BigB2k5

iTrader: (1)

I am looking to making my Navi GPS antenna external.

Does anyone know a plug and play antenna I can use? I want a small black one but our navi uses strange looking plug? I dont want to have to cut it and patch it to a new one...

Any help?

vp911

I don't have an answer, but I am curious, why would you want to do this...?

crazymjb

In a possible quest for better signal strength or to get by metalic tint. Are you gonna put it in the same housing as the XM antenna?

vp911

That is the only reason I could think of.

BigB2k5

iTrader: (1)

Originally I was thinking of that, but I will just put on trunk lid. I know they make some good small ones, and if you do it right it wont look bad. If one wanted they could just run it to front window and not have to put one outside but I dont think will be too bad outside.


For those that asked, I want to because my area gets bad signal, and my tint does not help ontop of it... Heck I can get XM signal in my house with the door shut but cant get GPS navi siginal in the sun... lol

crazymjb

If you get popular science they had an article on GPS signal strenth. ITS HORRIBLE. They are gonna start making special nav units that use the existing broadcasts from tv antena, along with the plotted locations, to double check the position. satelite strenght is 500(some unit) and the TV towers put out 16000=(same unit as above, not sure what though). Just thought I'd share.

bluenoise

I can't think of a reason why any particular area would get poorer GPS signal strength out in the open. Perhaps your system is not working right. It may be worth a trip to the dealer to get it looked at while you're still under warranty.

vp911

i agree. i have had 3 aftermarket navis as well as 4 oem navis in vehicels over the last 4 years and i can tell you i have never experienced this problem. (3 of the vehicels being acuras--knock on wood). it is almost certainly an issue with the car itself. there are several troubleshooting steps that can be taken to see what the problem is and can be done by the dealer. unfortunately, i no longer have the TL, therefore, i no longer have the service manual to be able to give you the steps to take in order to check the system yourself. i would suggest making an appointment with the dealer to resolve the issue.

caball88

do you have metallic tint? that would really throw off the system. especially since the antenna is located in the rear shelf right by the rear window. any metallic tint there would interfere with the gps signal and you cannot expect it to work. Aftermarket navi's have to option of placing the gps antenna where they want and it is possible to place in the front dash. no one tints their windshield so there can't be any inteference and the signal will not be affected.

tommyz

If the tint contains any aluminum oxide it will not work. Aluminum absorbs microwaves better than the titanium dioxide kind. The aluminum oxide variety, is a variant of what you may see made into electrostatic bags for computer parts. I know this because my idiot neighbor's son did there car in this old crappy tint, and they had to roll the window down to get radio reception( antenna in windshield). We changed the tint and it worked fine.

The Auto glass has a blend of titanium dioxide, for reasons that are boring. It takes a very little (metaL) titanium dioxide to get the effect you want ( in the visible light range), thereofore thats why it is used in modern paint. A thin coating of titanium based paint = bright white color.

At 1.57542 GHz and 1.2276 GHz those , the older tints dont work. Buy from a new tint dealer, its going to be easier than moving the antenna.

tommyz

If the tint contains any aluminum oxide it will not work. Aluminum absorbs microwaves better than the titanium dioxide kind. The aluminum oxide variety, is a variant of what you may see made into electrostatic bags for computer parts. I know this because my idiot neighbor's son did there car in this old crappy tint, and they had to roll the window down to get radio reception( antenna in windshield). We changed the tint and it worked fine.

The Auto glass has a blend of titanium dioxide, for reasons that are boring. It takes a very little (metaL) titanium dioxide to get the effect you want ( in the visible light range), thereofore thats why it is used in modern paint. A thin coating of titanium based paint = bright white color.

At 1.57542 GHz and 1.2276 GHz the older tints dont work. And the newer tints that supposedly affect infrared absorption are a crapshoot. Most are made in china.