ducatiboy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 [quote name="edrock200"]What is the 3x3 piece of metal suppose to do?[/quote] It's supposed to help the antenna receive the sat signal. They say it's tuned so that when it's stuck to a metal plate it will receive the sat signal better. They anticipate most people to stick it on the roof or on the trunk and so when they created the antenna shape and design, they most likely tuned it for maximum reception with metal under it (figuring most people would stick it to the roof or trunk). If you just had it dangle or taped to plastic, it is not supposed to pick up the signal as well as it would sitting on metal. At those frequencies, with that small of an antenna, the shape and design of the antenna has a lot to due with how well the antenna works. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
05Stang-GT Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 It provides a ground plane for the antenna. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ducatiboy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 [quote name="03Vic-HPP"]It provides a ground plane for the antenna.[/quote] Well technically it's not a "ground" plane cause if you stuck it on your plastic dash, unless you connected a wire to it and to ground it would be "floating" not really "ground". It's more like there is a coil inside that plastic antenna as a receiver and if that coil gets close to metal it changes the tuning of that coil (antenna). And the way the antenna is designed it has a frequency it needs to pick up, well if they designed it to pick up the GPS signal while it was suspended in mid air, then when someone eventually did stick it on a metal plate (or the roof or trunk lid), it would change the tuning of the circuit and it wouldn't receive the signal as well. So they designed the antenna to "require" the metal in close proximity for optimum reception. That's my guess anyway. We just designed a rechargable implant that charges a device implanted in the human body that charges through the air, no wires going into your body. And it's about the same principle. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
05Stang-GT Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Actualy the ground in "ground plane" doesn't refer to an electrical ground, so the metal plate does provide a ground plane [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane[/url] Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ducatiboy Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 [quote name="03Vic-HPP"]Actualy the ground in "ground plane" doesn't refer to an electrical ground, so the metal plate does provide a ground plane [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane[/url][/quote] Yah that part in the antenna theory section. Sorry I misunderstood what you were going for. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
05Stang-GT Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 lol no problem Steve, I'm just a radio geek....see sig for the crap I have in the car lol Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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