external GPS aerial

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

My EuraMobil has a large over cab, and I think it is interfering with GPS reception. So thinking of an external aerial.

 

Has any one used one of these aerial's and best way of routing/placing outside?

 

is there a way through the bulkhead (Ford) as was thinking of sticking it on grill?

[Mel B]

There are normally various grommits stuck in holes in the cab floor, lift the floor protection material and have a shuftie, if nothing at the front (near the pedals) have a look behind the driver/passenger seats. Ours certainly has grommits but we have the outgoing Ford cab.

[Diesel Dan]

I have a Ford Transit based Motorhome and fitted an external GPS aerial to the inside of one of my roof lights.

It is attached with two plastic tie wraps to the underside of the roof light vents. The wire is routed around the inside of the overcab and around the curtain rail into the cab. Finally I brought it down behind the "A" pillar trim onto the top off the Dashboard.

My GPS sits on a beanbag on the dash, so is easily removed from view when parked.

With this external aerial I get very good satelight signal strength.

 

John

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

Thanks John, I have an old garmin 2610 on a bean bag as well

 

had not thought of your solution, but its a long way to the heki roof light....

 

do you think it would work OK if I fixed it to camper wall outside over cab window - or do they jhave to be flat/facing upwards to work properly?

 

regards Eddie

[crinklystarfish]

Judge,

Before you go through the hassle are you sure the luton is actually a factor?

I run a Streetpilot 2620 on the centre of the dash and have the mother of all lutons. It doesn't seem to affect performance at all, to the point where I've never even taken my receiver extension out of the bag.

The unit runs no better or worse in my car, and I use it about equally in both.

Just a thought.

[Catherine]

Sorry if you know all this already.

 

Its not so much the way the aerial or GPS unit is pointing put the amount of sky it can see that is important. The GPS or its aerial will work most efficiently if it has an unobstructed view of the sky. Bits of plastic in the way may not be much of a problem but metal structures will be. Depending on your model, the GPS can pick up 8, 12 or more satellites. A decent fix on just 3 of these will give it your position on the ground, but the more the better. You need at least 4 to get height information as well, but that is not usually important for map-based satnavs.

 

If you have the aerial on the side of a vehicle it may work quite well out in the country where it can "see" quite a lot of sky. But bear in mind that, at best, it will only see half of the sky so a lot of satellites will be obscured at any one time. However, when you get into town with tall buildings close by the view of the sky is poor and that is when you really need it to have a clear view upwards for a GPS to work efficiently. If you try it in the cab, or in a car, you will notice how long it takes to get a fix. If it takes a long time, it is probably not getting a sight of a sufficient number of satellites. In my car it works very well on the dashboard or on top of the sunroof blind where the view of the sky is relatively clear. Out of town it works almost anywhere in the car but in the city it is best near a window looking up.

 

This may not apply to your GPS, but you can get very small bluetooth GPS aerial or transmitters that communicate wirelessly with the main unit. You can place these in a good location such as the underside of a Heki without wiring. This is, of course, not a solution unless your system has bluetooth.

 

Older GPS models use fewer satellites and are poorer at getting a fix. Consequently you need to be more careful about where you place them. I don't know how old your system is but the technology has moved on and, in general, you will find that the devices being sold now are much more sensitive than those that were available even 3 years ago and so you don't have to worry so much about where you put them.

 

 

[michele]

Eddie,

 

We used to have the same problem years back but like Catherine say's we also bought the Blue tooth Ariel that attached to the heki roof light.

This solved the problem straight away on an old Kane & Navman.

 

We often could not pick it up maybe because of the fact that they couldn't see sky so well because of the over hang .

Which is partly why hubby picked the Avic this time . ;-)

[Guest JudgeMental]

Thanks one and all!

 

Looked up spec of my old 2610 Garmin model and it picks up 12 sats, but is not I think Serf 3 which most new units are. Had it

since 2004, worked OK with last overcab but it was not as large as this. It also works OK in car which has rapid demist screen as well.

 

The Profila GRP overcab is enormous and the biggest in its class – so I still think this must be the route of the problem. Heki roof light not as far as I thought if I can get one with a long enough lead.

 

is it OK to stick inside roof light or best outside flat on roof?

 

Do you think its OK to get a cheap generic one of E*ay – or do I need a genuine Garmin one

 

[michele]

Eddie why would you need a lead is your Garmin not blue tooth ?

 

The Ariel we had worked alone by batteries that seemed to last forever .

just stick it on your heki inside and it talks.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Michele, it has no bluetooth or POI capability's. But it has latest mapsource V9 maps. I can play with it on my computer and plan and download routes to GPS. new ones don't have this facility so thats why I'm reluctant to change....

 

also when I bought it was nearly £900 - the price of being an early adopter of technology :-D

 

happy to change for something that allows me to plan trips in advance on a large screen. I may have to go for the Garmin Zumo

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

is it OK to stick inside roof light or best outside flat on roof?

 

Do you think its OK to get a cheap generic one of E*ay – or do I need a genuine Garmin one

[g4oip]

I have an old 2620 and am findind it a bit long in the tooth compared with latest types. I have o/cab also and now and again do have some difficulty picking up sats. However what are the thoughts collectively speaking on what are the current best types of hard drive type units.If its not bending this thread too far.

[Guest JudgeMental]

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com

 

all have new units out but suspect you will miss the planing you can currently do. Garmin have the 600 and new 700 series and TT x20(which come with terrible quality issues look at site above)

 

TT have dropped the only hard drive model that I know the 910. as hard drives and portable GPS are not the most reliable combination.

[Diesel Dan]

Hi Eddie

 

The remote GPS aerial that I fitted is a cheap generic one of E- Bay . I cost about £15 inc. postage from America. Just ensure you get the right type of end fitting. Cannot remember the name of the end fitting, but it will be in your manual.

 

The aerial I fitted come with a lead about 5Metres long, it is attached to the underside of my roof light vent holes with tie wraps. This is not a Heki roof light. As long as it gets a clear view of the sky it will pick up the sat. signals through the plastic roof light.

 

I also use a Garmin 2620 GPS. With updated maps it works very well. The only thing it lacks is full postcode search. I bought mine second hand from e-bay and it was as good as new.

 

John

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

Thanks john!

 

Just the info I was waiting for :-D

 

will use double sided tape either inside Heki or outside on roof.

[icdsun]

Eddie

 

the add on receivers/repeaters are generally magnetic base, cable is usually 4-5 mtrs long, just check they are the correct plug type for your unit, which I think is MCX type, be careful MMCX (sightly smaller) is fairly common type used on patch antenna to boost the reception.

 

Chris

[g4oip]

Cheers for that Judgemental lot of food for thought there and will review more later.

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

Well, antenna arrived today from the US (12 squids from e*ay) works a treat!