Any Help or Advice Please!!!!!!!

Greenday · Post by **Greenday** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 5:19 pm

I've just brought myself a Compaq Ipaq with GPS navigation stuff for the car, but being very stupid i didn't do my research very well and now i find out the reason it don't work very well is the fact that the CC's windscreen is heat reflective which also relfects the GPS signal, i now need to get myself a Re-Radiating Antenna to allow the GPS unit to pick up the signal but i don't fancy having wires everywhere, anyone know of any other way round this (and i have already thought of the idea of going round with the roof down constantly but dimissed that after about half a second)??????????

Cheers

rob · Post by **rob** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 6:14 pm

GPS does work in the CC even with the screen.

I had a tracking device fitted to mine and the antenna was fitted under the hood that covers the instruments.

So it should work, try it in open countryside as even being next to a building can hide the satellites.

MattB · Post by **MattB** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 7:01 pm

I had a tracking device fitted to mine and the antenna was fitted under the hood that covers the instruments.

Cool, we know how to disalbe the tracker when we nick his car now

Greenday · Post by **Greenday** » Wed Apr 30, 2003 7:15 pm

Thanks Rob, the problem i found was that when i held it outside the car it had a strong signal, then as soon as i put it in the holder on the centre of the dash the signal drop right down then to nothing after about 20 secs

rob · Post by **rob** » Thu May 01, 2003 12:20 am

Cool, we know how to disalbe the tracker when we nick his car now

I dont own a CC any more so you dont know what security devices i have on my new toys or where they are fitted

Try putting it to the right of your isntrument console, if not then i am afraid I dont know. Maybe they didnt fit a fancy windscreen to my cc - another fault to add to the list.

DPH · Post by **DPH** » Thu May 01, 2003 7:11 am

Is it the same when you drive anywhere? The signal dropping is very strange as GPS is fitted in a good deal of military vehicles - which are more than heat reflective in many cases. Radiowaves can easily pass through the screen of the CC, the only thought I have at the moment (it is 06:15am and I have been up all night working...actually i'm still working) is due to radio shadowing, I will post any other ideas as and when they spring to mind.

paul_y3k · Post by **paul_y3k** » Thu May 01, 2003 9:03 am

if I remeber rigthly ... if ou were sat inside your car ... look at where your rear view mirror is .. you'll see that the sunshade stuff on the window sort of disapears ... well this part is non relflective .. it's there for the key bleep etc and thats where people should mount things like mbl phne reciveres etc, so have a play around there.

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Thu May 01, 2003 1:09 pm

find out the reason it don't work very well is the fact that the CC's windscreen is heat reflective which also relfects the GPS

I found the same

I have an eMAP with a windscreen sucker mount. It's fine when held by the side window but not the windscreen. I have borrowed an external antenna and will try to see where it works. I'll try the part to the side of the rear view mirror too, that seems like a good idea. One suggestion is here but it might be awkward to run the cabling back if there's limited space (espcially in a mux car). Be interesting to see where the satnav antenna goes if you order it as an option.

Ideally I'd like to place it under the panel that has the rear seat cup holder so it's invisible but will still work.

Greenday · Post by **Greenday** » Thu May 01, 2003 2:11 pm

That's exactly what i've found, i get a strong signal by sticking it on the side window (which seems quite a nice position to have it) but as soon as i moves under the windscreen it goes completly, i think it works on military vehicles be bypassing the outer shell in the shame why an external aerial bypasses the windscreen (but i could be completely wrong).

I'm happy with it on the sidewindow for now but would be very interested in finding out how any testing of external aerials goes

tonymag · Post by **tonymag** » Thu May 01, 2003 4:10 pm

You using navman or tomtom one?

Greenday · Post by **Greenday** » Thu May 01, 2003 6:40 pm

Navman

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Fri May 02, 2003 1:42 am

you'll see that the sunshade stuff on the window sort of disapears ... well this part is non relflective

Yep you're dead right. With the external aerial tonight I moved it around various bits of the screen and it picked up best at this point - the area where they say in the manual you can stick parking tickets and the like to. I guess the cabling for the auto-light and rain sensor route down one of the pillars so it would be fairly easy to fit a GPS antenna to this point and feed the cabling down the same way. In an ideal world, the coax would already be there

Greenday · Post by **Greenday** » Fri May 02, 2003 10:41 am

Yey it works!!!!!

But i was looking last night and the wiper and light sensors seem to run striaght into the housing where the inside light is, but i think you could still run the wire easily around the windscreen and under the dash, i shall be buying one to try out

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Fri May 02, 2003 1:33 pm

could still run the wire easily around the windscreen

In an ideal world, they'd already have put a coax in there for the option, if that's where the nav gps antenna is. The manual mentions a "combined GPS aerial" but doesn't say where it is.

I also found a link which is from a USA company for pre-paid toll tags which also won't work inside windscreens either. Google also found this which looked promising but I can't navigate anywhere from this page to see the rest of the information that might be there

slimgym · Post by **slimgym** » Sun May 18, 2003 4:35 am

But i was looking last night and the wiper and light sensors seem to run striaght into the housing where the inside light is

I found this guy selling tiny GPS antennas for Â£26 which I'm sure will fit within the case that houses the lights-on and wiper sensors. Just to try it, I tucked it behind the wire that runs from this box up to the courtesy light housing and had an accuracy of 20ft. Next plan is to work out if the cover over the lights-on sensor is glued or clipped in to place ...

The antenna was sourced from GpsGEEK.COM - they will ship to the UK at Â£19 inc though if HMC&E see it you could get caught for duty/vat/handling which will easily push it over the Â£26 above.