GNSS Antennas

Dennis Daniel KM6DF

Can you remote the GNSS antenna?

Bill NE1B

I received my 8600 yesterday. It includes a "hockey puck" GPS antenna with about 8' of cable. Just enough to place it in my window. The GPS indicator in SmartSDR 3.8.19 has been blinking orange for about 24 hours with 1 Sat Visible, but no Sat Tracked. The menu says "GNSS is installed" Is there any other Enable or setup required? I could not find a Manual. 73, Bill NE1B

Mike-VA3MW

support ticket created

Trucker

Did it also come with the short SMA antenna that has been shown in the advertising? If so, I would connect it to the radio and if possible, move the radio, ( temporarily) close to a window. If you get more satellites then it may be the puck has a problem.

James

WD5GWY

fpmacko

Sitting the antenna by a glass window isn’t good practice at the GNSS bands. Modern windows (post mid-70s ?) have a very thin metal coating to reflect thermal energy and UV. You won’t see it unless you look for it closely.

Bill NE1B

Only the hockey puck antenna was found in the box. No stubby. I checked the sma pin contact on the male and female sides at the radio. It should be making contact. The window in my shack is an original 1976 builder special, single pane with an outer storm glass. Tomorrow I will remove the outer storm and test. Now showing 7 Sat visible, but none Tracked. Thanks for the ticket Mike!

David Decoons, wo2x

hi Bill

I bought a SMA male to female 15 ft extension cable and have the antenna outside about three feet away from northern face of house and 4 ft off the ground. I am seeing 30 satellites.

The antenna I received is about 1” square and on bottom says GNSS, GPS, GLONASS

Dave wo2x

Bill NE1B

Hi Dave,

My window is facing West.  I do have 85' pine trees 100' in that direction.  I put the antenna outside the window facing West about an hour ago.  So far, no change other than more Satellites "Visible", but zero Tracked.   The RX 10 MHz Reference is on "Auto" with TCXO Locked, no GNSS Locked light.   I did a warm reboot of the radio and waited 60 seconds before powering up again.  No change after 20 minutes.  I did a cold reboot, 30 seconds radio off.  Then 13.8 vdc power supply off   Then PS On.  Waited 30 sec. and booted up the radio.  No change.   I rechecked the SMA pins, male on antenna cable and female on radio and they both look fine and should make a secure contact.  It just seems that the hockey puck antenna is defective.  Unfortunately I don't have any other GPS SMA antenna to check.
All other radio functionality seems OK.  New SSB squelch is useful in nets.  WNB and NB seem to have a 2-3 dB improvement.  I have operated CW, FT8 and now SSB in the WW Contest since last night.   
For my Island DXpeditions with no Internet, I bought a GPS/GLONASS U-blox 7  usb thumb receiver which gives me many satellites and Stratum 1 in my laptop time sync, 8' inside my shack, not near the window.

The Help Desk has reached out and working with me already checking other tests. I will post updates.

73, Bill

Bill NE1B

BTW, the hockey puck antenna did not have any label on either side. I even peeled the red sticky pad cover off to check the bottom. So no idea of manufacturer or origin.

ka9ees

I am having the same problem with my 8400. It sees 13 sats, but it is not locked. GPS is blinking yellow.

Bill NE1B

This may be an issue with Northern latitude users. I went thru an exercise on this. At first I thought I had a bad antenna. Mike opened a Help Desk ticket and based on the excellent weekend customer service from Ken Wells, a new antenna was immediatly sent out by Cathy Clark. Thank you! But, I tried that also with no luck. It appears that my West window has heavy conifer tree obstruction to the sky. I setup my Flex8600 on a card table in my driveway which has a clear view to the south. Bingo. Immediate "tracking" of 12-14 satellites with 31 "visible" with either antenna. And the Blue light turned on! Meanwhile, back in the shack, I moved the antenna to other locations and found a "sweet spot" on my North Wall with the top of the antenna facing South. It is now "Status: Locked" with no dropouts! So, just move the antenna around. Worst case is to try mounting it outside on a pie plate ground plane or roof mount with a low loss cable extension.

Jim KJ3P

FWIW…My 8600 is in my basement shack, no nearby windows, so no satellite action whatsoever. Bought a 15-foot SMA low-loss extension cable (non-amplified) and ran it outside the south side of the house. mounted it on a 3-ft wooden pole to get it above some shrubbery. With a mostly clear shot to the southwest horizon, loads of satellites! So: if you need an extension cable to get a better location, go for it.

Bill NE1B

I believe I am happy with the indoor "sweet spot" that I found for my antenna. I Track 12-14 satellites with 28 visible.

My Freq Errpr os 71 ppb. The 8600 stays "locked".

I do have 2 related questions:

1. With a Freq Error of 71 ppb on the GPS tab.and an Offset (in ppb) of -3 after clicking on the Start button on the RX tab "Cal Freqquency (MHz): 15, did I need to click on the WWV calibration Start button? Or is the GNSS lock a higher accuracy?
2. Is there a setup procedure to utilize the NTP synchronization between the radio and my network?

David Decoons, wo2x

for #1, leave offset at zero.

Dave wo2x

Rich - N5ZC

I wasn't having any luck getting a lock with the antenna indoors. I ordered a couple pl-259 to SMA adapters to use on my patch panel and a length of coax with a pair of male SMA connectors.

I moved the antenna outside of me steel shop and I was able to get a locked status pretty quick. I'm seeing 31 Satellites and tracking 16 - 18.

Good to go here.

Rich - N5ZC

Wayne VK4ACN

Rich

Curious as to what coax cable you used and what length. I will need to look at getting an extension cable.

Rich - N5ZC

Wayne,

I ordered a 12' length of coax with SMA males on each end off of Amazon. I had an so-239 barrel connector on my patch panel that leads to the outdoors. So I ordered a couple PL-259 to SMA female adapters as well.

The antenna is just sitting on top of one of my outdoor NEMA boxes for now. I'll probably install a piece of conduit on the outside wall and get the antenna up a bit higher and place the coax inside the conduit to help keep it protected from the WX.

Rich - N5ZC

Dave_WB1S

Changing from 6700 to 8600. All good so far. GNSS acting a bit different then the 6700. I was using an outdoor Symmetricom 5358A L1 antenna with the 6700. That antenna required 5VDC supplied by the 6700. Measured the 8600 VDC at the GNSS antenna port 3.2 VDC. I assume that is OK for the puck supplied with the 8600. On 8600 the Symmetricom antenna could see 15 satellites but not lock any. Swapped to the puck (still outside) seeing 30 satellites but only tracking 7-10. Seems adequate. I would like to know the specs and MFG on the supplied puck antenna. Is it speced for outdoor service? Thanks Flex the radio seems super.

Bill NE1B

Additional questions:

1. What is an acceptable GNSS Freq Error? With 12 satellites tracked, I have 91.5 ppb.
2. Is there a procedure for setting the 8600 up as an Network Time server?

Dave_WB1S

Yes lots of questions I'm at 29 in view 6 tracked, 65 ppb. Supplied antenna outside clear view of south sky.

What is the expected VDC at the 8600 SMA connector ?