I've used a Magellan Map 330 GPS for several years, and it's a wonderful little device. The MapSend CD contains a very detailed street and road map of North America, and once the map is loaded onto the hard drive it's very easy to plot a route, upload it to the GPS, and go on my way knowing that at any given time on the trip I could look at the GPS to see how far I am from the next town, rest stop, junction, or whatever else I might have selected as a marker.
But here's a problem I've never had before. I just completed a 1,200 mile road trip -- without even getting out of Texas, by the way -- and I got interference from the car radio. I was driving a 2004 Chevy Impala owned by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and my GPS didn't work when I had the radio on the AM band. Strangest thing. I suspect that the radio was transmitting a signal. I've seen references to radio frequencies in various owner's manual for electronic gear. But, this is the first time such a signal actually interfered with something else, at least to my knowledge.
The poor little GPS simply got lost whenever the radio was on and the band was set for AM stations. It had FM and XM capability, but it was only AM that caused the problem. I wondered if the rented car had it's own GPS system and transmitter and was sending out a signal, but the Enterprise branch manager assured me that wasn't the case.
In any event, I was able to find my way home the old fashioned way: A paper road map.
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