Garmin etrex Manual

Also see for eTrex - Hiking GPS Receiver: Features Owner's manual Manual Quick start guide Owner's manual

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GPS in Schools – Basic Receiver OperationProduced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.1Basic Receiver OperationLike all electronic devices, GPS receivers come in manymakes and models. While each may be slightly different intheir design, the basic function of a GPS receiver remainsthe same and thus they all have similar features.All receivers, whether a dedicated unit or integrated into apersonal mobile device, contain an antenna. The antenna isusually in the top of each device and must have a clearview of the sky to work correctly. Because of this, the firststep in using a GPS receiver is to go outside to a clear areabefore turning it on.Once the receiver has started up, it will begin searching forsatellites. When four or more satellites have been detected,the receiver will provide you with a position. This processoften takes between one and two minutes to complete, butcan sometimes be quicker.Satellite VisibilityAll GPS receivers contain some form of satellite visibilitydisplay. Some receivers provide a signal strength indicatorfor each satellite being tracked, while some mobile appswill combine this into one ‘signal’ bar. This feature is usefulfor determining whether your view of the sky is clear enough, or whether you need to move to adifferent area. An estimation of the receiver’s accuracy can often be found on the same page, oftenbeing quite poor when the receiver first starts up and improving as more satellites are tracked.Tracks and WaypointsTracks and Waypoints provide a way of recording where you’ve been and navigating to specificlocations of interest. The ‘track’ feature on most GPS receivers acts like a digital trail of breadcrumbs,recording where the GPS has moved over time. Some receivers create tracks automatically, whileothers require you to manually record and save tracks. The track feature is particularly useful if youwant to map a continuous feature such as a foreshore, property boundary or road, as you can importthe track into various mapping programs as a continuous line. Tracks can also be useful if you want toretrace your previous steps with a GPS receiver, as you can see your current location relative to theprevious track as you move along.Waypoints on the other hand are used for marking individual points or features of interest, allowingyou to save and return (i.e. navigate) to their location at a later stage. This feature is useful forrecording the location of individual items (such as a home, school or shop), rather than continuousfeatures (it’s better to use tracks for these). Waypoints can be exported later on to show specificfeatures on maps. Similarly, waypoints can be made on a computer and transferred onto a GPSreceiver as well, allowing you to find your way to places you’ve never even visited before!FAST FACTS1. While there are differentmakes and models of GPSreceiver, their basic functionis the same.2. The antenna must have aclear view of the sky.3. Four satellites are required toget a position; this can takeone to two minutes.4. ‘Waypoints’ can be used tomark individual points ofinterest, while ‘tracks’ can beused to map continuousboundaries or paths.5. Each type of GPS receiverstores information in aslightly different format, andmay need to be convertedbefore it can be used for otherthings (e.g. making maps).