How do I get better reception in London?

DPL · Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:27 am Post subject:

I have a Garmin external antenna mounted on the rear of the roof. Whilst I've never gone into central London with the system I've been to many other cities and have only lost signal to date in tunnels. No surprise there, then.
With regard to the installation I've taken the wire through the shutline of the rear hatchback door (but you could take it through the boot, I've got a Focus C-Max) NOT side door - I would not recommend this as the gap around a side door on a modern car is too tight, too complex and the wire would be under constant attack by the door open/close movement - make sure the wire is then stuck down to the drain channel of the rear door and that the wire isn't liable to be chafed by the opening and closing of the door - through the grommet that takes the door electrics into the body of the car and then under the headliner. I've found this is far easier than taking a wire under carpets which tend to be fastened far more rigidly to the floorpan than the headliner is to the roof. The carpet usually accomodates all sorts of other stuff too, like harnesses, heater ducting, seats (!)...and these make the installation even more difficult. You'll find you can ease the headliner away from the roof very easily adjacent to the door seals as it merely tucks behind what's called draught welting at the door top edge. It only tucks behind by about 1/4inch so it's no problem easing it out. You can come down the windscreen pillar behind the trim in the same way. Saves all that tedious carpet lifting and getting the wire down to the floor and then back up to wherever you have your Quest. With the Garmin extension lead there's ample length to achieve what I've just described.
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Garmin C320 & Garmin Quest

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