Iridium Go plus YB3i tracker

[jafrancis]

According to the Iridium Go website, the Iridium Go unit will not work as a tracker if a boat's cabin is made of metal or carbon fiber. Thus they recommend installing their YB3i tracker in addition to the external antenna for the Iridium unit. Does anyone have further information and experience with this setup?

[SoonerSailor]

Originally Posted by jafrancis

According to the Iridium Go website, the Iridium Go unit will not work as a tracker if a boat's cabin is made of metal or carbon fiber. Thus they recommend installing their YB3i tracker in addition to the external antenna for the Iridium unit. Does anyone have further information and experience with this setup?

I have the YB3i mounted in a space covered by fiberglass deck. It works reliably in that location. I’m sure it would not if the deck were metal. It makes sense that carbon fiber would attenuate the signal more than typical fiberglass.

[ItDepends]

If you want to use it as a tracker, it requires a GPS signal at the device. The external antenna does NOT supply this, it only serves as a communication satellite link.

If your cell phone gets a good GPS signal at the location where you plan to install the IridiumGO box, then it is probably worth trying it, you can always add the YB3i later if you have problems.

If your cell phone can not get a GPS lock in the cabin, it is probably unrealistic to expect that the IridumGO will be able to.