Database Users

External Antennae Used By GPS?

Hi All,
Does anyone know if the external antennae connector on the back is usable by the GPS? Will it result in a stronger signal?
Thanks!
Rael

The external connector appears to be for GPS as there is a link to an antenna in the trinity accessories forum.
As for how good, im not sure.

Aerials
I bought one of those aerials. It fits the connector, but does nothing for GPS signal strength. It does however slightly boost the GSM (phone) signal, which confirms that this connector is a GSM connector, not a GPS antenna. It also fits the GSM connector on my Artemis (HTC3300) which has two separate connectors, one specifically for GPS and one for GSM.

GPS internal

I know this has been up before but I´m still confused.
On this site http://cnn.cn/shop/htc-tytn-c-277_279.html
they sell antenna for the hermes gps.
As we know Hermes has an internal gps but without the internal antenna that is necessary...
So has anyone installed such hardware?

It would certainly be interesting to know if with the external antenna the GPS would work. Looking at it I think it might, the only problem I can think of would be the device recognising the GPS. Great find!! Good on you!!

strandkanten2 said:
On this site http://cnn.cn/shop/htc-tytn-c-277_279.html
they sell antenna for the hermes gps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at the product page on this antenna there are som pictures with it installed.
It attaches to the connector behind the rubber protector next to the camera.
Is'nt this the connector for external radio antenna?
Or is there any smart electronics that connects this connector to the internal gps module?

mippen said:
Looking at the product page on this antenna there are som pictures with it installed.
It attaches to the connector behind the rubber protector next to the camera.
Is'nt this the connector for external radio antenna?
Or is there any smart electronics that connects this connector to the internal gps module?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wondered the same thing.

This has been discussed to death so many times. Most recently, this exact antenna was discussed in the Hermes Accessories section of this forum (use search, I'm not going to do it for you).
Here's the FACTS!
1) There is some of the circuitry (hardware) for a GPS in a hermes. Some is missing. This is most likely due to the chips that the hermes uses having multiple built in functions. One function was needed so they used a chip that just happened to have part of a gps built in.
2) Adding the rest of the gps harware isn't practical and has a 99.9% chance of destroying the device even if you are highly experienced in working with surface mount components.
3) Even if you added the antenna, etc. successfully there is no firmware to drive it. You still need to write everything from scratch and make the firmware work with the rest of the pda/phone. You would have to do this without benefit of having any existing source code for the pda. Good Luck
4) Assuming you managed to do all this, and plugged in this antenna, you would have a gps that needed this big ugly antenna wired to the phone. So why not just spend the $50 and buy a bluetooth gps that works without wires and doesn't need the phone modified?
5) The store selling this antenna have stated to queries (see other threads) that this antenna is for use when using an EXTERNAL gps with the hermes. In other words, some bluetooth and wired gps units that work with the hermes have an external antenna jack so that if they are used in poor conditions this antenna can be used to boost the range by placing the antenna outside the vehicle, etc.
6) You cannot use this antenna plugged into the hermes external antenna jack. it will probably destroy the phones radio instantly and permanently. In fact, its a very bad idea to use any external antenna with any radio that wasn't specifically designed for the radio. There are many reports of frying the radio by using 'universal' cell phone antennas.
In conclusion.... GIVE IT UP!
There is no usable gps in the hermes!

deach01 said:
.
In conclusion.... GIVE IT UP!
There is no usable gps in the hermes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok then, anyhow very misleading pictures on that site then.
why would i install a wire to my phone if i have gps on bluetooth. makes no sense.
Ps. I knew this was discussed earlier but I wanted uptade on if someone tried it recently.

strandkanten2 said:
ok then, anyhow very misleading pictures on that site then.
why would i install a wire to my phone if i have gps on bluetooth. makes no sense.
Ps. I knew this was discussed earlier but I wanted uptade on if someone tried it recently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deach01 is correct. I agree the people selling this antenna should make it MUCH clearer as to its purpose.
To the best of my knowledge all development work has stopped, on getting the partial GPS functionality of the chip to work on the Hermes for the reasons deach01 states - it's just not practcal, and as said already the bluetooth receivers work well without major surgery to the Hermes.
Mike

Total BS! That site actually shows a picture of that antenna plugged into the back of the Hermes, talk about misleading!

