Digital surveillance technology - Wireless Security Cameras

Changing Receiver Settings

After you initialize your GPS receiver for the first time, you need to change a few of the receiver’s default system settings. You only need to do this once, and a few Small GPS Tracker will prompt you to make some of these changes as part of the initialization process. These changes are mostly to customize settings based on your location and needs. Check your user manual for specific information on how to change the system settings described below. Although GPS receivers have a number of system settings that you can change, here are some of the important settings you’ll want to initially adjust:

Time: Your GPS receiver gets very precise time data from atomic clocks aboard the satellites, but it’s up to you how the time will be displayed.

You need to specify

• Whether to use 24-hour (military time) or 12-hour (AM and PM) time

• Whether Daylight Savings Time is automatically turned on and off

• What your time zone is (or your offset from UTC)

Your GPS receiver gets time data from the satellites in the UTC format. UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time (no, the acronym doesn’t match the meaning), an international time standard. UTC is a time scale kept by laboratories around the world, using highly precise atomic clocks. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures uses time data collected from the labs to establish UTC, which is accurate to approximately one nanosecond (about a billionth of a second) per day. In 1986, UTC replaced Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as the world time standard. The Greenwich meridian (prime meridian, or zero degrees longitude) is the starting point of every time zone in the world. GMT is the mean time that the earth takes to rotate from noon to the following noon. These observations have been kept since 1884 at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. In hours, minutes, and seconds, UTC and GMT always have the same values.

Units of measure: Your GPS receiver can display distance information in statute (such as feet and miles), nautical (knots), or metric (meters and kilometers) formats. The default setting for GPS units sold in the United States is statute, so unless you’re boating or want to use the more logical metric system, leave the setting as-is.

Coordinate system: By default, your GPS receiver displays positions in latitude and longitude. If you want to use location coordinates in a different format, now’s the time to change the setting.

Datum: The default datum for all GPS receivers is WGS 84. Unless you’re planning on using your receiver with maps that have a different datum, leave the default setting.

Battery type: The default battery setting on most GPS Phone Tracker is alkaline. If you’re using another type of battery, select the correct type. The battery type setting doesn’t affect the GPS receiver’s operation; it only ensures that the battery life is correctly displayed on the screen because different types of batteries have different power characteristics.

Language: Most GPS receivers are multilingual, so if you’d rather view the user interface in a language other than English, it’s as simple as selecting a different language from a menu.

Using Your GPS Receiver

Finally! After you initialize your GPS receiver and change some of the system settings, it’s time to use it. Start with Going through the GPS receiver’s different onscreen pages and see what information is displayed. Walking around and watching what happens to the numbers and your position on the GPS receiver’s mapping and trip pages. (Do this outside, of course.)

Pressing buttons and seeing what happens. You may want to have your user manual nearby in case you get lost between information screens. GPS receivers are pretty robust, and you’re not going to hurt your new purchase by being curious. GPS receiver screens can be scratched relatively easily. Investing in a carrying case will keep the screen scratch-free; many cases have a clear plastic face that allows you to use and view the GPS without taking it out of the case. Another way to keep the screen from being scratched is to buy thin, clear plastic sheets used to protect PDA screens, cut them to shape, and place the sheet on top of the GPS receiver screen.

The following are some simple exercises you can try that will help you become familiar with your GPS receiver. When you first start using your GPS receiver, take the user manual with you. If you forget how to do something or have a question, the manual will be right there for reference.

Coming home

Everyone has opinions and like to know where people stand on different things, so here’s an exercise to let you know exactly where you stand — when you’re outside your backdoor.

1. Take your GPS receiver outside where you live and create a waypoint for the spot where you’re standing.

2. Name the waypoint HOME.

3. Turn the GPS receiver off and go for a walk. How far is up to you, but at least travel far enough that you can see your starting point.

4. When you’re ready to head back home, turn the GPS Tracking Device back on and use it to navigate back to the HOME waypoint.

Be sure to move through the different onscreen pages to watch the direction and distance change as you head back home. After you enter the HOME waypoint, no matter where you are, if you have your GPS receiver with you, you can always tell exactly how far away home is. Remember, this is in a straight line as the crow flies unless you’ve got a GPS receiver that supports autorouting.

How far, how fast?

Your GPS receiver also contains a very accurate trip computer that displays information about distance, speed, and time. After you read your user manual on how to reset and start the trip computer, here are some ideas for getting familiar with how it works:

When exercising: When you run, jog, bike, or whatever, take your GPS receiver with you on your favorite course to see just how far you go. At the end, check your average and maximum speed.

When on walks: If you have children and they walk to school, go with them on their route to see exactly how far it is. (And then tell them you used to have to walk at least ten times that distance . . . in the snow . . .uphill both ways . . . when you were young.)

When doing lawn work: The next time you cut the grass, take your GPS receiver with you and see just how far you push your lawn mower.

More information at http://www.jimilab.com/ .