How to improve signal in Big Cities like Chicago/NY

liquid_smoke · 01-02-2005, 02:29 PM

Just had the worse gps experience that cost me 140 bucks in concert tickets, and want to know what you guys who also travel a lot in Big Cities like Chicago and NY do to get better gps signals.

Ive found that my gps reciever is basicly useless in downtown chicago (where i need it the most), the huge buildings are blocking the satalites and by the time i get a lock again ive missed my turn or turned on the wrong street. Sometimes for miles. I have the gps reciever placed on the back package shelf (or what ever you call it). This is the car I have here and the reciever is behind the middle rear head rest, usb earthmate. Just to give an idea of exactly where i have it placed.
Would sticking it on the dash (bad place cosmeticly) be any better?

Thanks.

Zip-Lock · 01-02-2005, 06:54 PM

Try to position the GPS where it will have the clearest views of the horizon to minimize signal blockage from your vehicle.

Try another GPS receiver too. I have a Garmin 35 and it works really well. The Earthmates are often thought of as crap.

I have my Garmin located in the back window and it works fine.

I’ve also found crappy GPS software can also cause you to miss turns. I tried a few and settled with CoPilot.

Good luck.

liquid_smoke · 01-03-2005, 04:07 AM

well i may have to try some different gps recievers, i do not want another situation like this again, thats the reason i got gps in the first place, so i dont get lost.lol.

thanks

DaRacerz · 01-03-2005, 10:46 PM

Well liquid, I'll tell you this much, Cities like NYC are well known terror zones for GPS signals and receivers. Different units will cope differently, thats for sure. You didn't specify a receiver, so can't say much in that department But Zip-Lock said it well. Earthmate has a lock issue when there is a lot of "noise" arund. I'm running an OEM Garmin and reception is really good.

Being that you have a VW, do some research, you may find out that on the roof of the car it could be a very easy conversion to go GPS. SOme cars have GPS antenna's in them already, so to add for example a Garmin GPS15H would be extremely simple in such a setup and would retain you really good signals.

tj!2k4 · 01-04-2005, 01:14 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by liquid_smoke

and the reciever is behind the middle rear head rest, usb earthmate. Just to give an idea of exactly where i have it placed.
Would sticking it on the dash (bad place cosmeticly) be any better?

For me it was exactly the other way around.

At first I put the Earthmate on the front dash in my 03 Mustang, and was very disappointed with the GPS; it seems like I just couldn't get a signal. I was extremely frustrated, thinking the unit was broken, but then tried the rear window/deck.. bingo! Now it works like a champ with very quick warm-up times.

Perhaps the shallower angle of the rear window did the trick, or perhaps the front windshield has one of those solar-glare coatings.. or a combination of both. My 96 Impala SS had some solar coating on the front windshield, so I couldn't use a regular EZPass, I needed the license-plate-mount version.

fantomas · 01-04-2005, 01:38 AM

for important drives, you might want to consider placing the unit on the roof until you reach your destination.

Bugbyte · 01-04-2005, 01:41 AM

I had the GPS on the rear shelf of my Beetle and got spotty reception. Moved it to the dash and improved it greatly.

0l33l · 01-04-2005, 01:48 AM

I don't know, but my earthmate (on its maiden voyage) got great reception. I just placed it on my dashboard and it had a constant lock on 5 satellites, 2 more sometimes joined in. This is without an extra antenna, or any mods. Also stock windows without anything removed.

tj!2k4 · 01-04-2005, 01:51 AM

If I wasn't clear in my post, it meant to suggest: try a different location, as close to the glass as possible..

0l33l · 01-04-2005, 01:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by tj!2k4

If I wasn't clear in my post, it meant to suggest: try a different location, as close to the glass as possible..

Oh yeh! I had my jammed against the glass and the dash

liquid_smoke · 01-04-2005, 10:28 AM

yeah, i think it certainly has more to do with my placement than anything. I normally get at least 6 locks and only ever experience dropping sats when im in downtown chi, everywhere else its fine.

what i think i may do is drive into the city and pullover when i dont get any locks and try to play with the placement and see if it helps

viguera · 01-04-2005, 10:40 AM

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.

mykolJay · 01-04-2005, 11:10 AM

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

viguera · 01-04-2005, 11:20 AM

Quote: 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.

camsgs3 · 01-04-2005, 12:09 PM

Quote: 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

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