car's aerial or miniscan mobile for rds tmc

[RATOM]

Hi all

Need your advice please. I am confused as to which---car's aerial or mini/sky scan external mobile antenna---is better. Have gone thorugh this forum and found some real good stuff but not the answer of my question.

To improve rds-tmc reception of tomtom in my ford galaxy, I am going to have one definitely but am not sure which of the two options would give *better* results. I am not bothered if one is more expensive/easier to fit. All I want is better or best reception if possible.

So has any one happend to use both?

I am going to have it done exactly according to the instructions Mikealder has written on how to use car's aerial to enhance reception but he does not disapprove of external mini/sky scan either. So Mike any help please?

best
ratom

[mikealder]

The Mini Scan is very capable but better is the Sky Scan although its a rather strange looking aerial when fitted to the car!

I use a Hirchman which I detailed in This write up a while ago. Its a high performance amplified aerial but its not cheap! - Your normal car aerial should be fine so long as its not one that uses the rear window heating elements or built in to the bumper of the car - Mike

[MrT]

The Galaxy aerial system is not one of the best, it is a wire embedded in the rear quarterlight and there is an in-line amplifier in the aerial wire that takes DC power from the radio unit. If you tap into this feed you need to ensure that it is capacitively coupled.

Some Galaxies also have an issue with the heated elements in the screen and I have found that whilst this does not seem to affect the GPS reception of the units, it certainly seem to give a poor TMC signal.

If you get this working in this car I would be interested to hear.
_________________
Drivelux

[RATOM]

Mike, MrT

Both thanks indeed for your help.

Well after reading your posts I am not immediatley going for the final kill as MrT pointed out certain issues pertaining to ford galaxy and Mike hinting at a possibilty better than the ones I thought were available.

Mike, unfortunately, this product seems to be out of stock at least according to Hirschmann website. I would gladly spend the money, had it been avaiable. Also a brief search in google either did not immediately produce any good results.

Their website suggested dozens of other "similar" products that I have never seen or heard of and cannot on my own choose one like you have or one similar or better than yours . Also, the connector you mentioned has been discontinued by Maplin.

So...back to square one. bad luck!

If you come across anything of the same sort that is avaialble, could you please tip and in the meanwhile, I will keep searching for it.

best

ratom

[RATOM]

Hi Mike

I have found something very very similar if not the same to what you wrote about earlier. It was burried under GPS atennas, Antennas, Roof Mount Antennas. It shows the same model number but there is some change in connectors and AM frequency in the explanatory table. But in the installation poster, figures nearly match with those written by you.

Here is the link

http://products.hirschmann-car.com/SepiaPIMWeb/ProductCatalog?treepath=2_891_1054_918

And it is the seventh item down the page

I don't yet know what is the price and how much I will be paying for cables and connectors. But they have a dealer in the UK who I will try to speak to on Tuesdasy.

But I will really appreciate if you could have a look at the above link and tell me if this is the same item that you had written the review about. Also, will the connectors currently available with this product be easy to fit in the car? I assmue the length of the cables is also different in some areas from that given by you.

best regards
ratom

[mikealder]

That looks like the same aerial to me, as I mentioned in the write up though its far from cheap with the cables required mine cost close to £90 nearly three years ago - When I got rid of the old car I removed the Hirchman and fitted it to my replacement vehicle the biggest issue when fitting something like this is stripping the trim out of the car for the cables, it takes ages - Mke

[RATOM]

Mke, thanks for your mail

I managed to speak to the Hirschmann dealer in the UK. They said they could order it for me from Germany and it would cost me £83. This is excluding the price of cables and connectors. The order I was told, would take three to four weeks to be available here, which means no immediate joy.

Have got another number with the possibility, though remote, of it being in stock in surrey here. Will find out tomorrow.

But for now, everything is on hold

best
ratom

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