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Where do you have your nav antenna mounted?


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The guy who installed my X910BT put the antenna on the dash by the windshield which I assume will probably give some of the best reception short of an exterior mount. But, I've read somewhere (of course I can't find it now!) that folks mounted their antenna just on top of the HU to avoid anything visible on the dash and that they got perfectly good GPS signal there. Anyone have feedback on their experience with inside dash mount on top of the HU and what kind of signal resulted from this???

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I have been running with the gps antenna under the dash for the last 3 years and it appears to work just fine. In my GMC Envoy there is a metal bar under the dash in front of the HU that the stock gps antenna would mount to. I used this bar for the D3's antenna.

 

The D3 does seem to lag behind actual position a little though (couple hundred feet), but I have not moved the antenna onto the dash or outside to see if that fixes it. Could just be a D3 issue or it is the antenna not getting as strong a signal.

 

ct_mike

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I have been running with the gps antenna under the dash for the last 3 years and it appears to work just fine. In my GMC Envoy there is a metal bar under the dash in front of the HU that the stock gps antenna would mount to. I used this bar for the D3's antenna.

 

The D3 does seem to lag behind actual position a little though (couple hundred feet), but I have not moved the antenna onto the dash or outside to see if that fixes it. Could just be a D3 issue or it is the antenna not getting as strong a signal.

 

ct_mike

 

Thanks much for the info! Anyone else with feedback on gps antenna mount locations and quality of signal?

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i have mine under a piece of plastic trim on the dash and it works great and has good reception, you wont have any problem putting under the dash as long as there is no metal above it, i would try to not have too many layers of plastic over it as i assume that it will start to effect the signal if there is too much plastic under it, but there have been many cars that i have just placed the antenna right on the top of the radio, just make sure that you also place the antenna on top of some sort of metal, like at least the little black square that comes in the package

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Thanks again to the folks who replied. I had a handful of "fixes" to my install a few days ago (redid the hardware bypass, finally found and attached VSS wire) including moving of antenna from front dash at base of windshield to on top of the HU itself. After 2 days, no loss of GPS signal quality that I can perceive. Thought I'd post this follow up in case it's useful to anyone.

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This is a follow up... After a few days, my nav just intermittently lost signal with the antenna mounted on top of the unit in the dash. I mean not a single satellite would connect :o I moved the antenna to top of dash in the center at the base of the windshield and the nav has no more problems, connects immediately and follows me 100% of the time. I hope that is the last of this issue because obviously a nav system that can't figure out where you are is useless. I know some folks have it working inside the dash on top of the HU which would be my preference... most stealth, least info to would-be thieves of an aftermarket "goodie" inside the car, etc etc. But, it needs to get reception. I think depending on your car, area you live with regard to obstructions as well as position of satellites there is probably some variability on where people can mount the antenna and get good reception. Just thought I'd let folks know in case others have any issues.

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Since the VSS wire doesn't really do anything on the F/X series, I mounted mine outside. If the VSS was functional, I'd be more inclined to mount it under the dash. Most car manufactures have their GPS antenna mounted under the dash, but have a valid VSS to pick up any slack.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
The guy who installed my X910BT put the antenna on the dash by the windshield which I assume will probably give some of the best reception short of an exterior mount. But, I've read somewhere (of course I can't find it now!) that folks mounted their antenna just on top of the HU to avoid anything visible on the dash and that they got perfectly good GPS signal there. Anyone have feedback on their experience with inside dash mount on top of the HU and what kind of signal resulted from this???

 

 

Mine is mounted at the same place in my eclipse 07

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