Increased the breadth of waypoint symbols stored when transferring waypoints into the unit in GARMIN format.
Under: FAQs - Hardware.
Garmin has posted GPSMAP 295 firmware version 2.04.
Changes Made from Versions 2.03 to 2.04:
      Create/Edit route from map. Show Map - Menu option on the route plan or active route page.
      Create a user waypoint by projecting the bearing and distance from a reference waypoint. Reference Waypoint - Menu option from any waypoint tab page.
      Aviation tab intersection page, changed field title from "BRG" to "Radial". If "AUTO MAG" heading is selected, apply the magnetic variance from the aviation database to the displayed value for "Nearest VOR Radial".
      In OBS mode and if "AUTO MAG" heading is selected, use the magnetic variance at the destination waypoint to generate an OBS course line to the waypoint.
      Display approaching streets and interstate highway exits. Show Next Street - Menu option on the map page in land mode only.
      Improved external power loss detection.
      Added "Vertical Speed" to the configurable fields list on the HSI page, MAP page and GPS Position page.
      Display lat/lon grids on map - Setup Map menu option. The addition of this feature will cause all map setup options to return to default settings.

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