Connecting a 4000 GPS antenna to a HDS-8

[Wall@y@]

I have the HDS-8 with the built-in antenna and my problem is the framework of my boat windshield is directly over the antenna. The dash of my boat is built so the only place I can mount the HDS-8 is where it is at now. My guess to the solution of my problem is to get the 4000 antenna and mount it where there is no overhead restrictions. My question is, does the antenna connect direct to the back of the HDS-8? There are two connectors on the back that aren't being used but non says, "external antenna connection."
I also read a post on this site not long ago about a switch that needs to be placed so power can be removed from the antenna because it draws power even when the HDS-8 is turned off or did I missunderstand the information? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

[perchjerker]

first off, have you actually tried the unit? It just might work as is. My ant is on my dash, I have a windshield and also a Vista top in the way and it still works fine.

If not, the ant should connect to a network port on the unit. Its just a network device, and the unit will treat it like one.

As far as power, I think they are now powered though the ant cable, you will have to check on that as it used to use a seperate power, thats how my 3000 is, the network backbone needs seperate power, but they keep changing things so I am not sure. Im sure a quick look on thier website will answer that if you dont get someone here that knows for sure.

[hondo]

I agree with perchjerker, if you haven't already tried your HDS, try it before you decide you need to add the external antenna ---- unless you're looking for the improved accuracy from the high-sensitivity LGC-4000 puck.

In my boat I have an HDS on the dash under/next to the windshield, and an external puck on the network. My GPS units are set to use whatever signal is the best, and half the time it's from the HDS antenna and half the time it's from the puck.

If you add a puck to your HDS it needs to be through the Lowrance network, and the network needs to be powered with a separate power node ---- you can't power the network through the HDS unit, and you can't just connect the antenna to the back of the HDS unit and get it to work. The switch you read about should kill power to the whole network, not just the antenna.

[Jim Carroll]

I like the advice given here, try the unit on your boat to see if the mounting position will yield acceptable results before adding an external antenna (unless you want the faster update rate of the LCG-4000).

One thing I've noticed is that the internal antennas on these new HDS units are much improved over anything Lowrance has had in the past. I can shade my HDS-10 unit with my arm and the signal strength does not diminish.

To check relative positional accuracy, pull up your satellite status screen.

Power up your unit with a clear view of the sky. Press Menu twice. Select System, then Satellites. You should now see the satellite status screen. This will tell you how many satellites the unit is currently seeing and the relative strength of their signals.

Look at the Estimated Position Error (EPE). Typically, this should be around 30', but that will vary by location, time of day, atmospheric conditions, etc. With an LCG-4000 hooked up to my HDS-10, I've seen less than 10' of EPE.


Jim Carroll NPAA #13

[VaGuy]

I have a LGC 4000 on order (from Defender Marine).
Cost is $202 including UPS ground shipping. The HDS8
I have has a $100 rebate with the purchase of the
LGC 4000. Should be able to get at least $100 for
the current LGC 3000 I have (which is new).
Need or not I will take this super antenna for a
net cost of $0.00.

[Wall@y@]

First of all, thanks to all for your responses to my questions and my problem.

I have already tried to use the HDS-8 in the GPS mode twice on the water positioned where it's at and it will work for a short period of time and then it will suddenly stop working in the GPS mode. The first thing I noticed is my boat speed is wacky and my track stops moving forward so that indicates to me that it is loosing the satalites. That is, unless there is a problem with the HDS-8.

I tried to narrow it down to loss of satalites or a problem with the unit by removing the unit from the dash mount and holding the unit out away from under the windshield and moving the boat along at about 3-5 miles an hour. When I did that it locked on the satalites and started tracking like it should and giving me the correct ground speed. When I put the unit back in the dash mount, soon after it lost its position again.

I can't see why that windshield aluminum frame would interfere with the internal antenna. I don't want to buy the 4000 antenna and go through the raindance of networking it into the HDS-8 unless its absolutely necessary. I don't want to send this unit in to have it checked out because I have already done that with of a different problem I had with the first HDS-8 I had. It took over a month just to get this new HDS-8 I have now.

