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hey guys,
i have a little question,
i just bought a haicom gps receiver and use tomtom 2 software. When i get out of my garage, it takes always more than 15 minutes to get a signal. sometimes during driving i also lose it. How comes?
when i connect my device to the receiver and power, i get something like "connecting to t-mobile MMS"...
oh, btw i have a MDA II with latest NL t-mobile rom. 1.60....
if anyone could help please...
thanks!
The gps should only take this long when first used, after that it should lock in a matter of a couple of minutes, to test the gps properly it is best to test it outside the vehicle, I think most Haicom mouse gps come with magnetic base so stick it on the roof and drive around, if it works better it is probably becuase your car has a metallised windscreen which blocks the signal. The message about connecting to the service provider is an error due to the com port being accessed i think, mine used to bring up activesync every time but once I canged my activesync settings on the xda to manual instead of auto sync it solved the problem.
so i should always drive around with my window open?? and stick the receiver outside the car?
I would agree with Crusin Through - I think your car may well have some form of heated windscreen or heat reflecting windscreen. What car do you have.
If when you do place the receiver on the outside of the car you do get good signal you can get a special anntenna that had an outside part and an internal part that you can fit permanently to the car so you can still move the thing about. Bit like a mobile phone antenna.
Alternatively as you have the XDA II you can get a bluetooth receiver an place it on the rear parcel shelf (I think the wider heating strips won't affect it - but can't confirm it.)
John, I wasnt suggesting you drive around with your window open, I was suggesting a way to ascertain if your windscreen is the problem regarding your blocked gps signal, by the way I have used a gps on the roof and the window will shut almost all the way however as the last post mentioned you can obtain a re-radiating antenna, this will solve your problem if indeed the windscreen is the culprit.
Re-rediating antenna - that's the word I couldn't remember :lol:
ok guys, thanks. i'll try with such an extern antenna.
thanks for your help
Before you spend your money on the re-rad antenna - try the thing on the roof - if this works then the antenna is your only real option if you want to continue with the thing in the front windscreen.
I'd hate you to buy the re-rad and then find it doesn't work.
Incidently what car do you have? (Does it have a heat reflecting or headted windscreen)
And if it works outside,
you still don't have to buy an external antenna, as normally the windshield have an area where is not metal coating...
try to check the manual of your car..
i own a toyota Camry 2002 model, it has indeed a windscreen etc...
Hi all,
Just back from holiday and my new toy has arrived - an external aerial for the Exec...
Not sure if this has been covered before (I tried searching for 20 mins and didn't find anything) but after experimenting I have discovered the following:
The left hand aerial socket only works for GSM.
The right hand aerial socket only works for UTMS.
Guess I always wondered why there were 2 sockets!!!
G
Aerial sockets? Can we see some pics please?
I'd be interested in more info on this as well.
Do you know what type of connector it uses?
Any ideas on the reliability of the connections, they look as though they could be flimsy?
Have you tried to see if they improve the Wi-Fi signal at all?
And the ultimate question, what aerial is it that you bought?
Thanx in advance,
Pug.
gquipster said:
Hi all,
Just back from holiday and my new toy has arrived - an external aerial for the Exec...
Not sure if this has been covered before (I tried searching for 20 mins and didn't find anything) but after experimenting I have discovered the following:
The left hand aerial socket only works for GSM.
The right hand aerial socket only works for UTMS.
Guess I always wondered why there were 2 sockets!!!
G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are mistaken!
One socket is for an external GSM antenna (2G and UMTS), the other socket is for an external WIFI antenna.
jasonkruys said:
I think you are mistaken!
One socket is for an external GSM antenna (2G and UMTS), the other socket is for an external WIFI antenna.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And are these avaiable off the shelf yet??
Mav
Aerial I bought and more...
Well to answer the important question of what aerial I bought it was this one:
http://www.mobilephonecrazy.com/modeldetail/xda-exec,Signal_Enhancer.htm
I mainly bought it for the car - driving through Windsor Great Park the signal is a bit dubious at places so bought this to improve it.
I've actually downgraded the radio stack on the phone to 1.09 recently as 1.13 seemed to have problems with the UMTS signal - in places where everyone else was getting a good UMTS signal I was getting 0 to 1 bars at most - and it does seem better now, but the built-in aerial of the Exec doesn't seem very good at all - hopefully the successor will have a better antenna!
The above aerial I think is a fairly standard aerial but the important thing as far as we are concerned is that it came with a 50cm fly lead that has a socket for the aerial at one end and a plug that goes into the back of the Exec at the other - it came in a little plastic bag marked "SPV M5000" - I'm not an electronics expert I'm afraid so can't tell anyone the actual type of plug but I'll photograph it tonight if anyone is interested.
