TomTom GO Antenna

Dave · Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:06 pm Post subject: TomTom GO Antenna

TomTom have announced that there now will be an antenna available for TomTom GO.

The Antenna will start shipping end of July/August for approx 70 euro's. Currently there is no socket available on the GO to plug an external antenna into so the new antenna will come with a new base mount.

imapbox · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 102

laurie0236 · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:35 am Post subject:

I am puzzled by the fact that the only language pages on the Tom Tom site to announce the new antenna are the French ones.

I should have thought that the new anetnna would have been announced in all languages where TomTom Go is sold. I do realise that this new addition is not being sold until sometime in August

Laurie

Dave · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 1:14 pm Post subject:

Unsure about the voltage, I'm not sure why it's not released on the english pages, it's probably in error. TomTom have made errors before in updating their pages and missed off important information or released information too early by accident.

tazcab · Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2004 1:17 pm Post subject:

:D ok i have seen this TomTom GO External Antenna Kit with base mount
MDD04G001475
Part No: 1D00.001

at http://www.mobiledatadirect.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=34_101&products_id=1475 at the price of £56.40 inc VAT

and in Stock Laughing

delboy0754 · Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 6:32 pm Post subject:

Has anyone actually bought and tried one yet.

Beagles · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 5

I bought one of these as mine was having difficulty locking onto any satellites and when it did it kept losing them, within a minute after connecting the external antenna it locked onto several and has maintained this ever since, I am now very pleased with this device but before buying the external antenna I had thought of getting rid as it was hopeless as I was still reliant on paper maps. Another thing I discovered was that if you turn the screen slightly up or down whilst it’s in the base mount so that you are not looking at it directly, it cuts out the reflection on the screen and it’s much easer to see.
:D

Dave · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 7:48 am Post subject:

Which car do you have ? I suspect that it has an athermic windscreen installed.

Beagles · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 5

It's a Renault Scenic, 02 reg. I've not tried it in any other car yet but I know it works ok out of the car so I suspect you’re right in what you say. Prior to this I had tomtom on a pda working on Bluetooth without any problems so I'm not sure why the tomtom go has. I still prefer the 'go' as the sound, details on the map and ease of setting up are much better. I understand that there is a professional kit that can be fitted so it mutes the radio and supplies power, when I change the car I may try this out but as that won't be until next year till then this will do for me.

Dave · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 9:01 am Post subject:

That explains it, you can virtually guarantee that ost Renault's, Peugeot's and Citreon's have athermic windscreens fitted.

Regarding the Bluetooth receiver, on athermic windscreens there is usually a small gap around the windscreen on the glass that isn't athermically treated and it maybe that the Bluetooth receiver was closer to the windscreen and was able to pickup GPS signals better, or it may have been that it had a much higher gain on the antenna.

You also usually find that the corners of the windscreen aren't athermically treated and also in most cars there's a section behind the rear view mirror that is used in some European countries for a sensor for toll booths and this area isn't athermically treated.

Beagles · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 5

Thanks for the information, the windscreen does have a a black dotted area all around the edges and when I used the pda the gps unit was closer to the bottom of the windscreen. If this is the case do you think I could mount the external antenna inside the car at the back of the car as at the moment I've got it on the roof, which is where it is all the time and I have concerns that some idiot might try ripping it off

Dave · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 7:24 pm Post subject:

Yeah it should work around those edges of the windscreen. Some GPS antennas may work better than others, so there's no guarantee, but usually these areas don't have any athermic protection, so give it a try.

The one thing I hate about having an external antenna is you just don't know if someone might come along and cut the cable.

Beagles · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 14, 2004 Posts: 5

Tried it today and it works just as well as if it were positioned outside of the car, I would recommend this to anyone with the same problem.

Metric · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 29, 2004 Posts: 8

yeah, my mini has the heated windscreen and there is a small gap on the drivers side that gives me 5bars.. thank goodness.

Anyone know if we will get cases soon? I did register

Also, will US maps come out for it?

imapbox · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 25, 2004 Posts: 102

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