Very slow GPS acquisition in mountainous terrain

[FrankB]

Does anyone else have this problem: when operating the Phantom in valley areas in mountainous terrain, it takes forever to acquire a GPS fix and Home Location. My normal GPS (Garmin 76 CSx) works fine- acquires a position in a couple of minutes.

A related question: with how many red GPS lights (none, 1, 2 or 3) can the Phantom be safely launched and be reasonably assured of coming back to its Home location if something goes wrong?

Second related question: will the Phantom GPS eventually be upgraded so that it can make use of the Russian GLONASS GPS satellite network? This would definitely greatly improve getting a GPS position fix.

Anyway, any advice or insights would be appreciated.

 

[Gizmo3000]

When you see the 20x green blinks it's good to go.

tho unsure what happens if Satellite signals are lost while in flight.

 

[BruceTS]

Very normal to have bad GPS lock in that type of terrain, even if you added the GLONASS network to the mix. you might want to try the upgraded V2 GPS and have it mounted outside the shell.