Right I have to drive to work - have a good day everyone!
Hi,
It looks like a great find. Can you comment on how good the aerial is? Does it really do a good job of increasing signal strength and if so by how much on average?
Does it give you a signal in places you didnt used to get a signal before?
It would be great if you can post the results of your "discovery".
I have a really crap signal in my office and need to balance my phone on top of a lamp to get just 1 bar....
Also you might want to move this to the accessory board?
Any chance on some feedback for this aerial?
I really want to sort my reception problem out and would like to know how your aerial performs before wasting money...
Thnks
I'd love to post some performance reviews of this aerial however some blaggard on Friday stole my car, laptop, phone and aerial so at the moment I'm kinda incommunicado :-(
Once insurance kicks in and I get replacements (should have new work laptop shortly) I'll post some performance comments.
Sorry all!!!
G
gquipster said:
I'd love to post some performance reviews of this aerial however some blaggard on Friday stole my car, laptop, phone and aerial so at the moment I'm kinda incommunicado :-(
Once insurance kicks in and I get replacements (should have new work laptop shortly) I'll post some performance comments.
Sorry all!!!
G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bummer chap, hope you get sorted.
Mav
OK looks like I wil take the chance and buy an aerial anyway.
I will let you know....
Sorry about the uni
Dude sory to hear about the uni getting robbed. I also live in windsor so will keep an ear to the ground for anyone selling/getting rid of a uni.
But back to the thread.
I work in a second world war hangar with 3ft thick walls, so reception is nill.
After looking into wifi a little while back, I was making an external wifi antenna for my uni for use around home and work (very basic just a pice of wire and a wooden pole). When I plugged it in to my uni I found that the network signal (not the wifi) reception went up to 3 bars from nothing.
I have plugged the antenna in the wrong connector.
so after cocking up I have solved a problem with the signal but not the wifi.
All I used was a 10mtr pice of coax (50hm). A standard female uhf tv conector and this is the important bit, a 36mm copper rod from the centre of a power cable. Fit this in the uhf connector and point it upward like an aerial. connect the coax to the uhf connector.
Then on the other end strip the coax down to the centre core strands and snuggly slot them in the connection on the back of your uni.
Thats it!!!
Now i said it was basic!! but it does work despite the amount of cable.
If anyone would like photos I will take them toinight and try to pop them on my web site. But for now I can e-mail untill its up and running. [email protected]
If anyone would like some of the coax (I get it from work) and are near the Windsor area, feel free to e-mail me and we can sort getting some to you. (free as we are all in the same boat here).
My next project will be a car mounted type. watch this space!!
Found this on the wiki:
http://www.wpsantennas.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=408
This is just a connector, you still need an external antenna, which you can find on this site as well. If you poke around the site there is also a 3w bi-directional amp which boosts range up to 50 miles.(85km) It only works on 2 frequencies, and I don't know which is which, so I'm not sure what it's good for.
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.
Maybe an antenna connector? For the GPS? It is located above the upper right corner of the battery
I think that is an GSM connector
someone in another forum identified it as a MMCX socket, indicating it was for a GPS antenna,
he also posted a link to an auxiliary GPS antenna with the mmcx connector, looked just like the GPS antennas we used to buy for the mapping programs that ran on our laptops, or the auxiliary antennas available for the dash mounted GPS units
I think it's an internal antenna (don't think it's GPS), had the same on my Omnia II. Some people thought it was the reset button and ended up messing up their devices badly.
it's a connector for external antenna. which one I'm not sure, could be WIFI, GPS, FM.
commonly use for lab measurements.
Ok, thank you... we must to investigate
Bump, just noticed this..... It certainly looks like a MMCX socket. maybe we can boost wifi/fm/gsm signal by adding external antenna? We could use some thin wire and lead it around the battery..
I have a sirius satellite radio antennae with the same connector. I'm not going to plug it in though, for fear of shorting something out...
It's a connector for GSM external antenna.
You could measure resistance with multimeter...
Its quite risky, since there is no information about this connector.
xan said:
You could measure resistance with multimeter...
Its quite risky, since there is no information about this connector.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or you could use a oscilloscope. and it would be safe
meybe could work like that
http://blog.wpsantennas.com/2007/05/samsung-blackjack-i607-external-antenna.html
http://www.wpsantennas.com/359921-samsung-captivate-galaxy-s-antenna-adapter-cable.aspx
Its a GSM external antennae plug for people with car kits. Use mainly by country people as they need it due to distance or professional drivers like truckers. I find it odd as you would need a modded back cover when using it. I WONDER if you can improve reception of GPS/GSM if you make a backcase out of required material
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.