Garmin GPS antenna

[RalphFerrand]

I have a Garmin 128 GPS which has been on-board for a number of years and function well. At the boatshow (southampton) I bought a 276 colour chartplotter to sit by the helm. Apart from being away for repair because of problems with it forgeting the car sat nav stuff, leaving me in the middle of knowhere with a precise position but no map, the hitch on the boat is that one tends to smack the aerial off with ones knee when playing with string. The aerial is just about in one piece still but the obvious solution is to connect it to an external aerial on the push pit. After being told the cost of a second external antenna, I now have to find a cost effective solution! I have a load of coax and BNC stuff from the days of computer networking before it all went cat5/RJ45, and was wondering if I could do a 'tee' from the 128's aerial lead to feed the chartplotter?

Any help much appreciated.

Ralph
Cevema
Gib'Sea 28

Gib'Sea Association - www.gibsea.org.uk

 

[ditchcrawler]

You can buy a small antenna on E bay or www.gps4less.co.uk do them for £29.50.Have a look to see if this might suit you.You can also remove the antenna & put it on an extension lead.

 

[RalphFerrand]

I have already made up a little 'fly lead' to use the portable aerial which is one solution I haven't tried on the boat yet but I prefer the idea of something more fixed.

GPS for less looks interesting, they even claim to be weather proof.

Thanks for your reply

Ralph

 

[AndrewB]

The Garmin GPS128 uses the GA29 external antenna, which is also used on many other Garmin models including chartplotters, and is also the external antenna option with some models that have an integral antenna. I'm not sure whether it is right with the GPS276 but it seems a fair bet. Cutting the antenna's coax cable for the purpose of T-ing is certainly possible. I'd say try it and see, except that my experience with the GA29 is that it is rather easy to damage electrically. It's always worth contacting Garmin, I've found them helpful on technical questions.

 

[Thresher]

External GPS cables for Garmins available on Ebay for £14.99 here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...ssPageName=WD1V

Sorry, you'll have to cut and paste it.

 

[Thresher]

Oh that's clever!. I though you had to do something fancy to create a clickable link but it does it itself.

 

[tome]

Don't use the computer stuff as it's 75 ohm whereas Garmin use 50 ohm coax

 

[isandell]

I would second this. I bought one of their mini aerials when the Garmin aerial failed. I have compared with a burrowed Garmin replacement and found it at least as good. Good service from GPS4less also.

Ian

 

[RalphFerrand]

At twenty quid inc postage that has to be worth a punt!

Thanks!

 

[marina95]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't use the computer stuff as it's 75 ohm whereas Garmin use 50 ohm coax

[/ QUOTE ]

Not sure that this is correct. Co-axial RG58 cable used for Ethernet is rated at 50ohms. I have used ethernet cables on my GPS set-up without any problems.