CF29 GPS with Jim Gray antenna....

Ok. I finally received my Jim Gray antenna and installed it to the stock GPS unit. NADA!! I didn't even get red signals, I got NO signal. I took it out again, checked my connection, it was loose, so corrected that and re-installed it. Still nothing! I then hooked the stock antenna back up, and NOTHING. Now I am panicking thinking I messed something big time. I took the unit apart again and noticed I bent the connector on the GPS board!!! OMG!!! So, carefully, using my 3lb sledge hammer and a tire iron, i worked the connector back into shape and re-hooked up the stock antenna. Nothing. Ok, frustrated, but had to leave the house for a while so just let WinFast run while I was gone. After 3 hours when I got home, I had 4 strong signals on the stock antenna. OK, good, I didn't destroy anything. So now, I tried to install the Jim Gray again, and it's been running for over an hour but I still cannot get a signal at all!! Now I am wondering about the antenna from Jim Gray. What he sent me was the antenna with a 30" to sma, and a 6" sma to u.fl pigtail. His rationale was that he couldn't make a 30" u.fl because u.fl couldn't cover that length. If this is the setup that I have, should it work?

 

If you can, check the voltage coming out of the antenna connector on the GPS board. It should be ~3.3v. If it's lower than 3.0v, I'd assume it just doesn't have the power to do the job.

So check that out for the time being, but short of that I've got no idea.

Side note though... are you sure it's not an h.fl connector on the end of your cable? Unless they changed things around on the 29 GPS, it may have the wrong connector on there for what you need.

 

Good point. I don't even know the difference between the two. They look the same to me? hehe

Anyone know for sure? The nice thing for me I guess is that if it is an h.fl, then I just need to get a 6" h.fl to sma pigtail.

 

Something tells me that the stock GPS wassn't made for an active antenna. I doubt you'll see the 3.3V there.

The Jim Gray antenna gets 180 degrees FOV but only sees half the sky if it is on its side. Plus...If it is inside the plastic cover has to come off for the proper tuning of the antenna.

 

Got any good vernier calipers or a 0-1" micrometer?

I'm measuring the OD of the h.fl on my CF-28 GPS at roughly .095".

The u.fl should be about 20-30 thousands smaller.

For reference, the stock RIM antennas have a h.fl connector in the back.

 

Modly: Uh, a what?

TB: I had the JG connected to the GPS and strung out the Media Bay and taped to the top of the LCD in the stock RIM location. Assuming the JG worked with the stock GPS, I would then have begun the process of figuring out where/how to install it. This was just a "I wonder" test. Since the stock GPS DOES produce such strong signals already, but not many sats, I wanted to see if adding just a JG would pull in more sats. I know you guys will probably figure a 408 mod eventually, but if this worked, an aftermarket mod may not have been needed. Besides, I was bored AND curious.... BAD COMBINATION!!!!

 

If you got the antenna from JG with the cable already connected to the antenna, which it sounds like you did, THEY may have fried the teeny tiny resistor(s) that are on the PC board at the base.
When I ordered mine he tried to talk me into letting them do the soldering and I passed and did it myself.
Mine works fine ON the 408.
Just a thought.
Rick H...

 

Rick I think you are missing the point. He as using the JG antenna with the STOCK GPS on the CF-29... Not with the EM-408. It has laready been well established that the JG antenna works great with the 408...

Doobi... For the price of the stock GPS engine you can buy the whole GPS kit for about $10 more. (For the 29) It makes no sense but that is their marketing ploy. If you buy just the antenna, ribbon cable and GPS engine it runs about $400. If you buy the kit with everything including the sled its only about $324. (Try figuring THAT out!) So... The aftermarket mod is needed to save $$$$. I figure I can put a 408 into a 29 for about $60 if I can pull off what I am thinkning about doing. I just need the donor 29 to try it on. No... No volunteers... I am trying to find a deal on one at the right time... A hard thing to do.

 

That possibility has not escaped me either. Problem is, I don't have any other laptop to test the JG antenna on, so I am proceeding as if that is all OK. The original question still remains, does anyone know for sure if on paper it should work? (Geohelix antenna>30" sma cable>6" sma> u.fl> stock GPS) I have spent a few hours looking for any specs on the stock GPS but keep coming up nill. The service manual I have for the 29 does not include this. Can anyone verify if this setup should in theory work?

