Garmin GPS 38 - Manual (Page 13)

Getting Started Tour
Now that your GPS has been initialized, it’s time to take
a tour through the GPS 38’s basic features and functions.
The tour assumes that you have initialized the receiver and
have not changed any of the factory settings (units of mea-
sure, selectable fields, etc). If you have changed any of the
default settings, the pictures and descriptions may not
match your unit’s configuration.
Powering Up and Taking a Fix
Take the GPS 38 outside and find an open area where
the receiver will have a clear view of the sky. Hold the
receiver at a comfortable height, at arm’s length from your
body, with the internal antenna parallel to the ground.
To turn the unit on:
1. Press and hold B until the receiver turns on.
A welcome page will be displayed while the unit con-
ducts a self test. Once testing is complete, the welcome
page will be replaced by the Satellite Page and the GPS 38
will begin acquiring satellites.
Satellite Page
The GPS 38’s Satellite Page provides a visual reference
of satellite acquisition and position. As the receiver locks
onto satellites, a signal strength bar will appear for each
satellite in view, with the appropriate satellite number (1-
32) underneath each bar. The progress of satellite acquisi-
tion is shown in three stages:
• No signal strength bars— the GPS 38 is looking
for the satellites indicated.
• Hollow signal strength bars— the GPS 38 has
found the satellite(s) and is collecting data.
• Solid signal strength bars— the GPS 38 has col-
lected the necessary data and the satellite(s) is
ready for use.
Note that each satellite has a 30 second data transmis-
sion that must be collected (hollow bar status) before the
satellite may be used for navigation (solid bar status). Once
a fix has been calculated, the GPS can take on the easier
task of updating your position, track and speed by selecting
and using the best satellites in view.
Welcome Page
Satellite Page
The signal strength bars at
the bottom of the page will
not appear until the GPS 38
has found the satellites
indicated at the bottom of
the screen.
G E T T I N G
S TA R T E D
Power On/
Satellite Status
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GPS 38 Man Rev B 7/23/98 4:32 PM Page 9