As our perfectionism and ambitions didn’t let us sleep easily, we decided to look into the best place to install the GPS antenna. At the moment we were using 25mm active antennas installed inside the scooter’s base. It’s a good working scheme that doesn’t require special antennas or modification of GPS tracker.
In spite of the fact that the tracker is functioning, the antenna´s capability of signal receiving is far from ideal or even announced by the manufacturer, in case of being installed in the position of “plastic cap down”.
First of all we compared the signal receiving level of 18mm and 25mm (two standard form factors) antennas under the ideal conditions and also if they are covered with the rear mudguard. After 4 tests it became obvious that there is no significant difference (sometimes even no difference at all) in the signal receiving level between 18mm and 25mm antennas and also no difference in the signal receiving level between the antennas under ideal conditions and covered with the rear mudguard.
After that we produced a special test 18mm antenna with a long cable. Then we developed and produced a special cap-carrier for antenna’s fixation under the rear mudguard. After that we’ve been testing the scooter with this special antenna installed for 2 weeks.
Finally we understood that the practical value of this solution is very questionable because of the more complicated installment, use of an extra detail, and the most important - necessity to waterproof the installed antenna. So at the moment we decided to suspend further tests as the signal receiving level doesn’t improve while riding in the streets.