Disabling "Static Navigation" on GPSr chip?

[Guest Mojoski]

Hey, guys! Does anyone know how to disable the "static navigation" feature of the GPSr chipset in the Blackjack 2? While I like having a steady GPS pointer while stopped at a traffic light, I don't like it so much that I want to render the GPSr unusable at slow walking speeds. I'm a geocacher and I need the GPS values to be updated even when walking slowly..

Anyone have a clue how to do this?

Thanks!

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

Hey, guys! Does anyone know how to disable the "static navigation" feature of the GPSr chipset in the Blackjack 2? While I like having a steady GPS pointer while stopped at a traffic light, I don't like it so much that I want to render the GPSr unusable at slow walking speeds. I'm a geocacher and I need the GPS values to be updated even when walking slowly..

Anyone have a clue how to do this?

Thanks!

Now if that's really the reason it's a little slow, that'd be great, as I'd love to have a back-up to my Vista HCX...but I'm skeptical.

I've looked through the GPS registry settings that I can find and don't see anything relevant or suggestive to "Static Navigation."

This would be really great, as Cachemate for WM Smartphone has a "Navigate To" option (with pointer) that works with the BJ II's GPSr.

[Guest Mojoski]

Cachemate's CacheNAv plugin is the whole reason I'm trying to figure this out. It is definately a problem with the "Static Navigation" feature of the SiRFstar III chipset. I've been doing a bunch more reading tonight since I originally posted, and I'm convinced of that much.

I have found 4 different programs that claim to allow a user to be able to disable the Static Navigation feature of the chipset, and it happens in the chip firmware, not in the Windows Mobile software, so that is why it isn't controlled by anything in the Registry.

Here are a few threads with more info:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread...6079&page=2

http://www.gpstuner.com/forum/viewtopic.ph...6bb5a26c3a1b0e9

Some of the tools mentioned are: MMSirf, SirfDemo, SirfTech, etc..

Unfortunately I couldn't get any of these to work for me. They either hang up and can't be killed when I connect them to COM4, causing me to have to reboot my BJ2 to get them out of memory, or they won't install at all because they were made for PocketPC and Windows Mobile 6 Standard won't let me install them.

Surely someone out there has figured this out already on the BlackJack II and can lend a brother a hand!?

:D

Thanks!

Mojo

Now if that's really the reason it's a little slow, that'd be great, as I'd love to have a back-up to my Vista HCX...but I'm skeptical.

I've looked through the GPS registry settings that I can find and don't see anything relevant or suggestive to "Static Navigation."

This would be really great, as Cachemate for WM Smartphone has a "Navigate To" option (with pointer) that works with the BJ II's GPSr.

[Guest Mojoski]

A bit more info, but nothing that works on a BlackJack II..

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?topic_id=39596

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

Cachemate's CacheNAv plugin is the whole reason I'm trying to figure this out. It is definately a problem with the "Static Navigation" feature of the SiRFstar III chipset. I've been doing a bunch more reading tonight since I originally posted, and I'm convinced of that much.

I have found 4 different programs that claim to allow a user to be able to disable the Static Navigation feature of the chipset, and it happens in the chip firmware, not in the Windows Mobile software, so that is why it isn't controlled by anything in the Registry.

Here are a few threads with more info:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread...6079&page=2

http://www.gpstuner.com/forum/viewtopic.ph...6bb5a26c3a1b0e9

Some of the tools mentioned are: MMSirf, SirfDemo, SirfTech, etc..

Unfortunately I couldn't get any of these to work for me. They either hang up and can't be killed when I connect them to COM4, causing me to have to reboot my BJ2 to get them out of memory, or they won't install at all because they were made for PocketPC and Windows Mobile 6 Standard won't let me install them.

Surely someone out there has figured this out already on the BlackJack II and can lend a brother a hand!?

:D

Thanks!

Mojo

I too found SirfTech. Got it loaded, found Static Navigation options (along with all kinds of other things), but it won't seem to let me keep Static Navigation box Unchecked...

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

Also tried MMSirf and Beeline, both to no avail (even though Beeline is listed as WM5/6 friendly)...

[Guest Mojoski]

Beware! In messing around with a few SiRF tweaking apps last night I seem to have somehow put my SiRF chipset into a state where Windows can no longer communicate with it.. ARGH!!

