Mio 168 - External Antenna

jamiepyoung · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 1:34 pm Post subject: Mio 168 - External Antenna

Is the external antenna that comes with the unit any better than the built in one?

tel33 · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:00 pm Post subject:

Hi jamiepyoung

In answer to your question yes it is better as you can place the antenna on your car roof etc.. away from obstacles (Metal roof of car, windscreen etc..all block a certain amount of signal) thus with an external antenna you will get a better signal and a stronger lock on the Satellites.

Of course the above only applies though if you put the antenna outside of the vehicle and not on the floor of the vehicle as you would not be making much of a gain otherwise.

But external antennas do tend to have a higher signal gain on them over the built in one, thus they make the most of the signals that they receive as they can.

It is the same principle for any antenna e.g. an indoor TV tabletop antenna will tend not to produce as good a picture as an outdoor one on the chimney stack especially if its in a weak TV signal area, thus the outdoor one will suck in those siganl far better due to the gain on it.

I hope this helps you.

Regards

tel33
_________________
IPAQ 3950 Tomtom 6 with Navman 3450 sleeve v6 USA & Canada & Western Europe maps, 2gb Sandisk sd card, POIWarner V2.0.
TomTom 920T, v715 maps for USA & Canada, Western & Central Europe, 4gb SDHC Transcend Class 6

neil01 · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:17 pm Post subject:

While not disagreeing with the previous post, so far, I have only ever lost a signal while in a tunnel. So while there may be a advantage - I wouldn't even try it UNLESS you find that you are having problems with the standard reciever.

jamiepyoung · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:52 pm Post subject:

i've problems in london getting a fix since installing tomtom 5

maca2 · Frequent Visitor Joined: Jul 10, 2005 Posts: 303

Sure the external one would be better but I have never needed to use it either in the city or anywhere else.

My mio 168 even gets a good fix of 4/5 sats indoors & the second I take it outside 7/8 no problems, it's a good little unit.

jamiepyoung · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:05 pm Post subject:

tel33 · Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:07 pm Post subject:

Hi there

I sometimes am amazed at the places where I can pick up a GPS signal myself and I wonder how such a high frequecy signal (1227.6 MHz for military use and 1575.42 MHz for civilian use, this by the way is in the Micorwave region but dont worry they wont fry you its far too weak!) can get through walls etc... but there you go it does happens, but we have to remember it only takes three GPS sats to get a position fix, so if you are sitting near a window in a house you will probably get a fix, however if you go deep indoors you will probably be sure to loose that fix quickly.

I can however understand how the signal is lost in London and it is not the first time I have heard this, considering the amount of high building and sometimes narrow streets it is no wonder that signals are lost.

It does depend on the software too if its written well to decode the signals quickly so maybe the Medion software is better at decoding it and thus maintains the signal longer?

Regards

tel33
_________________
IPAQ 3950 Tomtom 6 with Navman 3450 sleeve v6 USA & Canada & Western Europe maps, 2gb Sandisk sd card, POIWarner V2.0.
TomTom 920T, v715 maps for USA & Canada, Western & Central Europe, 4gb SDHC Transcend Class 6

gimly · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 04, 2005 Posts: 11

I think the built in receiver so give you a satifactory signal without the need of an external antenna.

I am using a MDPNA100 with TOM TOM 5 and I have recently setup a Mio 168 also to use TOM TOM 5 and have had no probs with signals, I have used the fix to get the Satellite strength shown and I have also changed the baud rate to 9600, do know what diff this makes but my Satellite fixes seem to be quicker and stronger I am now getting a fix in doors which I never got before.

tel33 · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 7:27 pm Post subject:

Changing the BAUD rate eh, good suggestion must try it :-)
_________________
IPAQ 3950 Tomtom 6 with Navman 3450 sleeve v6 USA & Canada & Western Europe maps, 2gb Sandisk sd card, POIWarner V2.0.
TomTom 920T, v715 maps for USA & Canada, Western & Central Europe, 4gb SDHC Transcend Class 6

lamplight · Regular Visitor Joined: Sep 13, 2004 Posts: 130

Have never had to think of using external on my Mio for either TTN3 or TTN5. The inbuilt receiver has done me well in lots of different urban and rural settings (though it's got an aversion to a few places in and around Melton Mowbray for some reason!)

Infact, I'd forgotten I had anexternal unit until I saw your post Jamie. Might give it a try now just for the sake of it.

neil01 · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2005 11:16 am Post subject:

I have tried increasing the baud rate on a MIO 168 - it doesn't work at the higher baud rate.

wijnands · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 19, 2005 Posts: 1

If your car has a heat resistant windshield, which my Peugeot 307 does, the external antenna is really useful. I've glued mine to the top of the rearview mirror and I now get decent reception instead of hardly any at all.

As to increasing the baud rate for the internal gps reciever, the only setting I've had any luck with is 4800 baud.

Renosonce · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 07, 2006 Posts: 4

Please if ne 1 can help i have been trying to use a new antenna for my mdpna100 but i cannnot seem to find the setting to use it what do i need to do in the options screen to make it work??? the connection for the antenna is MC

neil01 · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:42 pm Post subject:

Renosonce · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 07, 2006 Posts: 4

thank you soo much for the reply so quick i will test this out l8er and hope it works i am sure that the connection should be mc and my airel does not flip up it stays solid on top of the pda thank you anyway will give it a go l8er :P

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