Rich Hampel wrote in
:

Brian is correct .....
NO GPS can 'see' through steel or fiberglass, etc. The antenna MUST
have a clear unobstructed view of the satelites .... no wet sail, no
leaves, no roofs, no dodger or bimini, no steel panels.



Pure hogwash. Any RF-transparent material can be used between the GPS
antenna and the satellites....same as that radome on the radar the RF
passes through coming and going to the target. It CANNOT see through
steel, or any other CONDUCTIVE material. Bimini rails hardly pose a threat
as they occupy so small a footprint on the sky. GPS can see through any
non-metallic bimini material just fine....or our heavily built fiberglass
hardtop.

I've attempted to post a picture taken from behind the helmsman showing off
our redesigned electronics suite. To the left of them console is a little
winch that works lines through the windscreen to haul the mainsheet
traveler back and forth from the helm under the hardtop.

To the left of that winch, there is mounted to the flat surface of the helm
station, a Raymarine Raystar satellite-compensated GPS receiver and the GPS
antenna to our old Garmin 185 backup GPS. These both shoot through the
plexiglass windscreen and the very thick fiberglass hardtop. Because the
solar panel is on the starboard topside of the hardtop, GPS was put way
port to keep from being shielded by the RF-shield of the solar panel...a
conductor.

Hope the picture shows up on alt.binaries.pictures.sports.ocean of this.
I've had trouble posting to it but usenetserver tells me they stopped
identifying my posts to it as spam, blocking them.

--
Larry

You know you've had a rough night when you wake up and you're outlined in
chalk.

Could it be the balsa core below the deck is wet enough to block the signal?

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
Rich Hampel wrote in
:

Brian is correct .....
NO GPS can 'see' through steel or fiberglass, etc. The antenna MUST
have a clear unobstructed view of the satelites .... no wet sail, no
leaves, no roofs, no dodger or bimini, no steel panels.



Pure hogwash. Any RF-transparent material can be used between the GPS
antenna and the satellites....same as that radome on the radar the RF
passes through coming and going to the target. It CANNOT see through
steel, or any other CONDUCTIVE material. Bimini rails hardly pose a
threat
as they occupy so small a footprint on the sky. GPS can see through any
non-metallic bimini material just fine....or our heavily built fiberglass
hardtop.

I've attempted to post a picture taken from behind the helmsman showing
off
our redesigned electronics suite. To the left of them console is a little
winch that works lines through the windscreen to haul the mainsheet
traveler back and forth from the helm under the hardtop.

To the left of that winch, there is mounted to the flat surface of the
helm
station, a Raymarine Raystar satellite-compensated GPS receiver and the
GPS
antenna to our old Garmin 185 backup GPS. These both shoot through the
plexiglass windscreen and the very thick fiberglass hardtop. Because the
solar panel is on the starboard topside of the hardtop, GPS was put way
port to keep from being shielded by the RF-shield of the solar panel...a
conductor.

Hope the picture shows up on alt.binaries.pictures.sports.ocean of this.
I've had trouble posting to it but usenetserver tells me they stopped
identifying my posts to it as spam, blocking them.

--
Larry

You know you've had a rough night when you wake up and you're outlined in
chalk.

"MMC" wrote in
m:

Could it be the balsa core below the deck is wet enough to block the
signal?


Boy, if we can confirm that is true it will mean a great tool to find
moisture in deck coring with a handheld GPS watching the satellite strength
display.

Anyone got a known wet core to test it?

--
Larry

You know you've had a rough night when you wake up and you're outlined in
chalk.