does an add-on antenna help in general usage?

[+frosted minny minks]

i have a palm with a bluetooth GPSr which is really nice for geocaching. but to be a little more rugged/durable, especially with kids, i recently bought a used garmin v for geocaching. this also gives me a basemap.

 

when i stand in a wide open field on a clear sunny day with both, the accuracy of the palm is within 10 feet, while the garmin is 30-50 feet (with WAAS enabled). this concerns me because as a newbie i need to be a lot closer than 50 feet to find a cache!

 

would buying a garmin add-on antenna improve my accuracy, or would it only make my signal "stronger" (i'm not sure if that makes any technical sense)? maybe antennas are only meant to circumvent impenetrable object like car roofs and it would do me no good.

 

any thoughts or advice? is the stock garmin GA 26C antenna pretty good (for $15), or are there better ones?

 

thanks all!

[+Red90]

For a GPS V, it will make a difference. Get a Gilsson.

 

For more modern GPSrs, it does not make much difference. A GPS V is a pretty old unit.

[+storm180]

I use an external antenna on my tomtom its a 55db gilsson. I aquire sats quicker and actually hold onto more sats then I did without the antenna. Prior to the antenna I would only get 8-9 now I get over 12 all the time.

[+KD5XB]

<snip>

when i stand in a wide open field on a clear sunny day with both, the accuracy of the palm is within 10 feet, while the garmin is 30-50 feet (with WAAS enabled). this concerns me because as a newbie i need to be a lot closer than 50 feet to find a cache!

 

would buying a garmin add-on antenna improve my accuracy, or would it only make my signal "stronger"

 

I used a GPS V up until I bought a Legend HCx about 2 weeks ago. If you're only getting an accuracy of 30-50 feet, then either the satellite geometry isn't conducive to better accuracy, or else it hasn't picked up the differential corrections for all the satellites yet. My GPS V routinely gives accuracy figures of 5-9 feet.

 

That being said, an external antenna is a great help in certain situations, but usually not in an open field. Using the GPS V on the dash of my car or truck, the external antenna is almost a necessity.

 

The amplified antennas do indeed make the signal stronger at your receiver, but having the signal "maxed out" isn't necessary to get a good accurate fix. If the signal bars are blackened in, then the signal for that satellite is strong enough.

[+KD5XB]

One thing I forgot to add -- the BNC plug for the antenna tends to get loose on the GPS V -- and the other GPSr's in that same form factor -- the GPS 2, 2+. 3. etc. You might check yours.

[+Wesbo]

i have a palm with a bluetooth GPSr which is really nice for geocaching. but to be a little more rugged/durable, especially with kids, i recently bought a used garmin v for geocaching. this also gives me a basemap.

 

when i stand in a wide open field on a clear sunny day with both, the accuracy of the palm is within 10 feet, while the garmin is 30-50 feet (with WAAS enabled). this concerns me because as a newbie i need to be a lot closer than 50 feet to find a cache!

 

would buying a garmin add-on antenna improve my accuracy, or would it only make my signal "stronger" (i'm not sure if that makes any technical sense)? maybe antennas are only meant to circumvent impenetrable object like car roofs and it would do me no good.

 

any thoughts or advice? is the stock garmin GA 26C antenna pretty good (for $15), or are there better ones?

 

thanks all!

Not to hijack or anything, but keep a few things in mind... If the EPE is 10 feet, it doesn't exactly mean that it puts you 10 feet from the cache. Nor does an EPE of 50 feet mean you will be 50 feet from the cache.

The cache might not even be at the coordinates listed. Who knows if the cache hider had an up-to-date unit and had 12 satellites locked, or if he/she had an old antique unit and had a lock to one satellite.