Owner's Manual - West Marine

APPENDIX > LEARNING ABOUT GPS• Using WAAS: WAAS capability is enabled and the unit isreceiving WAAS corrections.• Check Beacon Wiring: The DGPS setting is enabled in theCom 1 or 2 tab of the Main Menu but no DGPS device isdetected.• No Beacon Signal: DGPS receiver is attached, but nottransmitting RTCM data to GPS.• Tuning Beacon: The receiver is tuning manually to a DGPSfrequency.• Using Differential: The unit is receiving DGPS corrections.• Scanning for Beacon: The DGPS receiver is scanning for anavailable frequency.What is WAAS?The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) is an FAA-fundedproject to improve the overall integrity of the GPS signal andincrease position accuracy for users in North America.The system is made up of satellites and approximately twenty-fiveground reference stations positioned across the United States thatmonitor GPS satellite data. Two master stations, located on eithercoast, collect data from the reference stations and create a GPS datacorrection message.According to the FAA’s Web site, testing in September 2002 ofWAAS confirmed an accuracy performance of 1–2 meters horizontaland 2–3 meters vertical throughout the majority of the continentalUnited States and portions of Alaska.WAAS is just one service provider that adheres to the MOPS(Minimum Operational Performance Standard) for global SatelliteBased Augmentation Systems (SBAS). Eventually, there willbe several services of worldwide geostationary communicationsatellites and ground reference stations.All SBAS systems use the same receiver frequency; therefore, anyoperational SBAS system should be capable of providing your GPSunit with increased accuracy at any location in the world.Currently, enabling WAAS on your Garmin 276C Plus in regionsthat are not supported by ground stations may not improve accuracy,even when receiving signals from an SBAS satellite. In fact it candegrade the accuracy to less than that provided by GPS satellitesalone. For this reason, when you enable WAAS on your GarminGPS receiver, the receiver automatically uses the method thatachieves the best accuracy. To enable WAAS, refer to page 6.For more information, go to http://gps.faa.gov/Programs/WAAS/waas.htm.114 276C Plus Owner’s Manual190-00501-00_0A.indd 1141/13/2005 10:44:12 AM