GPS Reception
 

I have the Garmin Quest and for the first time in 4 months I am having trouble getting satelite reception. I am in the center of Turkey so that may be the problem, I have not had reception in 3 days. Has anyone ever had problem with reception in Turkey??? I am heading into Africa along the western route, how is reception there???
Thanks
Josh
www.ridingtheglobe.com

I'd say you have a problem with your GPS.

Unless you have tree cover or the sky is shaded by earth/rock (deep valley) then the GPS system should be the same as in similar places eg Greece, Spain, ...

Central Turkey being fairly close to the Iraq conflict that has a rather strong American military presence would probably have excellent reception! http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

The GPS should indicate how many satellites are visible as well as a signal strength screen. If the GPS isn't picking up any satellites then it is either local terrain (trees, mountains) or the unit itself. If you've been in a cave hotel in Goreme for three days your GPS will need to "find itself" when you first turn it on. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

I had been using my Quest for 6 months when it started having reception problems. By playing with the antenna I found that if it was held halfway between the normal notch settings in the antenna hinge it would receive. I used duct tape to hold it in position until we got home. I then called Garmin and they quickly fixed it under warranty. Somehow the contact in the antenna hinge had worn and would not keep the antenna in contact with the GPS. Garmin put the unit into a new case and now it works as good as new. I wonder if this may be a weak spot in its design? I have now bought a Touratech locking mount that has a support for the antenna, the plastic RAM mount we used before that did not. I hope to prevent it from happening again as well as raising its security while on the bike.