Will my GPS (bought for the car) work on the train?

[RRrich]

Most of my planned train trips end up with me renting a car, so I will bring my GPS unit (Garmin C340) for the car.

Will my GPS work on the train if I am sitting by a window? I think I can power it from my laptop.

 

[MrFSS]

Most of my planned train trips end up with me renting a car, so I will bring my GPS unit (Garmin C340) for the car.
Will my GPS work on the train if I am sitting by a window? I think I can power it from my laptop.

I just used mine from California to Chicago a couple of months ago. You have to have it right up against the window so the antenna can pick up enough satellites. I could usually get about 4-6 signals so it was enough to triangulate.

 

[mikerd5522]

I've gotten mine (a Garmin Nuvi) to work on a CRJ and Embraer (small 50 seat planes) jets just fine - its pretty cool watching the speed get up to around 600 mph! So if it works that high up, in a small shell at that speed, trains shouldn't be a huge challenge. I've only tried it once on a train, which it worked, but I had to hold it close to the window to get a signal. Once the signal was acquired, I could move it closer to my lap but I couldn't stray far. Next time I use it, I'm going to bring the suction cup window mount and put it right on the side window.

I would recommend changing the setting to "off road" or its equivalent. When I used mine on a train, it kept trying to put the cursor on the nearest street. Also, at no time did it put the cursor on the railroad tracks in the map! It's cool to watch and track your average speed, top speed, mileage, etc. I'm taking a trip to Chicago in May and plan to bring it along once again.

And of course, you should always detach and hide, or put in your pocket, when you leave your seat. Those things are a hot commodity because they're so small, have great resale value, and are easy to steal. It seems like every other day I hear about a GPS theft in which the GPS was left right out in the open. Of course, a train with a bunch of passengers may be different, but you can never be to cautious.

 

[Radparker]

I would recommend changing the setting to "off road" or its equivalent. When I used mine on a train, it kept trying to put the cursor on the nearest street. Also, at no time did it put the cursor on the railroad tracks in the map! It's cool to watch and track your average speed, top speed, mileage, etc. I'm taking a trip to Chicago in May and plan to bring it along once again.

Ha, that is cool. Might be time for me to pick up a portable GPS.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I've gotten mine (a Garmin Nuvi) to work on a CRJ and Embraer (small 50 seat planes) jets just fine - its pretty cool watching the speed get up to around 600 mph!

Does the airline policy allow that?

One of the annoying and subtle properties of devices that we like to think of as radio recievers is that they have to generate radio signals, sometimes right at the frequency they're trying to recieve on, and while they're supposed to have shielding, sometimes those signals can leak out. Anytime you see a device that has an FCC ID on it, that's because there's concern about radio frequency signals leaking out. Digital devices such as computers also tend to use lots of square waves at various radio frequencies, which is why the FCC wants computers tested.

I wouldn't expect airlines to want to take the risk that some passenger's GPS reciever might interfere with the plane's GPS reciever.

 

[da40flyer]

I've gotten mine (a Garmin Nuvi) to work on a CRJ and Embraer (small 50 seat planes) jets just fine - its pretty cool watching the speed get up to around 600 mph!

Would be very leery of using your own GPS in an airliner. Electronic devices that "send or receive a signal" can not be used at all in flight. I put that in quotes because my best friend is an airline captain and he said plugging in one of those is a sure way to end up having a very long chat with the flight crew about it after having the unit probably confiscated for the duration of the flight. I will acknowledge that the chances of it affecting anything on board the aircraft are slim to none, but why open the door to create a problem with the crew.

 

[mikerd5522]

Oh believe me, I know exactly what you mean. I did a little research first before I brought it on board.

First, I emailed Garmin to make sure the metal detector or other equipment wouldn't harm the device - which they said no.

Second, I checked the websites of the airlines. Delta's policy (from Delta.com):

You can use these while the plane is at the gate with the doors open, after the plane has taken off and reached its cruising altitude and before it begins to descend for landing, and after the plane has landed and is taxiing to the gate.