Right now I have the stock GPS with the stock antenna back on, has been running for about an hour, and I still cannot get any sats. gonna let it brew for at least 4 hours and "we'll just see what we'll see then, won't we"....

 

Doobi sounds like you fried something, Not getting any sats on the old setup now would indicate the GPS itself is now malfuctioning. I hope not ,but its a bad sign that with the old system it isnt working.

 

I'm hoping not, but that is the risk of experimenting! Last time I unhooked the stock antenna and re-hooked it up, it took no more than 4 hours to relink. I started WinFast then left the house and came back 4 hours later to it just beginning to reestablish links. Dont know if that is normal, but mine has been slow to sync from day 1, so dunno. Once it syncs, I always get 4-5 sats with 43+ strength within one minute.

 

Well crap! I think I fried the sled board. I can't get the machine to pick up anything now! $324 error on my part (don't go removing/installing the sled with the power on! *Smak in the head* DUHHHHH!!!). Gonna be at least a month before I get back on board with the stock GPS. After that, I think I will hold my horses for the big guys to research after-market stuff... hehe Got a little too excited...

 

Well! as I open up my sled, I think there is a fuse on it, check it out first maybe its blown out.

 

Any help locating that fuse would be appreciated. I was able to find a parts manual/diagram for the sled, but no schematics.

 

Doobi,
Did you find that fuse? Making any progress?

 

I hate to be the arm-chair quarterback... But why the hell did you slide the sled in and out with the power on?

 

Ok! here it is on the photo. Its a white color that you can be mistaken as ceramic capacitor, Label "SOC 75v. Hope it help.

 

As if I could do worse than have YOU as a quarterback!! To make a long story short, I had a brain fart. nuff said.

Ohlip, will check the fuse situation by EOW as I am currently out of town. But I DO APPRECIATE the suggestion. You might just be on to something, and yes, I would have mistaken it for a cap, so thank you very much for pointing it out.

~Cheers

 

I think it was ohlip who brought up the whole fuse thing on the monitor front... Since then... I have found many blown fuses that have saved me, not only money... but my sanity as well. ALWAYS check out those little white buggers on the pc board!

 

He is a VERY intelligent fella, but let's not tell him, He will just get a BIG head!

 

Well, assuming I am hitting the right spots, the fuse is fine. It is quite small, but I get tone on a continuity check. I know that's not 100%, and I may be toning the socket instead of just the fuse, but I would say the fuse is fine. Without actually desoldering the fuse, or just piggy-backing with another to be sure, I can't be totally confident of it. I will be ordering a new GPS kit next month, so after that, if anyone would like this one, just PM me and I would be happy to send it out to one of you for experimenting with.

 

Me... Me... Me... <Raising hand>

 

I am very sorry, man! your late of the class.


ohlip

 

TF, I am really beginning to think your addicted to these Toughbooks. lol

 

It is WAAAAAAAYYYYY past addiction! I'm not sure what the name of it is... But I'm way past addiction.

 

uhm, OBSESSED!!?? is the word I think you are thinking of! hehehe

 

You havent Made trips to Toughbook mecca yet? If not its not too late we can help him, the poison in his blood hasnt gone far enough yet, Make sure to get holy water, garlic, a cross, stylus pen with hammer. ;-) Just in case its too late.

 

Ok. I think I need some serious help here. I got the new GPS kit from Heartland and installed it. It still does not work. I am beginning to think that there is a fuse? maybe leading to the sled, either on the MB or a DB that I just can't seem to see. Can anyone confirm this for me? I don't think I am getting power to the sled and am unsure where to go from here. Any help/suggestions would be honored!!

 

Doobi -

Is there ANYTHING coming from the GPS module datastream? Even basic housekeeping signals? If so, at least you know it's powering up... you could look into antennas/connectors... inspect the antenna and edge connectors on the sled... look for your voltages on the GPS itself.

mnem<~~~ Throwing darts in the dark*

 

When I run GPSinfo, it does not detect a GPS device at all.