deach01 said:
This has been discussed to death so many times. Most recently, this exact antenna was discussed in the Hermes Accessories section of this forum (use search, I'm not going to do it for you).
Here's the FACTS!
1) There is some of the circuitry (hardware) for a GPS in a hermes. Some is missing. This is most likely due to the chips that the hermes uses having multiple built in functions. One function was needed so they used a chip that just happened to have part of a gps built in.
2) Adding the rest of the gps harware isn't practical and has a 99.9% chance of destroying the device even if you are highly experienced in working with surface mount components.
3) Even if you added the antenna, etc. successfully there is no firmware to drive it. You still need to write everything from scratch and make the firmware work with the rest of the pda/phone. You would have to do this without benefit of having any existing source code for the pda. Good Luck
4) Assuming you managed to do all this, and plugged in this antenna, you would have a gps that needed this big ugly antenna wired to the phone. So why not just spend the $50 and buy a bluetooth gps that works without wires and doesn't need the phone modified?
5) The store selling this antenna have stated to queries (see other threads) that this antenna is for use when using an EXTERNAL gps with the hermes. In other words, some bluetooth and wired gps units that work with the hermes have an external antenna jack so that if they are used in poor conditions this antenna can be used to boost the range by placing the antenna outside the vehicle, etc.
6) You cannot use this antenna plugged into the hermes external antenna jack. it will probably destroy the phones radio instantly and permanently. In fact, its a very bad idea to use any external antenna with any radio that wasn't specifically designed for the radio. There are many reports of frying the radio by using 'universal' cell phone antennas.
In conclusion.... GIVE IT UP!
There is no usable gps in the hermes!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they used a chip and it had GPS as a bonus and they just ignored it, why then would the go through the troubleb of adding an external antennal connection and mod the device housing to accomandate it?

The external antenna connection is NOT for GPS. Its for the cell phone radio.
Don't believe me?
Go ahead, plug in an antenna!
Hope you can communicate by smoke signals as your cell radio transmitter final amplifier toasts itself.
THERE IS NO WORKING GPS IN A HERMES!
Do you really think that HTC would build in a feature like GPS and NOT market it?

An expensive option, Kaiser!
An expensive option is to go for Kaiser(soon to be at&t 8925 ?)
Does anyone know for sure that at&t is NOT gonna kill GPS on Kaiser? Just heard today it has pass thru FCC (
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/windows-mobile/-283367.php )

As soon as the Kaiser comes out over here I'm going to get one, it's like the WM version of the N95.

External gps or miniusb adapter ?

I just got my hands on a rds / tmc reciever from tomtom. It has a connector which is on the tomtom go's. I was wondering if it is possible to connect this to my kaiser by an adapter. I also was wondering if anyone could tell me what type of connector the external gps port is and what type of port is on the go? Perhaps I can make my own adapter but I need to know what type of port it is.

Kaiser already have the built in GPS?
Why you want to built the adaptor for??
I do not understand what you asking here....

It's a TMC rds reciever from tomtom. It will update any traffic jams and mobile speedcams. It would be great if I get it working on the kaiser. It seems that the coax connector in the kaiser is a MS-147-C(LP)-2 connector. The tomtom tmc module has some sort of a 2,5 mm jack connector but with a metal ring around it. I can't find the name of the connector anywhere. But I'm sure if I can find out the names it would be possible with navigon to update traffic on route.

yes, i'd also like to know what kind of connector is on the AT&T Tilt/kaiser. i bought an external gps antenna for better signal, and thoght id figured out that it uses the MMCX style connection, but after receiving it from Ebay, it does not fit. Now i ned to find an adaptor to got from MMCX to Tilt GPS external connector, or splice a new correct end onto my external antenna.
Shaggy

The port on the Kaiser is only a connection for an external GPS antenna. The Tomtom RDS device uses a proprietary data interface that doesn't carry the same kind of signals at all. You won't be able to connect it to the Kaiser.

I found the MS-147 connector at HighRose corp, but they want $25.00 US for that tiny little connector. I only paid $12.00 for my ext gps antenna. So, I'm trying to go the sample route for a free connector. Said they were gonna ship it this March. Long time to wait for it, but better than paying that crazy amout for such a tiny connector. I could machine a one'sy order like that on the lathe at work for way less $$$ than that. And they are prolly running them on a CNC Screw Machine, pumping out 1 part every 3 to 10 seconds. Uggghhh.
Shaggy

This just isn't going to work, stop trying and either give the RDS/TMC receiver to someone who has a compatible TomTom or put it on eBay. believe me this won't work....

Just buy Garmin Mobile XT for your Tilt. It has traffic updates.

[Q] External antenna socket?

Does anyone know what the socket/plug on the back of the phone (under the cover) at the bottom-right corner of the battery is? It looks like a socket for an external GPS antenna or something similar...
I can't find anything related to it on here.

I think that it`s the external antenna GSM, NOT gps.
In other phones like older omnia, this connector is for gsm external antenna

Ah - looks about right. Might need that then, with the way Vodafone are round here....

