iridium go

[Catbird Suite]

I have just bought and had delivered a iridium go with external aerial. For the unit to give out gps positions it has to have small internal aerial up and pointing at the sky. Has anyone mounted one of these under a glass foam glass deck? In literature with it it says will work under windscreen of car. I want it to be able to give out our position but cant think where to mount it so has clear view of sky. The external aerial also comes with massive cable that is posing some rethink of how to install. Does anyone know if there is a thinner cable available for it?

[lifgun]

In my opinion you can mount the unit where ever you want as long as the external areal is mounted too....there is no other choice for to connect the areal as the coax cable. But then it works perfect..... For to deliver the antenna signal you need this cable, no way to use a thinner one - it has to do with loss of signal strength.

[Emerald Sea]

Lifgun is correct. With the external antenna mounted it will transmit your GPS position. We have the base unit fitted indoors, near the nav station and the ext antenna on a pole outside.

The LMR400 cable provided is a pain to route but you pretty much have to stick with this and you're limited to a 10m run. If you have a much shorter run you may get away with another cable with more signal loss/small dia. You'd need to consult with Iridium or experts for that.

[CarstenWL]

In my opinion you can mount the unit where ever you want as long as the external areal is mounted too

Problem with the IridiumGO!: The GPS is mounted in the unit (and NOT the external antenna). So you want to position the unit that it has a 'clear view'.
I installed one this spring on a Bene54 at the navigation desk this spring and we had problems on the shakedown test from Martinique to Grenada some times.

Regarding cable length to the external antenna: You should not change this to smaller diameter wire due to cable losses at the frequency where the IridiumGo! works.

Regards,

Carsten

[N3VR L8]

Originally Posted by CarstenWL

Problem with the IridiumGO!: The GPS is mounted in the unit (and NOT the external antenna). So you want to position the unit that it has a 'clear view'.
I installed one this spring on a Bene54 at the navigation desk this spring and we had problems on the shakedown test from Martinique to Grenada some times.

Regarding cable length to the external antenna: You should not change this to smaller diameter wire due to cable losses at the frequency where the IridiumGo! works.

Regards,

Carsten

This is correct in regards to the GPS - the external antenna is for the Iridium signal only.

In regards to the cable - the diameter is defined by the required run length. If you can provide the required run length and perhaps the current cable type (should be printed in small letters on the cable) I can let you know if a smaller diameter cable is possible.