External GPS antenna

[cornelious2]

I think the issue is really verizon vs sprint at the current moment. as sprint I get full use of the Agps meaning I get to use satalites and cell towers, while (I believe) Verizon users only get use of the satalites. once the verizon stock update comes out I bet that your issue will go away.

[Daved]

Obviously the Sprint users do NOT need an external GPS antenna.

But I am not on Sprint so I am looking to improve the internal GPS of the Titan.

An Holux M1200 picks up 10-12 sats where my Titan picks up 6. The Holux gets a lock in 30-60 seconds when the Titan needs 2 or 3 mins if I am lucky.

[stemo76]

Originally Posted by cornelious2

I think the issue is really verizon vs sprint at the current moment. as sprint I get full use of the Agps meaning I get to use satalites and cell towers, while (I believe) Verizon users only get use of the satalites. once the verizon stock update comes out I bet that your issue will go away.

Verizon must have AGPS technology since many of their phones have VZ NAV available. Are you saying that the only way for the PPC phones to take advantage of this is for verizon to build this into the OS. From talking with Verizon it doesn't look like they are going to be offering the use of the GPS chip in the phones. They are currently working on the VZ NAV for the PPC OS so they are going to want to charge you instead of letting you use TomTom or MS/GOOGLE options. Seems silly since you can bypass this with a $50.00 bluetooth device.

I guess they recently completed this for the BB users so PPC is the last frontier. For now I will use the internal when it works and keep the holux in the car for the times the phone is being finicky.

[Daved]

Originally Posted by stemo76

Verizon must have AGPS technology since many of their phones have VZ NAV available. Are you saying that the only way for the PPC phones to take advantage of this is for verizon to build this into the OS. From talking with Verizon it doesn't look like they are going to be offering the use of the GPS chip in the phones. They are currently working on the VZ NAV for the PPC OS so they are going to want to charge you instead of letting you use TomTom or MS/GOOGLE options. Seems silly since you can bypass this with a $50.00 bluetooth device.

I guess they recently completed this for the BB users so PPC is the last frontier. For now I will use the internal when it works and keep the holux in the car for the times the phone is being finicky.

Well, I am doing the same ATM, using the internal GPS when it works or use the Holux M1200 but the internal GPS with an external antenna works almost as good as the Holux so I don't see why not make an antenna for it.

[shaggylive]

I had an idea for you... I think the antenna is right under the battery cover between the battery and the edge of the phone.... I wonder if you could just solder a small wire on the existing antenna and have it tucked in under the battery cover....
the other thought I had was simply to provide an external contact that you cold put a finger on and let your body act as an antenna...

[Daved]

Originally Posted by shaggylive

I had an idea for you... I think the antenna is right under the battery cover between the battery and the edge of the phone.... I wonder if you could just solder a small wire on the existing antenna and have it tucked in under the battery cover....

I already did that... I thought someone would come up with a different idea, lol.

Originally Posted by shaggylive

the other thought I had was simply to provide an external contact that you cold put a finger on and let your body act as an antenna...

LOL, then I will have to have the phone in my hand while I am driving!

I just got an external GPS antenna, I will connect it to the "wire" tonight and report back.

[holo]

Originally Posted by stemo76

Verizon must have AGPS technology since many of their phones have VZ NAV available. Are you saying that the only way for the PPC phones to take advantage of this is for verizon to build this into the OS. From talking with Verizon it doesn't look like they are going to be offering the use of the GPS chip in the phones. They are currently working on the VZ NAV for the PPC OS so they are going to want to charge you instead of letting you use TomTom or MS/GOOGLE options. Seems silly since you can bypass this with a $50.00 bluetooth device.

I guess they recently completed this for the BB users so PPC is the last frontier. For now I will use the internal when it works and keep the holux in the car for the times the phone is being finicky.

It is unlikely that verizon will ever release a GPS enabled update for the device since they have to pay HTC licensing fees (who in turn pays qualcomm licensing fees for access to that part of the chip) to unlock the GPS of the phone. Even alltel who has released a 3.xx series rom/radio did not technically enable GPS in their release. With the diamond/pro right around the corner you guys are pretty much SOL for GPS imo (especially since verizon has never released ANY updates for the device afaik). It would be silly for them to pay to unlock the GPS in the device with this device about to be discontinued in favor of the touch pro. AFAIK sprint (and another non-US carrier I think maybe?) are the only ones to have ever unlocked the GPS in the phone. The only thing that realistically may happen is that you may be able to hack in the same AGPS server that the pro/diamond will use (if they even set one up for them) to enable this somehow through some hacking.

To the OP cheers for figuring this out, but I can't imagine this would be very popular. Even among those non-sprint users this seems like a very significant undertaking and even without the serious modifications involved, it would probably be easier to just carry around a nice external BT GPS than to carry around an external antenna. They are dirt cheap anyways and you can get a nice SiRF III GPS for <$50 that will lock very nicely and quickly and doesn't have to be attached to your phone (and also won't void your warranty/TEP).

[stemo76]

Originally Posted by Daved

That's exactly where I connected the wire to (antenna for GPS).

Well, I am sure we can get better GPS reception with an external GPS antenna, now we need to figure out how to put a connector there.

I don't know about circuitry but could you somehow disconnect the connector for the external CDMA antenna that is about at the 1:00 position on the dial in the picture and connect it to the GPS antenna? This could give you a standard style connector without screwing up the cosmetics of the phone.

[shaggylive]

Originally Posted by stemo76

I don't know about circuitry but could you somehow disconnect the connector for the external CDMA antenna that is about at the 1:00 position on the dial in the picture and connect it to the GPS antenna? This could give you a standard style connector without screwing up the cosmetics of the phone.

NO, don't mess with that!

while I have seen ppl using external antennas and that jack, with no problems.
I've also seen & read many times it messes up the jack and then the internal antenna doesn't work.

but that is another idea.. if you really wanted you could wire up a "standard" gps type jack. but cummon.... I think it's way cool that a paper clip can allow (or better allow..) a phone that fits in the palm of my hand to "see" satellites...

also the external gps just defeats the purpose of having a phone with "everything" (get an apache)

[Daved]

Originally Posted by shaggylive

NO, don't mess with that!

while I have seen ppl using external antennas and that jack, with no problems.
I've also seen & read many times it messes up the jack and then the internal antenna doesn't work.

Don't worry, it never crossed my mind to do that.

Originally Posted by shaggylive

but that is another idea.. if you really wanted you could wire up a "standard" gps type jack. but cummon.... I think it's way cool that a paper clip can allow (or better allow..) a phone that fits in the palm of my hand to "see" satellites...

also the external gps just defeats the purpose of having a phone with "everything" (get an apache)

I have an Apache too, heh, but I keep wishing the Titan would be almost as good as an Holux which is not.

I don't see where you say I can put the standard gps jack, I can't find the place where to put it in the phone without making it look like crap.

BTW, the test tonight with the GPS antenna was not good, I will try to get another kind of GPS antenna (there are a couple out there) and try again.