Anyway, enought of my venting and thanks again for your responses.

[blueicecpa]

Faraday, Michael (1791–1867)

Faraday's Cage?

Faraday's Cage is a cage which "shields" off electromanetic fields. If a person is inside the cage, he cannot receive any electromagnetic signals from the outside environment, and electomagnetic signals from the inside cannot pass out of the cage.

:raisin::huh:

http://img.tfd.com/h/t/4890n033.jpghttp://img.tfd.com/wiki/enlarge.gif (javascript:hil('4890n033.jpg'))A portrait of the English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday. He began his working life apprenticed to a bookbinder, but at the age of 21 he started researching electricity. He took a job at the Royal Institution of Great Britain a year later, and by 1833 had succeeded Humphry Davy as professor of chemistry there. He is regarded as the founder of electrochemistry.

http://img.tfd.com/h/t/0020n053.jpghttp://img.tfd.com/wiki/enlarge.gif (javascript:hil('0020n053.jpg'))English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday, one of the most prominent experimentalists of the 19th century.

[Wall@y@]

Today I took my boat to the lake and tried to resolve my GPS problem. On the water the GPS locked on to 8 satelites with an EPE rate of 29. The HDS-8 was in the original mounting position under the windshield frame. So far so good. I eased away from the dock and the unit tracked fine giving me my speed and position for about 3 minutes. Suddenly it quit tracking and my SOG went wacky again showing I was going anywhere from 50 to 1000 miles an hour. My track quit an when I turned the boat the boat icon stayed in the last position it was when it quit working.

It appears that the GPS portion of the HDS-8 is not functioning correctly by all the indications I see. Even when I turn the unit off and then on again it would track for just a minute or so then quit again. I also noticed it took a very long time to load the basic Insight map, (I'm not using a map chip). This is not normal because it had always loaded the map very quickly.

I searched the Lowrance web site for a soft and hard reset for this unit but I could not find it on the list of reset procedures for their other units. It appears that the resets for the HDS units are not available yet. At least I haven't found them.

But I have some good news after all my problems with the HDS-8. I called Lowrance Tech Services after returning home and talked with them about my problem. The Tech Support lady put me on hold after I had explained the GPS problem and then returned with some bad news and some good news. She said that they had no HDS-8 units to exchange but they were going to upgrade my unit to the HDS-10. That just blew me away. I've read some real horror stories about service from Lowrance but at lest this story ended well for me. Again, thanks for all your inputs. The information about the satelite page was good and it gave me the information I needed.

[Tony Shirley]

Today I took my boat to the lake and tried to resolve my GPS problem. On the water the GPS locked on to 8 satelites with an EPE rate of 29. The HDS-8 was in the original mounting position under the windshield frame. So far so good. I eased away from the dock and the unit tracked fine giving me my speed and position for about 3 minutes. Suddenly it quit tracking and my SOG went wacky again showing I was going anywhere from 50 to 1000 miles an hour. My track quit an when I turned the boat the boat icon stayed in the last position it was when it quit working.

It appears that the GPS portion of the HDS-8 is not functioning correctly by all the indications I see. Even when I turn the unit off and then on again it would track for just a minute or so then quit again. I also noticed it took a very long time to load the basic Insight map, (I'm not using a map chip). This is not normal because it had always loaded the map very quickly.

I searched the Lowrance web site for a soft and hard reset for this unit but I could not find it on the list of reset procedures for their other units. It appears that the resets for the HDS units are not available yet. At least I haven't found them.

But I have some good news after all my problems with the HDS-8. I called Lowrance Tech Services after returning home and talked with them about my problem. The Tech Support lady put me on hold after I had explained the GPS problem and then returned with some bad news and some good news. She said that they had no HDS-8 units to exchange but they were going to upgrade my unit to the HDS-10. That just blew me away. I've read some real horror stories about service from Lowrance but at lest this story ended well for me. Again, thanks for all your inputs. The information about the satelite page was good and it gave me the information I needed.
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