Anyone have any clue on how to set it back to factory defaults?

Thanks!

Also tried MMSirf and Beeline, both to no avail (even though Beeline is listed as WM5/6 friendly)...

[Guest emerson42]

I'd love to be able to use the Blackjack II for caching more too, but I haven't found any software that really works. Most of it seems to be for Windows Mobile Professional. I'm very hesitant to change the settings with any tools. I don't want to mess up the chip.

[Guest jbone]

Beware! In messing around with a few SiRF tweaking apps last night I seem to have somehow put my SiRF chipset into a state where Windows can no longer communicate with it.. ARGH!!

Anyone have any clue on how to set it back to factory defaults?

Thanks!

*SCARY*

[Guest Mojoski]

Well, if not for the Static Navigation issue, I would have been quite thrilled with the BJ2 as a geocaching platform. I mapped CacheMate (with a functioning CacheNav plugin) to my CV hardware button and the Garmin Mobile XT application to the AT&T MediaNet button (with the AT&T logo on it) and that was everything I needed!! The CacheNav compass pointer just started acting dead when I got out of the car and started walking. That was why I was trying to get rid of the Static Navigation "feature" on my SiRF chip. Once I get SiRF awake again, and get rid of Static Navigation, the BlackJack II will be the ultimate in geocaching smartphones, as far as I'm concerned!

Also, if you can't pony up the bucks for Garmin Mobile XT to get you to the caches while driving, it is worth checking out the gpsVP application as well. Smittyware just released a new version of CacheMate for smartphone (v1.0.4) that has an add on plugin for OziExplorer WPT file exports. That can be used to dump the caches straight onto the gpsVP map!!

Either of these solutions should be perfect for geocaching!!

If only we could safely disable the Static Navigation...

I'd love to be able to use the Blackjack II for caching more too, but I haven't found any software that really works. Most of it seems to be for Windows Mobile Professional. I'm very hesitant to change the settings with any tools. I don't want to mess up the chip.

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

An overnight sitting with the battery removed may reset that chip...

-How are you using GarminXT to find caches?

-Have you posted at GC's forums regarding the Static Navigation?

[Guest christophe75]

*SCARY*

Remove 30 mn your battery work for me.

[Guest Mojoski]

I use Garmin Mobile XT for navigating me to the general area (with waypoints dumped for GSAK into MapSource) and then use the CacheNav plugin for CacheMate when I park and get out to go look fo the cache. It's this last part that of walking to the cache that the Static Navigation makes nearly impossible.

For the record, a quick hard reset fixed my GPS device, but taking the battery out, and holding the power button in did not.

The last time I had to do a reset I saved onto my microSD card all of the CAB and config files I needed to get my device back to how I like it. It took about an hours after reset, so that isn't too bad.

[Guest christophe75]

Mojoski you don t need an hard reset,

BJII keep some config infos on files and on memory (BJII OFF stay ON).

Remove the battery for some hours is enought to reset the GPS part.

Edited April 22, 2008 by christophe75

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

Huzaah! I don't know why I didn't try all that before...

I sent my PQ to GSAK, exported to Mapsource, synced with XT, and it looks like I can find/edit/delete the caches under Manage My Data: My Locations. Is this the way you're doing it?

Is the information being stored under \Garmin somewhere (I'm not seeing it)?

Now...just to get rid of that Static Navigation (or maybe you can run for a few yards at 3.5MPH!).

Edited April 22, 2008 by JeepinCalifornia

[Guest Mojoski]

Under Tools from the main menu, look at "Manage My Data".. There is an option in there somewhere about deleting them all..

I wish it would let you delete all with a certain icon, like my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx device will.

Mojo - I sent 10 caches to Mapsource, synced with GarminXT, and it said it was a success - but I haven't found where/how to find those within the menus of GarminXT. If the caches were going to appear on the map I should be able to see at least one from my own location, but I don't... Help?

EDIT: After restarting GarminXT, I see the caches. :D I looked around the Garmin folders and don't see where this info was added - how do I remove the caches now?

I

[Guest emerson42]

XT definitely has differences from the hiking GPSrs like the eTrex and 60CSX. That's one of my biggest problems with it. If we could get rid of the static navigation so Cachemate would work better I don't know that I'd use XT near as much.

