Hi,

 

I know this is a long shot but have a read of this.

 

I recently purchased a car stereo with a TFT touch screen. It comes with all the good bits (DVD, DVB-T, CD, etc) including, allegedly, full GPS compatibility. I hasten to add that I did not buy this stereo through ebay but through a reputable online reseller.

 

My problem is, there is a separate MMCX connection for the DVB-T antenna but no connection at all for a GPS receiver. I've contacted the supplier who said that the unit does not have an inbuild GPS receiver so an external unit is required. Fair enough so far however, how do you connect an external GPS antenna if there isn't a dedicated antenna input? I've been googling a lot and through ebay it appears that most wired GPS receivers come with either a MCX or MMCX type connector. Having looked through the user manual (which is a very badly translated piece of worthless paper ...) the only available input would be the AUX-IN, which is a standard RCA type plug.

 

My questions are:

 

(1) does anyone know where I can get a GPS antenna with a RCA connector?

(2) does anyone know if the AUX-IN is the appropriate connection to use? (I wouldn't have thought so as it is expecting either an audio or video signal and not a data stream)

(3) if the AUX-IN is in fact the correct way to go, can I buy a GPS antenna featuring a MMCX connector, cut it off and connect the appropriate RCA plug?

 

Sorry for all the questions. The supplier of the stereo is absolutely no use whatsoever ... :(

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

Regards,

 

Dan

Which one have you bought? Link?

Which one have you bought? Link?

 

Not got the link to hand Lee - it's on my other PC.

 

However, I've spoken to a company that does a lot of high-end installs and was told that never have they had to connect an external GPS antenna via the AUX/VIDEO-IN RCA connector. This simply does not work as the signals are completely incompatible.

 

So, it would appear that this is a case of false advertising and I've spoken to the seller who "is looking into it". Guess I'll wait a little while to hear back from them

 

In the meantime, if anyone knows of a way to connect a GPS antenna to a car radio by means other than RCA or bluetooth then feel free to enlighten me! :)

 

Regards,

 

Dan

theres no way of doing it with that unit im afraid dan. its not even VGA compatible from what youve said so you could use a carputer tower.

theres no way of doing it with that unit im afraid dan. its not even VGA compatible from what youve said so you could use a carputer tower.

 

Yep, that's the same conclusion I've come to ... thanks for the confirmation. Guess the unit is going back to sender then! :(

 

Regards,

 

Dan

Which unit is it? Don't know if im blind and cant see it or what lol

Dan,

 

Is the RCA input not just another composite video-in, which, 'could be used to display a GPS display'?

Maybe, it's a 2-wire serial link to a dedicated GPS receiver, which will have it's own aerial socket...

 

Either way sounds a) Badly labelled and/or b) Mis-sold.

 

Hope you get it sorted.

Simon.

Edited August 12, 200817 yr by WillyEd
Added more info.

Simon,

 

Upon further investigation two things emerged:

 

(1) The AUX/VIDEO-IN RCA connector can only be used with a standalone GPS unit that has a video-out connector. This defeats the purpose of having a dedicated SATNAV function on the headunit as I will still need to programme the handheld unit first.

 

(2) I have found another seller of this headunit and he in turn states that the unit has an internal GPS antenna. I have yet to power the headunit up as I didn't want to do that in case I need to return it to the seller. However, when it stops raining I might just hook it up and see what happens.

 

If it does have an internal gps antenna I hope it's amplified as it'll need to see through the top of the dashboard when fully installed!

 

I'm going to have a go at this later and will let you know what happens.

 

Lee - the unit I bought is identical to the following unit as sold on e-bay:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280254094216&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

 

Although I need to add that my unit didn't come from ebay and was significantly cheaper too ;-)

 

Regards,

 

Dan