 

OK... but what happens if you monitor the stream from the Com port in DOS?

mnem

 

If GPSinfo won't detect it on any comm port, could I still get streaming info from DOS? Not sure how that works. I got in computers between DOS and WIN 3.1 so if there is a way for me to test in DOS I'm willing to try, but you will have to coach me a little... hinthint hehehe

 

Oy vey ismir...

Okay... go here, download this & install it:

http://www.download.com/Free-Serial...967.html?part=dl-FreeSeria&subj=dl&tag=button

When it's done installing Click File, then New Session. This opens the new session Wizard. Click Next, then click Serial Port Monitor from the dialog box, then Next. It will scan for active Com ports, then ask you to select your Com port from the drop down list, or enter it manually. Once you've made your selection (If it DOES NOT Show the COM port for your GPS, this is a bad thing - but just enter it manually for now), it will ask you to select a view - I use Data View. It will ask you to confirm configuration for this session; click Finish. This brings up two panes; one is the output TO the Com port, one is the data FROM the Com port. Your GPS SHOULD be streaming data out its COM port constantly; some will be housekeeping data, some will be actual NMEA formatted GPS data.

If you don't see anything, close the session, then start a new one, & select your MODEM COM port. Now go into Windows Device Manager, double click MODEM, then double click YOUR MODEM, then click on the DiagnoStics Tab. Now move windows around so you can see both the MODEM Diagnostics Tab and Serial Port Monitor.

Click on Query MODEM in Diagnostics Tab. If your MODEM is working, you should see a basic init exchange pass through the window in Diagnostics Tab, and the same data will pass through the corresponding panes in Serial Port Monitor. This VERIFIES that Serial Port Monitor is functioning properly.

You should try new sessions and investigate ANY COM ports it finds, then if you still don't find your GPS, you can do more sessions and manually enter COM ports 0-15 in the Session Setup Wizard. If You can confirm that a MODEM COM port can be scanned successfully and you still cannot find your GPS on ANY COM port, then it is NOT streaming any data and is probably NOT functioning at all.

Once you try these things, let us know what you found...

mnem
COM ports? Why would I do that to a perfect innocent port?

 

I've installed a couple of these in the 29s now... The surprising thing is how much you DON'T use out of the kit!

Aside from building the retaining slide (The part that keeps the sled on track as it enters in to plug in) there are really only a few parts...

The first thing I do is to take up the black plastic protector that keeps the hard drive caddy from bumping into stuff. Remove that and run the main ribbon cable. Look at the pics I posted to see how it is folded and screwed down to the case. Then you build the sled... There is a black film that must be stuck on the bottom of the GPS itself. Then that is screwed down to the sled. Then you need to attach your antenna then put in the ribbon cable making sure you have it facing the right way when it it slid in and locked down. That folds down against itself when you attach it to the PC board and screw it down on top of the GPS engine. Before doing that though... There is a little gray piece that looks like duck tape. Stick that to the top of the GPS... It is an insulator to keep them from shorting out against the board. Then fish the antenna into the black plastic housing. You first muct put the circular rubber ring on the top of the GPS antenna though. This helps to lock it in place when it is slid into the plastic housing. (Make sure the antenna is pointed UP^) Then put the screw into the plastic housing that fits on the end of the sled. Then you should be able to push it into the sled rails and start it up. Go into the BIOS to activate the GPS... Then download and install the filters for the GPS. (You must do both of these or the GPS won't work!) There is one called "skipenum" and one called "enableenum"... If these are not installed in the Registry your GPS will not work!

Please post if you have these... They are available for download on the Panny site.

EDIT - You might want to make sure you have the latest BIOS. It should be Ver.17 or something similar. Your GPS should show up on COM3...

 

Do I still need to do all that software stuff if I am replacing an already existing stock GPS? And I don't see "skipenum" and "enableenum" on the Panny site. I did download the GPS filter from the site for the original stock GPS and this new one, but it still does not work. I also had a different setup than what I received from Heartland due to the fact that I also had stock EVDO card installed so my sled PCB is bigger than the new one and had a "switched power" located opposite the regular power switch to turn on/off the EVDO. This never affected the GPS, but just to be safe, I disconnected it. I am going to recheck my ribbon cable from the GPS to the sled board and see if I have it backwards.

