Emprum's UltiMate GPS accessory

[Harry]

Looks like a lot of GPS fixes?

[causeceleb]

firstly, this is my first post so hi to all!

secondly, thanks to harry and roger for the setup.

i'm new to the GPS world so forgive any obvious/stupid/newb questions

according to Emprum's docco to get a fix ideally the UltiMate needs to be faced downwards. this obviously means that the phone is face down also. i have noticed that the signal can degrade significantly once turned face up again - sometimes to the point where the fix is lost (to be fair, in less than ideal conditions, i.e. in my house). are my observations correct and is this the correct behavior?

i ask as the mount i will be using is flat and i would like the phone to be facing upwards for obvious reasons. if it is optimal to have the UltiMate facing downwards and the phone upwards then would the use of a "dock extension" cable (male-female extension) be a possible workaround?

HLT: v14.2, UltiMate v1.0.6

[Gernby]

Is there such a thing as a dock extension cable? That would be very nice to be able to position the UltiMate GPS in a more ideal location in the vehicle.

[Squelch]

Any word on whether the Ultimate will work with an extension cable?

[Emprum]

firstly, this is my first post so hi to all!

secondly, thanks to harry and roger for the setup.

i'm new to the GPS world so forgive any obvious/stupid/newb questions

according to Emprum's docco to get a fix ideally the UltiMate needs to be faced downwards. this obviously means that the phone is face down also. i have noticed that the signal can degrade significantly once turned face up again - sometimes to the point where the fix is lost (to be fair, in less than ideal conditions, i.e. in my house). are my observations correct and is this the correct behavior?

i ask as the mount i will be using is flat and i would like the phone to be facing upwards for obvious reasons. if it is optimal to have the UltiMate facing downwards and the phone upwards then would the use of a "dock extension" cable (male-female extension) be a possible workaround?

HLT: v14.2, UltiMate v1.0.6

It seems there is some confusion here.

Just to clarify a few things here: the location of the antenna inside of the UltiMate GPS was designed in such a way that it is optimized for car navigation. That means, if you put your Apple device with UltiMate GPS plugged in, into a car mount (e.g. dash or window mount), the antenna of the UltiMate GPS will be facing towards the front windshield for optimum GPS signal reception instead of facing towards the inside of the car.

Now if the app you are using allows for device rotation (e.g. like Emprum's UltiMate GPS App or Harry's LapTimer), you can experiment with having the UltiMate GPS at the bottom of your Apple device, or rotating it upside down and having it at the top of your device. You can use the satellite screen of the UltiMate GPS App to determine which position will give you better satellite reception.

In general, you do not need an extension cable for the UltiMate GPS unless you want to position your Apple device with UltiMate GPS somewhere severely obscured from view of the sky, like far under the dash. But for me, even down there below the desk (and I drive like this all the time in my Honda Civic) the UltiMate GPS works just fine. It all depends on how much metal/loose wires/windshield protectors with metal content/etc are present in your car. Use the satellite screen of the UltiMate GPS App to determine if the signal is sufficient.

I hope I clarified this now, but if you still have questions, don't hesitate to ask them!

Roger from Emprum

[Squelch]

Thanks for the clarification Roger. One problem I'm having is that I've got my phone mounted on the dashboard of my motorcycle, and I've got it secured to the mount with zip ties, so if I crash there's minimal chance that the phone will go flying. The zip ties have made the UltiMate connection with the phone a little bit shaky (it only keeps a connection when it's bent a bit toward the back of the phone) so I'd like to just mount the UltiMate accessory somewhere away from the phone, and then there won't be zip ties putting stress on the accessory, screwing up the connection with the phone. It's not so much for reception issues as much as it is for securing the GPS in a crash.

[causeceleb]

Is there such a thing as a dock extension cable? That would be very nice to be able to position the UltiMate GPS in a more ideal location in the vehicle.

I was thinking something like this http://www.cablejive.com/products/dockX ... basic.html
Or this one which provides the full monty of data services http://www.cablejive.com/products/dockXtender.html


@Roger thanks for the explanation

@Squelch I have a bike to. I'd like to tuck the phone away somewhere "safer" also

[Squelch]

@causeceleb - I bought that CableJive extender on Amazon right after I posted, and it should arrive today. I'm heeading to the track this weekend and I'll let you know how it works out. I also bought a 30-pin passthrough with a mini-USB port, and a mini-USB plug that I can wire to my battery, so if everything goes right I should be able to mount the UltiMate to a good place under my windscreen, and extend the cable to the 30-pin passthrough to my iPhone, with the mini-USB powering the whole thing off the bike's battery. Keep your fingers crossed!

[causeceleb]

@causeceleb - I bought that CableJive extender on Amazon right after I posted, and it should arrive today. I'm heeading to the track this weekend and I'll let you know how it works out. I also bought a 30-pin passthrough with a mini-USB port, and a mini-USB plug that I can wire to my battery, so if everything goes right I should be able to mount the UltiMate to a good place under my windscreen, and extend the cable to the 30-pin passthrough to my iPhone, with the mini-USB powering the whole thing off the bike's battery. Keep your fingers crossed!

sounds like the setup should work. let us know how you get on

[Squelch]

It worked great! I was able to keep the phone in a safe place, but I attached the GPS to the top of my forks where it had a good view of the sky. And I hooked the phone charger up through the mini-USB to the bike's battery, so I didn't have to worry about the phone (it's an old 3GS) dying halfway through my session.