GPS Modification

[franklhy]

In satelite status do you have empty black bars or full white ones?? You need them to go white before its locked on...

full black bars. but i can leave it under the sky for like 15 minutes and it still doesn't turn into white bars.

the guy who posted here http://www.n95users.com/forum/hardwa...ification.html his bars are also black. so does it mean his nokia maps positioning also won't work?

[hairil.abubakar]

are you in singapore? if so, its quite hard to get a lock here. mine usually takes a couple of minutes. the first initial lock when i got the phone was like forever. subsequent 1st time locks will take 5-30 mins depending on location

[franklhy]

yup singapore.

ah yes i've got it! i just let my phone stay there for around 20 minutes and finally the bars turn white. now i can get the signal within seconds!

[sneaky101]

is there any way i can adapt one of these to the phone?

It's a Trimble GPS Antenna i've had for a while

[grkgeek]

is there any way i can adapt one of these to the phone?

It's a Trimble GPS Antenna i've had for a while

Not sure but looking at it from a practical standpoint...it would seem that you would solder the center conductor to the point where the old antenna was located and solder the braid to a ground point on the device. This is not a fact however just my common since tells me this.
I am wondering why 8 inches was chosen as the length of the wire. The length of the antenna should depend on the frequency that one is desiring to receive and also I wonder if anyone has just added a counterpoise to the device to see if that helps with SAT RX signal.
Is there any technical information floating around about this device like a service manual ??

Thanks,

Sam Cederas
Raleigh, N.C. USA
N95-4 8GB, RM-421

[sneaky101]

I don't have a manual for Tremble, I ripped it out of an old Taxi that we had for a while.
I would imagine trimming the wire would help though.
Also, I'm still stuck with this situation. Anyone help out?

[billman87]

Damm definity one I goto do, I have no prob cracking open then machines and craking em up.

I will do similar but I think I will use the super fine strand wire found in Wifi extention cables as this should provide better signal quality than speaker wire.

I had thought about doing this as I use RaceChrono to track where I drive but object to having my Phone on the dash in the sun to get a good signal.

the other method that would avoid having to physical modd the phone would to be purchase a buletooth GPS reciver that can support many more satilites than the nokia can, decressing sync time and increasing accuracy greatly. As RaceChrono has support for external GPS devices.

[Mein_fury]

I cant bare to watch !!!


... Mod it till its broke

[vash_h]

wow.. actually.. when my AGPS works, i get my satelite lock in less than 10secs. but when it does not work, have to wait a long time.. (my network operator is not THAT trustable.. their GPRS connection is terrible.. only good when im in 3G areas)

[ryu1]

registered here because i just done this mod.
i had 2 go's at it. 1st time, nothing was improved. in fact, the reception dropped on the 2nd day.
so i wanted to re-solder a different wire onto the board.

and bam, the little gold piece came off the board.

very annoyed off.
GPS was the only feature that i was so attached to.

anything i can do?
and why can't i use the plate on the left hand side of the gps antenna plate?
the little stock golden pin makes contact with both plates...

or maybe trace the joint between the plate and the chip and add onto there...

pics:

The same thing happened to me, because i overheat the board.
The solution might be that little circuit point left behind that gold piece(it is very small use a magnifier to see it).Try to solder from that little point to the plate on the left hand side.
I will try this in weekend

[grkgeek]

Just a thought......if you are able to affix the antenna back on.......how about using hot glue as a strain relief. I have used hot glue before on boards.
Also have you thought about using smaller gauge stranded wire?
Good luck and thanks for providing updates about your issue.

Sam Cederas

[ryu1]

Just a thought......if you are able to affix the antenna back on.......how about using hot glue as a strain relief. I have used hot glue before on boards.
Also have you thought about using smaller gauge stranded wire?
Good luck and thanks for providing updates about your issue.

