Will GX2200 Internal GPS Antenna Work Under Sailboat Deck

[Wyoming pirate]

Does anyone have the new Standard Horizon Gx2200 mounted under the deck a sailboat? I have a handheld Garmin that works great under my deck and wondering if anyone has one and how well the GPS antenna picks up under a fibergass deck.
Thanks

[autumnbreeze27]

I think it would be fine. My dad's got his mounted in the aft-companionway of his Morgan 41 IO, and although I haven't tried it with the hatch closed, I have a USB GPS hockey puck that works great through the deck.

If it was older tech I'd be worried, but new tech is pretty forgiving.

[CharlzO]

Mine picked up fine in the middle of my bedroom, 6 feet from the nearest window, and 5 feet from the wall, under testing. I haven't gotten it installed to the boat yet, but I would be surprised if it didn't pick up enough. If you have't found out in a week or two, that's when I'm aiming to get mine installed, or at the least be able to test it in the boat.

[Wyoming pirate]

Originally Posted by CharlzO

Mine picked up fine in the middle of my bedroom, 6 feet from the nearest window, and 5 feet from the wall, under testing. I haven't gotten it installed to the boat yet, but I would be surprised if it didn't pick up enough. If you have't found out in a week or two, that's when I'm aiming to get mine installed, or at the least be able to test it in the boat.

Charlzo That is about my time frame, If you get it installed I would appreciate a heads up if you get a chance.
thanks

[CharlzO]

Sure thing. If I'm able to go up again this weekend, I'll take mine along with a battery and see how it goes. Or, you know... I've got a Hurley outside on a trailer, lemme check it in the next day or two out there, and see how it works from below decks. Forgot about that one.

[Wyoming pirate]

That would be great if you can test it. Stuff it in the worst spot and see how she goes! Thanks

[CharlzO]

No problem at all. I have a dentist apt in the morning, but assuming I get back with time to spare before work, I'll go out and run it in and see how much it takes to fool it.

[CharlzO]

Didn't get back til late yesterday, and then we had quite the little snow squall overnight. But I'm grabbing a small 12v battery to test it tomorrow morning, will let you know (The Hurley has no battery as of yet, and I don't feel like hauling my two GC2s onto it just to plug in the radio lol). But should be a good test, being inside that, and under the tarp covering it.

[David M]

Test it inside and outside of the cabin. Note how many and the signal strength of each satellite. Test it with a wet deck and a wet sail up. You need a minimum of four satellites a ways above the horizon and not directly overhead to get a good fix.

It will be your educated decision on whether or not the signal strengths have been attenuated too much.

[CharlzO]

Alrighty. So, first thing I did, was take it all the way down into the center of the cabin. Granted, it's only a Hurley 22, so it's not like it's HUGE inside. But, as I mentioned above, it's also tarped over, and has a row of trees to the immediate left. Hooked it up to the 12v I bought last night.

Radio took approx 30 seconds to get an initial fix, four solid satellites showing on the graph, with 3 others working on a fix. It may have eventually saw more, but it's cold out, and I didn't want to wait that long lol. Powering it down and back up a few times, the sat fix came anywhere from a few seconds, to 30 seconds being the longest I had to wait. I then moved the radio back under the rear of the cabin, under the cockpit seats. This is a location I've seen quite a few boats mount it anyway, though I'm sure those weren't GPS enabled, but rather it was just convenient for them to mount there, and allows for quick reach from the cockpit. For reference, here's a picture of where it was.



The left edge of this picture, is the companionway and step up. The slide-out table, I had retracted back in fully, which makes it flush and I set the radio in on there, and powered it up. Again, in 30 seconds, I had a lock with 4 up, and another couple trying. I noticed one of them was a little weaker than when it was out in the center, but was still plenty solid. They never dropped after picking up, after a few minutes of leaving it on.

Now obviously this is only a simple test, on a different boat, and in a different part of the country. But, given all the satellites overhead, I would expect similar results on most vessels, unless you mount it in the bilge or something.

[Wyoming pirate]

CharlzO, Thanks for the report and good work. I think I will go buy one now! I had the one without AIS and gave it to my son for his boat due to the fact that we do enough overnight ocean travel we really should have AIS so here goes...thanks again!

[Wyoming pirate]

Update: installed it under a shelf below my 1.5 in thick deck. Very good satellite reception...its a winner!
Thanks all!

[Canibul]

Thanks for looking into that. I just got word that my lightning strike claim is settled by insurance company and I have basically a blank slate for electronics myself. I think the GX2200 will be my first purchase with the insurance money.

Did you get the remote mike? I'm not sure how that works. Can you hook two mics to the radio at the same time?

[Wyoming pirate]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Thanks for looking into that. I just got word that my lightning strike claim is settled by insurance company and I have basically a blank slate for electronics myself. I think the GX2200 will be my first purchase with the insurance money.

Did you get the remote mike? I'm not sure how that works. Can you hook two mics to the radio at the same time?

I do have a ram mic as well. I have only tested it and will not have any real cruise time until next week with it. It all functions very good but will not have a complete review until we really put it to hard use. So far it seems to be a great unit!

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Can you hook two mics to the radio at the same time?

You cannot put more than one RAM mic on that radio, but the regular mic on the radio also works when the RAM is connected, so that is two.

I think SH make some models with multiple RAM connections.

Mark