BCD325P2/BCD996P2: Exterior GSP “antenna” with Uniden BC-SGPS

[KM1MTN]

I am running a Uniden BCD996P2 in my truck and recently got the Uniden BC-SGPS to go with it. I want to go with an external GPS antenna / puck instead of the cheap interior mounted box that comes with the BC-SGPS. Does anyone know if there is such a thing as adapter from sms to the telephone cable that the BC-SGPS uses. Am I crazy for thinking I can do this? My truck has stuff overhanging the windshield and I need to get external to get a clear view of the sky. Any thoughts or help would be most appreciated.

 

[nessnet]

"My truck has stuff overhanging the windshield and I need to get external to get a clear view of the sky".

Aren't most of those visors fiberglass?
If so, it shouldn't effect GPS reception much.
I'd throw the thing up in the corner of the windshield and see......
That is how I have mine set up and it works fine (BR-355N).

One note: those rectangle Uniden GPS receivers that the BC-SGPS (and also the same one used with the SDS200) have notoriously bad sensitivity, so maybe replacing it isn't such a bad idea...

 

[KM1MTN]

Thanks for the reply, my truck is a single cab with a huge camper on it. The overcab bed hangs over the windshield quite a bit and has storage, mattress, bedding and the structure itself all in the way of a clear sky view. I was hoping to put a GPS puck up on the roof of the camper?

 

[ofd8001]

I'd be tempted to keep it simple and try the supplied puck and see how it works. You might be surprised.

 

[donc13]

Thanks for the reply, my truck is a single cab with a huge camper on it. The overcab bed hangs over the windshield quite a bit and has storage, mattress, bedding and the structure itself all in the way of a clear sky view. I was hoping to put a GPS puck up on the roof of the camper?

I use the Uniden GPS puck in the driver's side windshield corner in my RV and it works great. I don't have a cabover bed, but if your camper has fiberglass roof & sides you should be fine. Remember, it only needs a coarse location, within a few miles, literally, is fine.

 

[AK9R]

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as adapter from sms to the telephone cable that the BC-SGPS uses. Am I crazy for thinking I can do this?

I think you are referring to an SMA connector.

There is a huge difference between GPS antennas, which provide an RF signal and might use a SMA connector on the end their coaxial cable, and puck-type GPS receivers, which output serial data formatted according to the NMEA 0183 standard.

Your scanner is expecting NMEA 0183 strings containing lat/lon, among other things, over a serial interface. Those puck-type receivers contain an antenna with a specialized chip that receives the RF signal from the GPS satellites. The chip then spits out NMEA 0183 strings. Uniden chose to use an RJ-style connector for this serial data.

OTOH, a GPS antenna is just an antenna. It needs to be connected to a receiver that can demodulate and decode the data.