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Magellan Meridian FAQ – Version 2.0 

Page 20 of 30

 

Check 'Echo typed characters locally' 
Set both delays to 0 milliseconds  
Check 'Append line feeds to incoming line ends' 
Uncheck 'Force incoming data to 7-bit ASCII' 
Check 'Wrap lines that exceed terminal width' 

Click OK twice to close the two windows  

7.

 

Now connect to the Meridian (click on the Call icon) and type the following line into the window 

$PMGNCMD,FIL,FIRST,*6B 

8.

 

The unit will then respond with the name of the first file.  This is usually the base map.  On a Meridian with 
v4.02 firmware and the American Marine map v1.03, the response should be: 

$PMGNFIL,FIRST,OK,1,BASEMAP.IMG,013124.00,09,05,102,10000,15406836*32 

In the above example, the filename is “

BASEMAP.IMG

”. 

9.

 

If you wish, you can enter in a line repeatedly to get an entire listing of the memory contents.  This listing will 
include the contents of the SD card.  The line to enter is: 

$PMGNCMD,FIL,NEXT*1A 

When you get a response of “

$PMGNCMD,END*3D

” then you have a listing of all files and there are no more to 

be displayed. 

10.

 

The next step is to download the base map.  If the basemap is calle d “

BASEMAP.IMG

”, then the line to enter is: 

$PMGNCMD,FIL,DOWNLOAD,BASEMAP.IMG*01 

If the basemap is NOT called BASEMAP.IMG, you will have to construct your own line, and compute the 
checksum (the checksum is the last field in the line; e.g. “01” in the example above. At the Magellan Meridian 
Yahoo Group (

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Magellan_Meridian/files

), you will find “

Hex Checksum.zip

”.  

Download this and follow the instructions in order to get the correct line checksum. 

11.

 

Go to Transfer > Receive File, and select the 1K Xmodem protocol.  After that, name the basemap file that you 
will be receiving (I recommend using the same suffix as Magellan uses:.img) 

12.

 

The file transfer should start  now, and progress can be monitored (with a baud rate of 115200, it takes about 30 
minutes), but I have found in noisy environments that a baud rate of 4800 may be required to get through 
without errors. 

That's it! When the download is finished you will have a basemap file that can be uploaded to the unit, using 
magup.exe. 

It should be noted that ANY serial terminal program that supports Xmodem can be used. 

35) 

Build your own Trail Maps 

The following section was original contributed by jelf_gps and contains some minor edits. It expands on the subject 
matter of “How do I actually use the GPS?” with detailed procedures for turning tracks into trail maps. 

This post will show you how to make your own maps that can be displayed on the Meridian's screen.  This techniq ue 
is based on editing the GPS track file on your PC.  By editing the track file you can easily build a map of your 
favorite trail system. 

Also, this technique will show you how to eliminate the straight line that the GPS often draws between two different 
tracks. 

This procedure assumes you have a memory card and a card reader and you are running firmware 3.12 or later. 

Step 1 - Data collection 

Go to where you want to begin creating your map. Display the map screen and clear the track (menu - clear track). 
Travel along the trail you want to include in your map. Save the track you recorded (menu - card utilities - save 
track).  You will be asked to enter a file name.  The track you just recorded will be saved on the memory card and 
given the file name that you enter. 

Summary of Contents for Meridian Series

Page 1: ...AQ Version 2 0 10 31 2003 Version 1 by Kevin Harrelson kevin harrelson com Version 2 by Dan Surratt skramblr hotmail com Updated info provided by the Meridian group members http groups yahoo com group...

Page 2: ...What if I don t use Windows 14 26 WAAS What it is do I need it and can I turn it off 14 27 What are all of these secret menus 15 28 Secret Key Combinations 16 29 Upgrading the Lawyer screen 16 30 Upgr...

Page 3: ...ver 27 57 Troubleshooting Mapsend won t read tracks waypoints from SD card 27 58 Troubleshooting SanDisk SD Card Incompatibility 28 59 Troubleshooting COM Port is Busy 28 60 Troubleshooting Mapsend is...

Page 4: ...ish white and blue case Except for the case colors this unit is internally identical to the Meridian Gold The only difference is the base map Meridian GPS This unit features a green or yellow case an...

Page 5: ...izon then the compass in the other units will simply fail to work Furthermore the other GPS units have a threshold speed Anything below this speed and the heading is obtained from the compass If you a...

Page 6: ...An Australian base map is also available with good city and major street detail There are also marine versions of all of the base maps These add details about marine navigational aids such as buoys a...