 

Personal digital assistants

Personal computer games

GPS (global positioning satellite) systems

I've also flown US Airways, which I couldn't find a definitive policy on their website. So, when I took out the Garmin, I made sure that the flight attendant saw the GPS, for which he did and smiled right back at me. Some airlines (I can't think of the names off the top of my head) do restrict using a GPS, so you should always take a look at their website or ask a crew member if you are unaware.

Of course with Amtrak, there's very little chance the train can get lost!

I would highly recommend bringing the GPS along in your travels (whatever method - if permitted).

 

[dan72]

My dad brought his Magellan Maestro along on our trip last month. It worked great. We did have it by the window in the sleeper, but when we were in coach on our first leg, he was sitting on the inside and once it picked up the signal, it tracked us the whole time, no problem.

Dan

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The risk isn't just getting lost; some airplanes are sometimes flown with procedures which rely entirely on signals from GPS satellites when landing in weather that obstructs visibility, at which point the GPS may be the only thing preventing an event that the NTSB would describe as ``controlled flight into terrain'', at which point the odds for the airplane passengers are similar to the odds for automobile passengers in a grade crossing accident with a train.

Part of what makes an airplane panel mounted GPS reciever different from any other GPS reciever (including, unfortunately, the recievers used on large ships in the ocean, last I checked) is that the panel mounted aircraft GPS recievers will warn the user when it isn't getting signals from enough satellites, instead of just making up a guess. The pilot should be able to safely abort the landing if the GPS reciever stops being able to recieve signals from the satellites.

But indeed, at cruise altitude the risk is pretty low. I think in practice if the airplane even has a GPS reciever (many of the older large jets probably don't), the pilot can always switch to VOR navigation, possibly on a slightly less direct route.

 

[r_ur_pets_fixed]

OK, I'll admit it. Watching the GPS at cruise altitude is fun. Plus, if I can't sleep, it's neat to see if we're over Greenland or wherever. I do observe the 'no electronic devices' during take offs and landings.

 

[Rick J]

We use our Nuvi 350 on the train all the time. As mentioned earlier, you have to tell it you are going off road. I also tell it we're on a bus. I don't know if that is necessary, but it always works when I do that.

We have to keep it near the window until it acquires the satellites, but then we can move it anywhere in the room.

If it has trouble acquiring satellites you will see a message "Having trouble acquiring satellites. Are you indoors?" Make sure you answer NO. Otherwise it will shut down. After you answer NO, it will ask if you have travelled 100s of miles since the last time you used it. Answer YES and it should be able to find the satellites.

 

[NS VIA FAN]

Would be very leery of using your own GPS in an airliner. Electronic devices that "send or receive a signal" can not be used at all in flight. I put that in quotes because my best friend is an airline captain and he said plugging in one of those is a sure way to end up having a very long chat with the flight crew about it after having the unit probably confiscated for the duration of the flight.........

Many Airlines allow you to use your GPS in flight including Delta, Northwest, & United. But others such as American & Continental do not.

Here’s the list:

http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm

I use mine all the time on Air Canada and WestJet. Once a seatmate rang for the Attendant and said I was using a "cellphone". She looked, said “it’s only a GPS” and continued on her way.

It’s like any other electronic device such as a laptop or camera. Always ask first (I've never been refused) and just use above 10,000 ft. or when the seatbelt sign is off.

Reception on an aircraft is not bad if you keep the unit close to a window........ But still the best place to use a GPS is in the Dome Car on VIA’s Canadian, Ocean, Chaleur or Skeena!

 

[jis]

This is getting a bit off topic but....

The risk isn't just getting lost; some airplanes are sometimes flown with procedures which rely entirely on signals from GPS satellites when landing in weather that obstructs visibility, at which point the GPS may be the only thing preventing an event that the NTSB would describe as ``controlled flight into terrain'', at which point the odds for the airplane passengers are similar to the odds for automobile passengers in a grade crossing accident with a train.

So which airlines use GPS on a regular basis for flying in the US today? I am not talking of unsupervised flights using FANS across Siberia, I am talking about flights with radar coverage over continental US.

Part of what makes an airplane panel mounted GPS receiver different from any other GPS receiver (including, unfortunately, the recievers used on large ships in the ocean, last I checked) is that the panel mounted aircraft GPS receivers will warn the user when it isn't getting signals from enough satellites, instead of just making up a guess.