[Guest brs165]

Has anybody been able to figure out a way to disable static navigation on the BJ2? Any update?

[Guest jbone]

Has anybody been able to figure out a way to disable static navigation on the BJ2? Any update?

I think ppl got scared away due to Mojoski post #7 lol

I know I did.

[Guest brs165]

I think ppl got scared away due to Mojoski post #7 lol

I know I did.

Where is you sense of adventure!! :D

I also tried a few apps such as SirfTech and was unable to change the SN setting.

[Guest DennisGr]

SirfTech v2.14 is supposed to have almost full functionality also on the Windows Smartphone platform.

List boxes are converted to spinner controls. Check boxes are never undeterminate, only checked or unchecked.

Navigate between dialog controls with up and down arrow, select control options with left and right arrow.

Tall dialogs automatically gets a scrollbar. Scroll using up and down arrow.

As I don't have any Smartphone I cannot test it. I have only run it in an emulator.

http://w5.nuinternet.com/s660100031/SirfTech.htm

Best Regards

Dennis Gröning

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

SirfTech v2.14 is supposed to have almost full functionality also on the Windows Smartphone platform.

List boxes are converted to spinner controls. Check boxes are never undeterminate, only checked or unchecked.

Navigate between dialog controls with up and down arrow, select control options with left and right arrow.

Tall dialogs automatically gets a scrollbar. Scroll using up and down arrow.

As I don't have any Smartphone I cannot test it. I have only run it in an emulator.

http://w5.nuinternet.com/s660100031/SirfTech.htm

Best Regards

Dennis Gröning

I couldn't resist, so I tried it out:

At first, I wasn't able to make the check-mark stay in Static Navigation Box, but after a few times of exiting and re-entering that menu, I was able to check it; I then exited out of the program, re-entered, and the box was still checked. I then started GPS Test and got a lock; but there was no change of given coord's after I walked 100'+ away. This was consistent with Garmin XT and Smittyware's Cachemate. If I try to select "Set" while the Static Navigation Box is [stuck] checked, an error comes up and reads "Indeterminate."

I went to uncheck the box to, I suppose, return things to normal, but I cannot uncheck the box - it won't let me. Interesting. Everything still appears to work as normal, though, as I took a drive just to make sure...

Edited June 11, 2008 by JeepinCalifornia

[Guest DennisGr]

I will try to outline in reasonable detail how I would go about turning off static navigation on an unknown Smartphone.

At first start of SirfTech the about dialog is displayed. Close it with the OK button.

Next you need to get communication to work between the GPS chip and SirfTech.

Use menu NMEA, Communication to open the Communication dialog.

If you know which com port the GPS is connected to, select that port else use the 'Find Port & Baud' button.

If you know at which baudrate the com port can receive data from the GPS correctly select that baudrate else use the 'Find Baud' button.

If you selected the correct com port it should show by an incrementing received bytes counter.

If also the baudrate is correct you should also see the NMEA or SiRF or even both message counters incrementing.

Only now if you are receiving messages you can actually use SirfTech to do anything useful else you can only look at the menus and dialogs. Exit the communication dialog.

For starters you can observe incoming GPS data in the main screen. You can also switch to the graph screen to see trends of various data.

Next would be to try if it is possible to execute some command to the GPS in the protocol it is currently running. That is if the NMEA message counter is incrementing, only commands on the NMEA menu will work and if the SiRF message counter is incrementing, only SiRF menu commands will work. Communication and Graph dialogs are of course independent of protocol.

For now I assume the GPS is outputting data using the NMEA protocol. Most devices do so by default.

Use menu NMEA, Navigation Initialization. With the radio button 'Snap Start' marked use the Set button to send the command to the GPS chip. If successful the GPS chip will output some information text that is parsed by SirfTech to populate the empty text boxes. Executing a snap start restarts the GPS chip program in the same way as turning the power off and on. A hotstart is the same only that it is the same as having the power turned off for a longer time, I guess some minutes. If you don't get any reaction from a snap start, it might not be impemented in the chip, try a hot start. If you do get a reaction, go to the read only edit box at the bottom of the dialog. Scroll down the text to find a baudrate. This is valuable information for safely switching protocol later.

