GPS in Antarctica

[abmerkle]

I'm spending the austral summer working at a remote field station in Antarctica and brought my Droid X since it is still useful here [MP3, email via camp wifi, etc].

My problem is that when I launch either of my GPS apps [GPS Status, GPS essentials], neither one 'sees' any GPS satellites - and, yes, I do have GPS activated. The programs worked flawlessly when I was in New Zealand, so I have recent experience with functionality in a very similar lat/long. Once down here on 'the ice', I had my droid X and a regular [very old] handheld GPS side by side; the droid didn't pick up any satellites while the handheld unit got a good fix.

Any thoughts?

android 2.2.1 - verizon

Thanks,
Alex

 

[upstatealbundy]

How long (single session) have you left the phone out with a sky view?

 

[FunN4Lo]

Get GPS Status in the market. You can see what the GPS is doing.

 

[schatzy62]

Get GPS Status in the market. You can see what the GPS is doing.

The OP stated he already uses GPS Status and is still having problems

 

[abmerkle]

How long (single session) have you left the phone out with a sky view?

> 10 minutes

 

[schatzy62]

I have searched without luck at finding a thread that talks about some GPS issues with the DX not picking up GPS satellites, so i will try my best to explain this here.

Remove the battery cover and you will see right next to the battery pull tab a small gold colored button. When the battery cover is installed the that button is pressed down by the cover. IT also scratches the cover and if you look at where it hits the cover you will most likely see that scratch. The recommendation was to put a small piece of tape over the scratch on the back cover. This eliminated the metal to metal contact of the button and back cover and the GPS works much better now.

It is as if the button and the cover cause a grounding issue that severally reduces the signal that gets to the GPS antenna in the DX.

Hope that may help you out. Good Luck