 

Ok. Here is what I did. I reversed the ribbon cable - -Nothing
I uninstalled/reinstalled the stack -- nothing
I disabled/re-enabled in BIOS -- nothing
I tried all variations of those in different orders - - nothing
I hooked up the old sled and GPS that wasn't working - - worked
I took it out and installed the new one again - - works

Go figure. I have NO idea what I did, but it is all working now!!! That is the important thing, hehe. Thanks for the advice guys, you are much appreciated (especially TB and M&M)

Paul

 

High fives all around for the Doob! Persistance pays.

 

Heh... See? When ALL ELSE FAILS... nuke & pave. My suspicion would be that you had either a misaligned connector, or one with some unseen detritus in it.

Glad you got it going! You're WELCOME!

mnem
*GPS - Gets People Screaming at their Toughbook*

 

Doobi.... Glad you got it running!

Mnem... Now there's a word you just don't see often enough... "Detritus"... It's right up there with "Effluvia"... Gotta love it.

 

Yeah well... I got a $20 gift card for Christmas from 50CentWords.com... figured I ought to use it.

:wink:

mnem <~~~ hippopotomonstrosesquipedalianistic*

 

HolyFreakin'whatdidhesay?

 

Update:

Ok. I tried it again with the replacement GPS kit I got from Heartland. Either the original GPS kit I had was not strong enough to run the Jim Gray, or I had it hooked up wrong (don't see how that would be possible, but anyway). The Jim Gray Geohelix with the stock GPS from Heartland works awesomely!! With the stock antenna and engine, I can pick up 7-8 satellites with a strength in the mid-high 30's, but the number of satellites, and their strength would 'pulsate'. As you watched in Navigator, it would fall down to zero, then jump up to mid-30's; not on ALL the satellites, just a few. but you could watch this pulsing going on, never a steady consistant signal. When driving around town to test with S&T, I would go from 7-8 satellites, then all of a sudden would lose GPS altogether. After about 3-4mins, I'm back up to 7-8 sats again. This process would repeat throughout the trip. After hooking up the Jim Gray, I get 7-9 satellites, with a strength of mid 40's/low 50's; I still have the 'pulsing' going on, but just on 1-2 sats; and after driving around with S&T's for over 2 days, I never lost signal!! This is a very good compromise for us, IMO, until we figure out how to incorporate the em408 into the 29. I will be experimenting this week on seeing if I can mount the geohelix in the CDMA antenna location. If it works, I will post pics for you all. Wish me luck!!

 

GOOD LUCK! Maybe some of the pioneering work by TB and the gang will help. My stock antenna works pretty good if I don't get careless and rest my hand over it. I'll bet that if you get that Jim Gray up on the LCD case; it'll prevent that.

 

Hi! it would be perfect on the location where the existing evdo/cdma antena. You just need a bet of dremmeling to fit the geohelix antena.You can also try the patch antena at the top of lcd, temporarily taped it. There are also a posibility to install the little patch antena on the bump area where the cdma, evdo antena location and it stealth lookin, no trace.


ohlip

 

I'll be going a different direction with the EM-408 in the CF-29... I'll be using a patch antenna in the stock location. No problems with breaking off there.

Good job on the modding though.... I knew you would get it working!

EDIT - Now I know why I love Toughbooks so much... They are EASY to work on!

I am replacing (Trying to replace actually) the DC jack on a Dell 600M.... This girl dropped it and even broke the magnesium structure inside!.... So I've got the board out and trying to get the 9 pin DC jack desoldered.... What a CROCK!

 

I would have to say that the stock gps antenna location will take a beating. I put my 29 in a saddlebag (not intentional) with a pair of lineman's pliers (for repairing fence) today and rode about 15 miles before I discovered my error. No problem with antenna.

 

means, loosely, he's a big honkin' critter that uses big honkin' words.

Or else he has big feet.

Or both...

 

Pappy42..Don't you worry its a toughbook.

BTW, I order a geohlix antena from JG the P2 series(small one)and I received it today but the problem is that this little one has no black housing.
I don't know yet, what i'm gonna do with this.


ohlip

 

Are you tryin' ta' say somethin' here?

*Looks down at his size 13 Timberlines*

Ummm... nevermind.

mnem<~~~ Has a good understanding*

 

Doobi.. I received the package in perfect condition. Thank you again.

ohlip