Where is everyone installing the antenna for the gps? i know the dash is popular, but where else is appropriate?
Thanks
J

I put mines in front of the sunroof.

solrackm said:

I put mines in front of the sunroof.

oh so it can be mounted outside? hmm...i never really thought of that.
is there a place that i shouldnt mount it? i know under the dash with lots of metal is a bad place, but any other ideas?

Outside is the best place for uninterrupted reception. on top of the dash is the second best for reception for inside placement with minimal dropouts depending on the area you live, anywhere else inside will cause reception problems.

Mine is out side on the roof, at the back just above the rear glass in the center.

What about on the windshield in the corner on the inside of the car like a car alarm antenna ?

I put mine on my trunk but when put the wire in my trunk run it to the front of the car....i have a problem when it rains it leaks water in my trunk only when i open my trunk.....anybody have any ideas on how to stop the water form coming in my trunk........thanks

Tyrant11429 said:

What about on the windshield in the corner on the inside of the car like a car alarm antenna ?

yeah i was thinking up in the tint strip area. is that an ok place?

Probably wont work to well, it needs a ground plane to work against....

Was thinking of the dash, but that magnetic sticker is kinda big.

Guys any1 mount it under the front dash? Im getting mine installed soon and the installer says that both XM and GPS will be fine underneath the front dash.

maxse said:

Guys any1 mount it under the front dash? Im getting mine installed soon and the installer says that both XM and GPS will be fine underneath the front dash.

That's news to me. I have never had either antenna work properly mounted under the dash of any car. They need at least a line of site to the sky to work, be it through a window or outside. I'd seriously think about getting it installed somewhere else. Sounds like the installer is trying to be lazy

I used to have a GPS antenna and Sirius antenna in my car, they were under my fiberglass top (jeep wrangler). They will work just fine, so long as there is no metal. Line of site will work through glass, plastic, etc. Just not metal, steel, aluminum, etc.

Its not IR so its not 100 percent unobstructed view, its just not covered by metal of any sort.

cntrylvr79 said:

maxse said:

Guys any1 mount it under the front dash? Im getting mine installed soon and the installer says that both XM and GPS will be fine underneath the front dash.

That's news to me. I have never had either antenna work properly mounted under the dash of any car. They need at least a line of site to the sky to work, be it through a window or outside. I'd seriously think about getting it installed somewhere else. Sounds like the installer is trying to be lazy

I have TWO vehicles with XM antennas under the dash and one with GPS under the dash. They work perfectly with maximum strength signals. Two things you need to do. (1) Make sure there is no metal above your antenna. (2) make sure you affix the antenna to a piece of metal. You can cut a piece of sheet metal about 3" by 3" and mount that with adhesive, velcro, etc. Then just stick your antenna to the top of it. I promise you that you will be very satisfied and you won't have an external indication of what's in your car.

03Aviator said:

cntrylvr79 said:

maxse said:

Guys any1 mount it under the front dash? Im getting mine installed soon and the installer says that both XM and GPS will be fine underneath the front dash.

That's news to me. I have never had either antenna work properly mounted under the dash of any car. They need at least a line of site to the sky to work, be it through a window or outside. I'd seriously think about getting it installed somewhere else. Sounds like the installer is trying to be lazy

I have TWO vehicles with XM antennas under the dash and one with GPS under the dash. They work perfectly with maximum strength signals. Two things you need to do. (1) Make sure there is no metal above your antenna. (2) make sure you affix the antenna to a piece of metal. You can cut a piece of sheet metal about 3" by 3" and mount that with adhesive, velcro, etc. Then just stick your antenna to the top of it. I promise you that you will be very satisfied and you won't have an external indication of what's in your car.

What is the 3x3 piece of metal suppose to do?

edrock200 said:

What is the 3x3 piece of metal suppose to do?

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.

It provides a ground plane for the antenna.

03Vic-HPP said:

It provides a ground plane for the antenna.

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.

Actualy the ground in "ground plane" doesn't refer to an electrical ground, so the metal plate does provide a ground plane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane

03Vic-HPP said:

Actualy the ground in "ground plane" doesn't refer to an electrical ground, so the metal plate does provide a ground plane

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_plane

Yah that part in the antenna theory section. Sorry I misunderstood what you were going for.

lol no problem Steve, I'm just a radio geek....see sig for the crap I have in the car lol