Thread: How to improve signal in Big Cities like Chicago/NY

There's just no way to get around it IMO... in midtown Mahattan GPS reception is terrible, and I already know which streets will kill even my XM radio -- so much for repeaters... You can see just a sliver of the sky, so unless you happen to be lucky enough to have 4 birds within that space (not likely), it's just not gonna happen.

Ground-based stations are basically non-existent, and I don't think that anybody's even trying to improve reception... when I think about it though, NYC is probably the one place where you don't need GPS. The grid is fairly easy to decipher and you need to have 3 eyes on the road to watch out for cabbies...

Chicago is nothing compared to the signal drops that we get around here... I should try and log it sometime to give you an idea of how bad it is... you probably need a mast to double up as an antenna in some spots. And I know what you mean about Chicago though... I almost missed a concert on Congress back in April because I was looking at the stupid navigation screen on my friend's car. No more of that nonsense.

Originally Posted by mykolJay

I don't reall yhave much of a problem in Manhattan with the BU-330 (ebay GPS mouse) and iGuidance 2.0.

Anywhere near the 50s I get nothing but drops using the re-badged Pharos unit that came with MS Streets & Trips, as well as a Garmin unit. Any of the cross-streets are bad because they're so narrow, and only on the bigger avenues I can get more than 4-5 birds at a time.

But it could be the units though... or that I drive too fast.

Originally Posted by viguera

Anywhere near the 50s I get nothing but drops using the re-badged Pharos unit that came with MS Streets & Trips, as well as a Garmin unit. Any of the cross-streets are bad because they're so narrow, and only on the bigger avenues I can get more than 4-5 birds at a time.

But it could be the units though... or that I drive too fast.

my office is on 48th and 6th and I get pretty good locks around that area. Im using the yellow earthmate

Originally Posted by tj!2k4

.. until you get downtown..

Tourists (the only people that use GPS in the city ) take the subway downtown...