Page 7: ...lems have been reported with SanDisk cards of 256 512 MB Certain of these cards do not work in the Meridian although they work with other devices Magellan is reported to be working on a fix which may...

Page 8: ...ly problems have been reported in these cases When the map is zoomed out you don t see any detail because the base map doesn t contain it In order to see any roads at all the map must be zoomed in whi...

Page 9: ...t 12 feet and is often 30 feet or more This means that an error of 50 feet is not only common but even to be expected There are few sources for map data One popular source the TIGER database is comple...

Page 10: ...he Garmin topographical data is fixed as how it is presented Magellan on the other hand overlays a grid over the whole country The height is known at every point on the grid Because of the way that th...

Page 11: ...le 4 Open the Data fips txt file of the prime installation and enter lines in the form as follows depending upon which maps are being imported copy from the fips txt file for each of the imported Maps...

Page 12: ...you can send your trip file in gpx format to others who can see where you ve been and check out your photos Cool 22 Serial Communications with other software There are several things that you should...

Page 13: ...ed to 30 waypoints So if you have a long route you must break it down into 30 waypoint sections or space your waypoints far apart Editor s note the Meridian s firmware has been limited to 30 waypoints...

Page 14: ...ts you get Team play is also offered Check it out at http geodashing org MinuteWar is a strategic game where the earth is the playing field There are four teams and teams attempt to go to random locat...

Page 15: ...s you know exactly what you are doing Thanks to ClayJar luis_scsc Daniel de Wildt Ed Maurer for information in the following table Secret Menus Description Exit Keys 00 Firmware Version Display ESC 01...

Page 16: ...t to say The program is called MyMeridian and available from the files section and http www navicache com freeware ERROR FIX Current version 05b does not work with v4 xx firmware A fix has been identi...

Page 17: ...by holding down MARK GOTO and the ESC keys and press ENTER This will power down the unit 2 Power it up in Software upload mode by holding down MARK GOTO and the ESC keys and press POWER Unit should po...

Page 18: ...and select the basemap file that you want to upload 4 Expert Expert Upload On You may also want to choose one of the non standard baud rates here equal to Meridian setting Click OK 5 Upload OK choose...

Page 19: ...can be reduced but then it takes much more time to download with 115200 bps it takes about 15 minutes Setup of the PC 1 Start Hyperterminal Start Programs Accessories Communications Hyperterminal 2 M...

Page 20: ...ine checksum 11 Go to Transfer Receive File and select the 1K Xmodem protocol After that name the basemap file that you will be receiving I recommend using the same suffix as Magellan uses img 12 The...

Page 21: ...he lat long to anything Editor s note This is done to prevent the drawing of a line between the last trackpoint of the previous track and the first trackpoint of the next track Recalculate the checksu...

Page 22: ...Nimh or NiCad will save lots of money as you ll not burn thru boxes of disposable alkalines Look for charge ratings in the 1800 mah or higher for best results One side effect will be a very short low...

Page 23: ...Charts Sportfishingshop offers this solution Many international users especially those that want to use the BlueNav marine charts are facing the problem of the internal basemap not having any or very...

Page 24: ...few minutes we have found a logical explanation for this occurrence At the time there was intermittent testing being done on the EGNOS satellite EGNOS is the European equivalent of the U S WAAS error...

Page 25: ...avigation as it shows the desired course Starting with firmware 4 XX there is now an option to have the goto line constantly update so it always redraws the line from your current position to the dest...

Page 26: ...pen the MAPSEND INI file using your favorite text editor Inside this file there is a parameter called Conv_Memory_Size which is the maximum region size in bytes Multiply this number by four and you sh...

Page 27: ...are new One cause of this problem has been reported to be the pressure sensitive contacts used for the batteries These battery contacts are not actually soldered down to the Meridian s circuit board...

Page 28: ...he only thing that you can do is to use a different card At the time of publication of this FAQ there is a new release of the firmware Version 5 12 Early users of this firmware report that they are no...

Page 29: ...by selecting Cancel 4 Using Windows Explorer go to Program Files Magellan MapSend Export and locate the file called maps img 5 Copy this file to the SD card using USB card reader Do not create any fo...

Page 30: ...can be found at the Magellan Meridian Yahoo Group bradleymsuter ClayJar Daniel de Wildt edmaurer2002 Fred Merchant geo_alexm georockers gmcaddon hedoor hedorr Jacek M Holeczek Jack Yaezel jelf_gps jv...

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