Petty they did not give u the 2nd battery cover with the hole in it. Samsung normally do that. This make this phone very good for country drives now I can set it up to use external car antenna

[GUIDE] Putting GPS antenna on WiFi port. ( Better WiFi Signal )

Hi
I was in my grandparents house when i tought i need better wifi signal cause it was reconnecting me all the time.
I opened up my phone and put out wifi and gps antenna.
Then i connected gps antenne into wifi ports.
My friend have LG OPTIMUS 2X so i compared those phones before and after this tweak.
Before i hade like -90 dBm (on LG from -80 to -75dBm) and its was reconnecting me very often.
After i have from -80 to -70 dBm and now its working even little better than LG.
If someone would try something like that please share your results to see if it works, for me it works perfectly

careful with that, i did all sort of testing on the hd2's antennae system. Basically you bridged the wlan and gps antennas into one big one. The first logical conclusion is that it should work better, and as far as this goes, it does. However there's a reason gps and wlan/bt antennas are separated by the manufacturer. The gps part has a LC filter near the antenna and the filter is connected to a hi gain signal amplifier. When you feed to much signal into the gps part the small transistors in the gps signal "amplifier" will get fried over time - will loose sensitivity. GPS will still work but as time goes by, you'll find out that it is increasingly difficult to get a lock. On one motherboard i tested, this leaded to total failure of the gps receiver side (needed an external hi gain antenna to get a fix, otherwise totally dead).
The reason for this problem is the fact that when bridging the antennas you create a ground loop on witch wifi/bt signals (higher amptitude) will get into the gps side, damaging it.
The solution is to separate both antennas and if you need a higher gain on the wifi side, develop a small fractal antenna or add a small enameled copper wire, wrapped around in a small coil, both ends connected to the wifi antenna pins.
If you really need stronger wlan, use some electric tape and insulate the gps pins from their antenna, if you want to keep your design. You will loose gps functionality, though.
NEVER mix up, gps with radio (GSM/3G) antenna, this is the most dangerous, again for the gps side. If you look at the hd2 board you will see that these 2 are actually in opposite sides.
Some newer phones use unified antenna designs for wlan/bt/gps etc, by means of some fast detection/varactor diodes in a signal mixer located in the input stage of the amplifier/emitter circuitry but no phone uses unified antenna for these AND the GSM part.

facdemol said:
careful with that, i did all sort of testing on the hd2's antennae system. Basically you bridged the wlan and gps antennas into one big one. The first logical conclusion is that it should work better, and as far as this goes, it does. However there's a reason gps and wlan/bt antennas are separated by the manufacturer. The gps part has a LC filter near the antenna and the filter is connected to a hi gain signal amplifier. When you feed to much signal into the gps part the small transistors in the gps signal "amplifier" will get fried over time - will loose sensitivity. GPS will still work but as time goes by, you'll find out that it is increasingly difficult to get a lock. On one motherboard i tested, this leaded to total failure of the gps receiver side (needed an external hi gain antenna to get a fix, otherwise totally dead).
The reason for this problem is the fact that when bridging the antennas you create a ground loop on witch wifi/bt signals (higher amptitude) will get into the gps side, damaging it.
The solution is to separate both antennas and if you need a higher gain on the wifi side, develop a small fractal antenna or add a small enameled copper wire, wrapped around in a small coil, both ends connected to the wifi antenna pins.
If you really need stronger wlan, use some electric tape and insulate the gps pins from their antenna, if you want to keep your design. You will loose gps functionality, though.
NEVER mix up, gps with radio (GSM/3G) antenna, this is the most dangerous, again for the gps side. If you look at the hd2 board you will see that these 2 are actually in opposite sides.
Some newer phones use unified antenna designs for wlan/bt/gps etc, by means of some fast detection/varactor diodes in a signal mixer located in the input stage of the amplifier/emitter circuitry but no phone uses unified antenna for these AND the GSM part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've always enjoyed reading your posts, extremely informative! thanks (and thanked)!

your saying i connected gps and wifi antenna into one piece. Propably its because i used bad words to describe what i was doing
truth is, i just changed between those antenna so i still have them.
GPS is now on wifi ( i dont have gps now ) and wifi antenne is in a safe place.
Is there any danger in the way i use it now? I dont see anything to proof that, except those wires look different.
Thanks for respond

Hmm, doesn't sound like a good thing to try. I don't really have problems with my wifi, but mixing the antenna's... yeah the manufacturer did't split them for no reason.

its almost week after i changed wires and nothing happend since then, except i have a feeling my battery lives longer with better wifi signal.

aah, you only changed the antenna wires (black - white). That's ok, no problem here.
I understood that you soldered the 2 antennas together. That's another story.