Sam Cederas

I don't know, will try to glue after soldering so it stay fixed.i will try to fix it tomorow and post the result here

[ryu1]

registered here because i just done this mod.
i had 2 go's at it. 1st time, nothing was improved. in fact, the reception dropped on the 2nd day.
so i wanted to re-solder a different wire onto the board.

and bam, the little gold piece came off the board.

very annoyed off.
GPS was the only feature that i was so attached to.

anything i can do?
and why can't i use the plate on the left hand side of the gps antenna plate?
the little stock golden pin makes contact with both plates...

or maybe trace the joint between the plate and the chip and add onto there...

pics:

Well this can be fixed!!!
You have to solder that little point left (put tin on it but do not connect the plate on the left with tin) you need a realy sharp and fine peak on your soldering machine.After that put the old anthena connector,assemble the phone,go outside and try to find signal (i use sygic application becase it show gps signal with more lines and allow me to see how signal is foud by filling those lines).If you can't find signal it means that the anthena connector doesen't make contact with the tin you put on the little point or the tin has fallen(the tin can very easy fall becase the point is small so try to not put much tin on it) and sorry for my bad english

[shtresatu]

try'd this hack, several times by now. works better, but you should try to improve somehow! I've soldered the wire just like you said, but I've soldered also the gps antena from the nokia's case. 8 wire form circuit, 8 wire from gps antena, a total of 16 wire from an audio handset. I can feel that it acts a ;litlle better. thanx anyway for the tip

[khumo]

I have read this topic, and i just wounder if anyone of you are familiar with antenna technics? Just to mount an wire as an antenna isnt that simple.WHY you say?
Well everything is about wavelengt. You cant just cut an lenght of wire it has to be corrected at the wawelengt its working on otherwise it will detune the GPS reciver.
In other words missmatch at the front end.
So to calculate the right lenght
300000/freq=X/ 1/4 wavelenght or 5/8 or what ever that will fit inside the phone.
Remeber that this is only one part of the antenna that acts like a dipole.
The wire are not critical take the absolut thinest you could find and it should bi isolated.
For security reasons.The isolation dosent effect efectivity.

Saw also some thoughts about the wifi
Same rules there. All radio wawes the same rules.
//Lars in Sweden

[Mister Spoons]

To refix the little gold pad to the board you could use the conductive paint used for fixing heated rear car window elements and then reinforcing with araldite or similar epoxy glue or even a smudge of superglue....

just an idea that may be less stress-inducing than trying to solder it on....

Regards

Mister Spoons

[wassa786]

does this REALLY work? I bought some sodder just incase...haha

[maliomladinac]

I managed to open the phone. It was easy,just a little patience and a tutorial. Now i have some questions. What should i do with the old gps antena? Should i take it off or leave it on? What kind of wire would be best? and with what should i solder it on? What kind of tool do i need? thank you

[Moz]

If you don't know what you need to solder it, I wouldn't be touching it.

[Grayburn]

I'd listen to IJM Wassa.

[maliomladinac]

Aaaaaa what the hell...The gps is not working at all on my phone. I mean,what could i mrss up if it is all ready messed up? Come on guys,i managed to open the phone withou any problem? I asked the professional so i wont bother for notnihg? Cooper wire? What is the best one? And could i leave the isolation on or do i have to strip it?

[maliomladinac]

And nobody answered me for the stock gps antena? Should i remove it or leave it there?

[shtresatu]

you may leave the gps ant in its place. take cooper wire from a handset, and stripe it, otherwise it will be difficult for you to reasemble the phone

[ch0cb0mb]

Thank you for this trick!
you guys are legends.
I was having trouble witht my GPS and by modifying my antenna, my GPS is working again =) thank you so much

[Moz]

If you appreciate help from a member, then show it by clicking on the 'Thanks' button!!

[kent_n95]

Noup.. tryed to solder a 8 inch multi corded cable to my phone, but my gps STILL dosent work after I upgraded to v30.0.015...

hmm...

[buzzboy666]

I did as you have posted and got a lock within 20 to 30 seconds, a little longer indoors, however, My soldering iron was a little too hot for the terminal and it ended up comming off, I had to find another means for the extended antenna, on the keypad side of the fone, to the right of the # key, there is a small round terminal, this is the reverse side of the gps terminal and has solved my problem, I have coiled the insulated wire in the base of the fone and soldered it to the original antenna, works a treat.

