+Team WestWind Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Ok, lets get it straight, this is not a paid advertisement... After being somewhat unhappy with the "sensitivity" of my Garmin 176 (when geocaching in the woods) , I decided to spring for an external antenna. I chose Gilsson based on favorable comments in the Archives ( see http://www.gilsson.com/page3.html ). I ordered the antenna via the internet mid-morning on June 1st and found the antenna in my mailbox on June 3rd! Pretty outstanding customer service. Next was my first trials with the antenna. On the way to pickup some restorative pizza, I clicked the small antenna on the roof and off we went. First thing I noticed was postion acquisition (finding the satellites) was extremely fast, on the order of a few seconds! Next I noticed that it was tracking at least 10 satellites! WOW. The unaugmented 176 is normally a little slow with acquisition, and even under open sky situations seldom got more than 6 satellites. Next I decided to kick the WAAS mode. Living in west central Florida, I have never had WAAS lock in. With the external antenna, I was soon up and operating in the "differential mode". Really Neat! I hope to be able to report on the operation of the external antenna while under tree cover after this weekend. It has always been distressing to watch my position jump all over the place while I was standing still. Please note I have never been unhappy with the operation of the 176 except when trying to go geocaching in the parks! In the car and boat the built in antenna worked well enough. Congratulations to Gilsson for great customer service and products. Lee Copp Team Westwind. Quote Link to comment
+joefrog Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Looking forward to further comments on this -- I've been considering "geeking up" my Vista! Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Looking forward to further comments on this -- I've been considering "geeking up" my Vista! The eTrex doesn't accept an external antenna like this one. Quote Link to comment
fortrel Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Can you get such an antenna for the Magellan GPSr? Quote Link to comment
+joefrog Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Looking forward to further comments on this -- I've been considering "geeking up" my Vista! The eTrex doesn't accept an external antenna like this one. Ah, well... just found that out myself! However, I DID find that this guy has a power cord like I've been looking for! So not a total waste of time, LOL. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 Can you get such an antenna for the Magellan GPSr? Depends on which Magellan and whether it accepts an external antenna. Quote Link to comment
+Criminal Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 I have a Titan which is pretty much the same thing. I haven't experienced much difference in the woods as I do on the roof of the truck. I imagine it has to do with the ground-plane effect you get on the steel roof. Quote Link to comment
+rcav8r Posted June 4, 2004 Share Posted June 4, 2004 I have a Garmin 196, which is intended primarily for aviation use (and thats what I bought it for, originally). Problem is that the stubby antenna sucks, so I use the long one, which looks like the Gilsson. I think it has a 8' wire. Its a pain in the butt in the woods, but it works better than the stubby. I just toss the square thing in the dash window when driving, picks up the sats no problem. Perhaps someone could come up with a whip antenna... John Quote Link to comment
+Team WestWind Posted June 7, 2004 Author Share Posted June 7, 2004 Tried two easy carry techniques for the antenna. 1. Under my hat. Forgot to bring anything magnetic, so I just stuffed it under my broad brim hat. Signal only seemed to suffer slightly, in fact the gps continued to track while I was driving with the hat and antenna still on my head (Astro Van). I think my large balding head may serve as a ground plane. 2. The other method was to tuck it under the shoulder flap on my shirt. The extra wire was a wadded up and stuffed in my pocket. I continue to be quite pleased with this unit. Lee Quote Link to comment
+TeamK-9 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Can you get such an antenna for the Magellan GPSr? Depends on which Magellan and whether it accepts an external antenna. Would a Sportrak Map work with any external attennas? Quote Link to comment
+jeff35080 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Would a Sportrak Map work with any external attennas? Nope. Quote Link to comment
+Rogue_monkey Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 don't know if anyone has said it, but try http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/gpsant.htm this re-radiatind antenna with work with anything, i don't have it but have read a lot about it, i would like one but i just got a digital camera instead. Quote Link to comment
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