Why my handy dandy pocket Garmin also warns me if it does not have enough satellites. It does not do any guessing.

The pilot should be able to safely abort the landing if the GPS reciever stops being able to recieve signals from the satellites.

You mean commercial flights as a matter of regular course in the US use GPS for CAT III landing and not the glide slope provided? Interesting.

Note that just because the pilot or the passengers have a moving map display does not necessarily mean that they are being driven by GPS. Planes do have other methods of knowing their exact position continuously, such as inertial navigation systems etc.

Actually, as has been mentioned elsewhere on many airlines there is no problem using a GPS receiver in the passenger cabin. On a flight out to Tokyo one time by United I had hooked up my GPS receiver to my laptop and was using a tracking software on the laptop to watch the earth slide by below. The pilot, on one of his walks out to the back noticed and sat down beside me to chat and said that the laptop display was really neat. He also said that he carried a GPS in his pocket just in case but FAA does not allow use of such for aircraft navigation, except when being used under FANS or other standard protocols. He also said that FANS is not used within the US at present, but maybe someday.

 

[RRrich]

This is getting a bit off topic but....

yes, it is off topic BUT the OP's (my) original question has been answered and the off topic stuff is danged interesting.

IMHO an intelligent person knows lots of STUFF, and the off topic info gets filed away as STUFF

 

[VentureForth]

I have found that GPS reception is spotchy at best. The windows are just way too thick. However, that being said, there are GPS units in the last two years or so that have extra sensitive reception. Those should work well. I also encourage you to use a GPS that has a tracking mode and allows you to follow 'off road'. Many GPS's made for cars (TomTom is notorious for this) automatically lock onto a street, so you can't really see your exact track, nor can you record it and download it to Google Earth or the like.

I love using them for the reasons mentioned above, plus I do a direct-to-city-center ETA and usually it comes pretty close 'cause the stations are usually near the city center. Then, you mark the station as a waypoint and you get a bit better ETA the next time you travel.

 

[Big Iron]

I have found that GPS reception is spotchy at best. The windows are just way too thick. However, that being said, there are GPS units in the last two years or so that have extra sensitive reception. Those should work well. I also encourage you to use a GPS that has a tracking mode and allows you to follow 'off road'. Many GPS's made for cars (TomTom is notorious for this) automatically lock onto a street, so you can't really see your exact track, nor can you record it and download it to Google Earth or the like.

I love using them for the reasons mentioned above, plus I do a direct-to-city-center ETA and usually it comes pretty close 'cause the stations are usually near the city center. Then, you mark the station as a waypoint and you get a bit better ETA the next time you travel.

Venture Forth, I'm digging up an old thread. What type of GPS unit do you have or suggest? I'm looking for options for a trip coming up in mid Feb. I'd like to be able to track the route, set ETA's, view hi/low/avg speeds. I gave my son my garim etrek, it did not have map details of where you were that amounted to anything.

Any and all suggestions of what others use would be helpful. Bear in mind I'm a technology noob.

 

[Henry Kisor]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I've just purchased a GPS (Pentax) that fits in the hot shoe of my Pentax K-5. It embeds lat/long, altitude, UTC time, and compass direction into the "metadata" of the digital file of each photo. With the proper software you can locate on Google Earth the exact spot where the photo was taken. What I don't yet know is how well the tiny GPS will work on a moving train--whether it will be able to lock on to a sufficient number (4) of satellites. We'll see when I travel CHI-WAS on the Cap in February.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I think some of the restrictions on GPS usage while in flight, are hold-overs from 9/11 paranoia. They don't want you being able to pin-point the planes position and relay that info to some friend with a surface-to-air missile launcher.

 

[Big Iron]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. I've just purchased a GPS (Pentax) that fits in the hot shoe of my Pentax K-5. It embeds lat/long, altitude, UTC time, and compass direction into the "metadata" of the digital file of each photo. With the proper software you can locate on Google Earth the exact spot where the photo was taken. What I don't yet know is how well the tiny GPS will work on a moving train--whether it will be able to lock on to a sufficient number (4) of satellites. We'll see when I travel CHI-WAS on the Cap in February.

I'd be very interested in both your experience with your GPS device and your experience on the train.