[sneaky101]

You have to solder that little point left (put tin on it but do not connect the plate on the left with tin) you need a realy sharp and fine peak on your soldering machine.After that put the old anthena connector,assemble the phone,go outside and try to find signal (i use sygic application becase it show gps signal with more lines and allow me to see how signal is foud by filling those lines).If you can't find signal it means that the anthena connector doesen't make contact with the tin you put on the little point or the tin has fallen(the tin can very easy fall becase the point is small so try to not put much tin on it) and sorry for my bad english

To refix the little gold pad to the board you could use the conductive paint used for fixing heated rear car window elements and then reinforcing with araldite or similar epoxy glue or even a smudge of superglue....
Mister Spoons

Thank you for responding guys.
I'm still stuck with the same problem, but It seems that it's going to get fixed soon.

I took another pic of the phone close up, and made a little cartoony part to it too so it's easier to diagram.

all in all, may you please point out what needs to be done. i don't understand what you mean when you say 'left' or what not.

thank you heappsss!

[ryu1]

The solution posted by mister spoons is easier and safer than the solution posted by me.I would try it but i can't seems to find conductive paint in my country

[riskinhos]

it's extremely hard for a beginner to solder a copper cable to a tiny connector. The easiest way is to use conductive glue. not paint.
Make Conductive Glue and Glue a Circuit
but you can buy conductive glue.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Z-Xmods-Mic...3%3A1|294%3A50
any brand will work.
It's REALLY worth it and it's really easy to do this mod with it.

is there any way i can adapt one of these to the phone?

It's a Trimble GPS Antenna i've had for a while

It doesn't work. I've tried it. I have soldered an MMCX connector (smallest connector there is for external gps antennas) and drilled a hole in the bottom cover. But of course it doesn't work. It's an active antenna. It needs about 2-3volts to work. the contact does not provide enough power to make it work. But even if it could it would drain so much battery that it wouldn't work. An N95 consumes about 0.15watts in standby. GPS + active antena would drain about 6volts (impossible because max = 3.7volts).
Though it's possible to connect a passive antenna, there are a few gps passive antennas. I don't have any yet but it would work. I'm also trying to connect an wifi antenna.

[lebkom96]

I did as you have posted and got a lock within 20 to 30 seconds, a little longer indoors, however, My soldering iron was a little too hot for the terminal and it ended up comming off, I had to find another means for the extended antenna, on the keypad side of the fone, to the right of the # key, there is a small round terminal, this is the reverse side of the gps terminal and has solved my problem, I have coiled the insulated wire in the base of the fone and soldered it to the original antenna, works a treat.

THANK YOU!!! same thing happend to my N95 tried your method in connecting a wire to the keypad side of the phone and it WORKS PERFECTLY!!!

[samisnake]

been a while since ive seen this thread.
i think that this shouldnt be done personally. n95s gps is poor in comparison to newer devices, and a bit of copper wire isnt gonna help. i got carried away, and regretted it, my n95s gps never worked that well after i did the soldering, and now ive got the n85 i can see how pointless it was seeing as i can get a lock in 20secs indoors without a soldering iron and speaker wire.

so to anyone thinking of doing this, dont. read through the thread, there are more disaster stories than there are successful ones. its a waste of time

[cyaPalmOS]

just did it to mine with no solder and it works beautifully. No damage, on regrets.

JUST BE CAREFUL!

Rather than use solder I left the plastic sleeve on a bit of the wire and wedged it between the two plastic bits on the end cap. A bit of wire was left exposed to touch the contact. A drop of super glue to hold it in place. No permanent damage that way.


EDIT: I ended up soldering a single copper wire to BOTH contacts and wrapping around the phone the same way as in the original post. Why? I dropped my phone while jogging which must have knocked the wire loose and I then got no GPS signal whatsoever. It's soldered on for good now!

[grkgeek]

just did it to mine with no solder and it works beautifully. No damage, on regrets.

JUST BE CAREFUL!

Rather than use solder I left the plastic sleeve on a bit of the wire and wedged it between the two plastic bits on the end cap. A bit of wire was left exposed to touch the contact. A drop of super glue to hold it in place. No permanent damage that way.

Thanks for letting me know what you did. Do you by chance have any pictures of what this looks like?

Thanks again.

Sam Cederas
Cary, N.C.

[wassa786]

pics would be nice as I don't have steady hand...at all...and soldering + non-steady hands = disaster

[Grayburn]

soldering + non-steady hands = disaster

I wouldn't bother then mate.