Heltec Tracker V1.1 No Sat

[Jacovey]

Hello all,

Having an issue with the Heltec Tracker V1.1. After flashing the Meshtastic 2.5.15 firmware on the Heltec Tracker V1.1, I set up the GPS pins as RX:33 and TX:34, but it constantly says "No sat[elites]" regardless of location (tried from my desk then from the roof of a building). Also, when I set the GPS enable pin to anything besides "Unset," the device gets stuck in a boot loop. Is this device just bricked or am I missing something?

Also, tried swapping RX to 34 and TX to 33 which just made GPS unavailable.

Thank y'all

[rcarteraz]

The GPS pins are already set in the variant file, why are you trying to set them manually? Has this device ever had a lock before? First lock can take a long time, we've seen hours. The best thing to do is set it outside and leave it. Though I would recommend you do a factory reset first so you can start with default settings.

[Jacovey]

I was trying to set them manually as it was suggested on other threads. Will try just leaving it on, will report back!

[Jacovey]

Left it for a day, still says “No Sats” in the top right of the screen. Pretty sure it’s not that it’s failing to find a GPS lock at this point.

[fifieldt]

@Jacovey , can you plug it in to USB and send serial logs of the startup (go to https://flasher.meshtastic.org and click on open serial monitor)

[StuartsProjects]

If the GPS is outdoors, with a good view of the sky, it should get a lock within circa 45 seconds, regardless of how new the GPS is or whether it has been used before.

If it takes longer then it suggests there is a problem with the GPS or its antenna.

Serial logs of the GPS output will probably indicate what the problems is.

[VDV2000]

Sats are still not working for current meshtastic and the tracker 1.1!

I looked into the Heltec pages and there's some info on it:
[https://github.com/HelTecAutomation/HeltecDocs/blob/master/doc/node/esp32/source/wireless_tracker/frequently_asked_questions.md]
Meshtastic firmware on V1.1 hardware
In hardware version V1.1, the control pin of the GNSS chip power supply was changed to GPIO3, so the official firmware of Meshtatic cannot make it work properly now. Users can temporarily use this version until Meshtastic official accept our PR.
Download the Temporary Pack for Wireless Tracker, flashing with the CLI by following this document.
Connect Wireless Tracker to computer, cd into the unzipped temporary firmware package and install firmware via this command: device-install.bat -f firmware.factory.bin

Unfortunately the file is meshtastic v2.2.15 and I don't know where to find the source to see the code changes for building current version. Any ideas?

[VDV2000]

Ok, no problem. Where to get it?

[fifieldt]

Building one for you, moment.

[fifieldt]

Ok, if you unzip this and get the bin file, you can click on the "📂" icon on the flasher to upload it. Though, you seem to know your way around a command line :)
unzip-me-heltec-2.6-gps-debug.zip

[VDV2000]

Ok, I flashed the debug firmware. Still got nothing. Then I pushed the device out of window completely and left it there for some time so that it was completely unobstructed and then the GPS appeared.
Here are the logs.

PS. There was about 12 or more sats in the view when the device was outside window but it viewed only 5 or 6 sats just inside which seems to be insufficent to get initial lock in any time. I expected that the device will use "GPS assist" and download the satelite positions from the web, but it's probably not the case. So, when the device is just turned on, one must be sure that it has clean view to the sky unless gps is locked.

heltec_tracker_1_1.debug.serial_log.2.txt
meshtastic-log-2025-03-16T11-21-34.337Z.log
meshtastic-log-2025-03-16T11-26-28.978Z.log

(all attached debug files are the ones with successful locks (clean sky view)).

[fifieldt]

Thanks @VDV2000 . With those logs I can see that the firmware is detecting the GPS correctly and the GPS is configured to send the right data back to the firmware. As you've got lock, it seems everything is OK on the Meshtastic firmware end.

You may indeed be used to faster GPS locks from a smartphone. You're right that Meshtastic doesn't get that data from the web, so it does take longer and needs a clear view of the sky for initial lock.