Hi folks,

Has anyone tackled installation of the Garmin external antenna (in my case, for the Nuvi 350) on their convertible? What I'm wondering is if there's a "magic" way to route the cable through the radio antenna hole, hide the antenna inside the factory antenna base, etc. I've seen a couple of threads suggest this, but would love to hear about any experiences, including specifically how cable routing went, what you had to do to get the cable up through the factory hole, etc.

Thanks in advance for any insight you may have!

 

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

 

I'm bookmarking links on del.icio.us; two so far. I'm getting ready to do the same on my coupé MCS. Dunno what the antenna housing looks like on the cabrio, however.

 

I have the factory nav in my convertible, however, I have a Garmin in the soft top Jeep Wrangler, and the jeep top is transparent to RF. I have never needed the external antenna, and would think that the MINI cloth top would be the same.

Has anyone tried aftermarket nav in a convertible without the external antenna?

 

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Oh, sorry, yeah, I'm here....

Once I got my Nuvi mounted, it worked fine WITHOUT the external antenna - which went back to Amazon. The Nuvi receiver is strong enough, it can acquire satellites while parked in my garage...

 

Those Sirf chipsets really rock.

I just finished stuffing a Gilsson antenna into the stock antenna housing. Worked like a charm. Hopefully the hot glue I used will hold up, but if not, I'll use some epoxy. The antenna has an MCX connector, and I was able to get it through the antenna housing opening without having to cut or unsolder anything. Full write-up to follow.

 

Update to the update: this works well. It seems slightly less enthusiastic about getting a 3D differential lock, but it was seeing 10 strong satellites this morning, and trying to lock on an 11th when I switched the screen.

 

I have the Gilsson antenna mounted to a metallic suction cup bracket positioned in the lower right hand corner of the windshield. Highly effective & hardly noticeable.