Matthew, Height of antenna is not important, but being clear of obstructions and large metallic objects are. Can you mount it on a pole at the end of the garden? As long as the antenna can see a large chunk of sky you should be OK. If you have a handheld GPS then check out the best site for maximum satellites.
Rob Kimberley -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matthew Smith Sent: 04 March 2008 05:08 To: Time Nuts List Subject: [time-nuts] Mounting GPS Antenna on Steel Roof Hi Folks Further to the cable splicing thread, I have been having a discussions off-list with Didier regarding the placement of my antennas on the ridge cap of my roof. There is certain concern that I may have issues with reflections - can anyone confirm whether or not this is the case? Here is a terrible diagram (I cannot for the life of me figure out how to draw solid, straight lines with the Gimp) of the proposed installation: <http://www.smiffysplace.com/files/antenna_diagram.jpg> The ridge runs just about 15 degrees of an East-West line, is the highest ridge on the building and is the highest point for some distance (there are trees 80m to the South), barring a vertical phased array VHF TV antenna. I can't really see how a signal striking the roof would reach the antenna, working on the basis of angle of refection = angle of incidence. Is this installation likely to case me any problems? I am rather short on other options due to the presence of steel sheds and fences. Getting the antenna clear of all of these would probably require something like a 100m+ cable, either buried or strung overhead, neither of which is practical (nor the cable length). The cable run from the ridge to my office works out at about 10m. I will have a redundant antenna a couple of metres along the ridge from the main, disconnected. If antenna #1 were to fail, I would just unplug the antenna extension cable in the loft from #1 and connect to antenna #2. I have spotted a splitter on eBay that is good for 10-1880MHz and includes power passing on one output - I guess that this means I am still able to power the active antenna as normal provided that at a receiver is connected to that output. Any comments on this would be much appreciated. Cheers M -- Matthew Smith Smiffytech - Technology Consulting & Web Application Development Business: http://www.smiffytech.com/ Personal: http://www.smiffysplace.com/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/smiffy _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.