 

[JayPea]

I have a Nextar GPS device, a cheapie I got on clearance for $45. Its accuracy does sometimes leave something to be desired, such as its stubborn insistance that part of the shortest route between my mom's house and mine would involve driving up a nearly 90 degree embankment and crash into a barn. :lol: But I've used it on the train twice, and it seems to be fairly accurate, though it does indicate that whenever a road is very near to the tracks, the train is going along the road instead of the tracks. But if I need a GPS to tell me whether I'm traveling along a road or along railroad tracks, I have no business being out in public anyway. :lol: One thing: for some reason it didn't work while traveling through the Cascade Tunnel. Can't imagine why not!!!!! :lol:

 

[JayPea]

Also, I have a suction cup mount that I use to attach it to the window. It does work fine even if I'm not by a window. And it will show it as traveling along railroad tracks as long as there's no road close by.

 

[ehbowen]

I have and use a TomTom XL 350 with traffic receiver and lifetime map updates. It's a pretty good little unit, although it does not have an off-road mode and will try to place you on the nearest street if one is nearby. I have used it on two Amtrak trips so far. On a coach trip aboard the Sunset Limited from Houston to Alpine and back I took it along; I had no trouble at all getting a signal with it attached to my window with the suction cup mount. Unfortunately I did not think to bring a 120V charger and so could only use it until I ran its internal battery down (about 2 hours total). On my next trip, from Houston to Chicago and back in a bedroom, I did bring along the charger but did not think to bring a long cord . . . the only outlets in our bedroom were at the washstand near the room door. However, I tried setting the unit up with its suction cup mount directly on the washstand countertop (right in the middle of the Superliner upper level), and to my pleasant surprise was able to pull enough of a signal for a fix through the roof even though I was four feet from the nearest window. I ran with the GPS plugged in all night and enjoyed monitoring our progress.

 

[Texan Eagle]

I have a almost-bottom-of-the-line Garmin car GPS (had purchased it for under $100) which I carry on my Amtrak trips to check my location and speed of the train, and to trace the path taken by the train just for curiosity. It works fine. One way to stop the GPS from jumping to nearest available road is to change the settings from Driving mode to Walking mode. Then it does not insist on being on roads and it will keep you exactly on the tracks. It's fun to see the text on the screen "Walking South: Speed 79 mph"

 

[Big Iron]

I have a almost-bottom-of-the-line Garmin car GPS (had purchased it for under $100) which I carry on my Amtrak trips to check my location and speed of the train, and to trace the path taken by the train just for curiosity. It works fine. One way to stop the GPS from jumping to nearest available road is to change the settings from Driving mode to Walking mode. Then it does not insist on being on roads and it will keep you exactly on the tracks. It's fun to see the text on the screen "Walking South: Speed 79 mph"

Here comes the noob question. So I guess you don't program any type of route and let the GPS stay on the home screen. I don't think mine has an off road or walk mode (tom tom go 720) so my concern would be that it would spend the whole time recalculating a route.

 

[Texan Eagle]

I have a almost-bottom-of-the-line Garmin car GPS (had purchased it for under $100) which I carry on my Amtrak trips to check my location and speed of the train, and to trace the path taken by the train just for curiosity. It works fine. One way to stop the GPS from jumping to nearest available road is to change the settings from Driving mode to Walking mode. Then it does not insist on being on roads and it will keep you exactly on the tracks. It's fun to see the text on the screen "Walking South: Speed 79 mph"

Here comes the noob question. So I guess you don't program any type of route and let the GPS stay on the home screen. I don't think mine has an off road or walk mode (tom tom go 720) so my concern would be that it would spend the whole time recalculating a route.

Yes, I do not program any route. Just turn on the GPS unit and let it show my current position and speed, and it keeps updating itself as your train moves, just like as if you are in a car. Yes, your GPS model does not have a pedestrian mode so whenever it sees a road nearby it will keep "jumping" off tracks onto that road, but if you are going through areas with no roads nearby, it will keep your "car" in the middle of nowhere, along the train track alignment. Works reasonably well even without a pedestrian mode. Since you are not programming any route into the GPS, it will not recalculate anything, just random jumps to adjacent roads every now and then.