External Antenna

[+imadcyple]

I just found out about Caching before winter hit. I have picked up a Geko 101, and found a handful of caches. My boys love it, and I plan to continue. I would like to upgrade my gps, and have heard about external antenna units. After looking on line at Dicks and other sporting goods pages as well as Garmin's page I'm a little confused. Here's my questions:

 

Are there different levels of external antennas?

What is the starting price for a decent model with external capabilities?

How much better reception can I expect with an external antenna?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Nathan

[Neo_Geo]

Are there different levels of external antennas?

Technically, yeah. But the most popular one of forum users is the Gilsson one sold buy GPSgeek. They have their own Web site, and also sell on eBay. You'll get a better price buying from them on eBay.

 

What is the starting price for a decent model with external capabilities?

The Garmin GPS60 can be had for about $150.

The Garmin GPS V is an older mapping model which does autorouting and can be had for $200 - and that INCLUDES MAPPING SOFTWARE (about a $100 value).

 

How much better reception can I expect with an external antenna?

It really depends on the model of GPSr, how good/poor the reception is with the particular GPSr and under what conditions. If you get one of the new Garmin models with the new Sirf III chipset, you'd probably never need an external antenna. If you were to get a an old GPS V, you'd lose reception out in the woods quite a bit, and the external antenna would greatly reduce the number of lost signals.

 

Clear as mud?

[bird_dg]

I just found out about Caching before winter hit. I have picked up a Geko 101, and found a handful of caches. My boys love it, and I plan to continue. I would like to upgrade my gps, and have heard about external antenna units. After looking on line at Dicks and other sporting goods pages as well as Garmin's page I'm a little confused. Here's my questions:

 

Are there different levels of external antennas?

What is the starting price for a decent model with external capabilities?

How much better reception can I expect with an external antenna?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Nathan

 

I would like to continue the questions regarding external antennas. So far, all I can find is the general consensus that an external antenna will enhance the performance of a GPSr. I would like to find out if anyone can tell me specifically which external antenna will provide the best performace for (in this example) a Garmin 60CS. Whether the antenna be a Garmin 27 or 25 or one of the Gillsons, which one is the best? One additional question, anyone have any idea what impact longer cable length would have on an external antenna???

Thanks...

Edited February 22, 2006 by bird_dg

[peter]

Whether the antenna be a Garmin 27 or 25 or one of the Gillsons, which one is the best? One additional question, anyone have any idea what impact longer cable length would have on an external antenna???

 

All of these are active antennas that generally perform quite similarly. There are some differences in the amount of gain provided by the amplifiers with the Garmin 27C (the original 27 needs higher voltage and is incompatible with most newer GPS receivers) having the least gain and the newer Gilsson model having the most. But note that higher gain is not an unmixed blessing since it can lead to reception of weak reflected signals that will then result in an inaccurate position. The two Gilsson models are the least expensive (each is $19 at their eBay store) and for most applications I'd be inclined to go with their original model - it has enough gain, draws relatively little power, and has easily removed magnets for applications where it's mounted near a compass. If for some reason you need to position the antenna behind a coated window or other material that absorbs some of the signal or if you want an especially long cable length then the new, higher gain Gilsson would be preferred.

 

I notice that the newer Gilsson is listed as requiring a minimum of 3 VDC which would be a problem if really true since many receivers only deliver 2.5 VDC on the antenna jack. I suspect the specification is wrong since I haven't heard of any incompatibility.