To be able to switch static navigation off on a SiRF GPS chip, it has to be using the SiRF binary protocol. Switching protocol on a SiRF GPS chip unfortunaltly means that you also have to specify a baudrate to be used by the GPS chip when restarting using the new protocol.

Even more unfortunat is that some GPS devices or rather communication channels don't support all possible baudrates that the chip can be set to use. Bluetooth devices as an example typically support only 38400 baud so switching protocol on one of these to another baudrate then 38400 will cause loss of communication. You cannot receive proper data and you cannot send any command to rectify it. All data in both directions is garbled by the incorrect baudrate. To get such a device back in working order can mean leaving it to discharge internal batteries until a reset to default settings occur after maybe weeks of waiting.

Use menu NMEA, Set Serial Port. The protocol is by default selected to SiRF protocol. If a previous snap start resulted in a text with a baudrate being output and correctly picked up by SirfTech, that baudrate should now already be selected and safe to use.

On some devices you can open the com port at any baudrate and still receive correct data. This means that you cannot trust that the baudrate selected for the com port is the same as the baudrate the GPS chip is using. If on the other hand you can receive proper data only when opening the com port at one specific baudrate that baudrate should be safe to use and probably other baudrates to but I would not bet on the others.

If you did not get an indication of a safe baudrate I recommend not going further. You would not want to be the first to find out if your device can handle only one baudrate. Search the internet to find out more.

If you are confident enough to go on, use the Set button to send the command. If successful the NMEA time should stop incrementing. If using a low baudrate like 4800 and SiRF binary protocol it could take 30 seconds before responding to commands. It works but with slow response. If the selected baudrate was the same as the com port was opened with the SiRF time should start incrementing. If not, use the =Baud button to adjust the com port baudrate.

Now assuming the GPS is already outputting data using the SiRF protocol.

Try menu SiRF, Poll Software Version. Opening a SiRF dialog actually activates the Get button automatically to send a command to the GPS chip to read the current value of settings. In case there is no response try using the Get button manually.

Having gotten this far successfully, you can go on to the SiRF, Static Navigation dialog. Uncheck the checkbox and use the Set button to send the command to turn off static navigation. Check the checkbox and use the Get button to verify.

Observing the main screen speed and direction numbers (or the bottom two graphs) after getting a fix indicates very clearly if static navigation is on or off.

For switching back to NMEA protocol using the SiRF, Switch to NMEA dialog, the same precaution regarding using a known safe baudrate applies. Don't try it if you are not sure.

If the GPS was using NMEA before it is very likely that your other programs using the GPS output must have the GPS chip back to NMEA protocol at the same baudrate as before to work.

Best Regards

Dennis Gröning

[Guest JeepinCalifornia]

Dennis - thank you for your detailed response; the time taken is appreciated. It didn't work for me, but here's a bit of info that might help you determine what's going on (?).

In NMEA, Communication, I was only able to select the "Open" Box for the Log File and, the upper-most "Close" Box (choosing "Close" totally froze SirfTech and it had to be shut down via Task Manager). I could not manipulate or select the baud/com boxes, though they did show as COM4, 4800, respectively. The "Messages" numbers for NMEA kept increasing (SiRF stayed at 0) and the Baudrate for NMEA displayed (under the "Messages NMEA" numbers) at 0, as well, as did Effective. Bytes continued to increase, and Errors read FE=0 PE=0 OE=0 QOE=0.

I continued with your instructions...

Under NMEA, Nav. Init., I tried Snap and Hot Starting but there was no reaction and I could see no text box on the bottom of that page. 12 sat's were in view and the rest of the above boxes were empty.

I then tried to switch Serial Port (to SiRF), as you suggested...I first tried 4800 which had no effect and 19,200 (which GPS Test seems to auto-set to) prompted a response of "Buffer Full."

I closed all programs, power cycled the phone, tried it again, and had the same results.

Edited June 11, 2008 by JeepinCalifornia

[Guest DennisGr]

It seems I have some unsuitable setting in SirfTech that prevents proper transmission to the GPS on your device. I will se what I can do. If you could make screen shots of bad SirfTech behaviour it would help troubleshooting.

BR

Dennis