Help required for Sharks Fin

[millinb]

I'm looking to fit a sharks fin gps antenna to my 2010 A3 Sportback that I've fitted an RNS-e to. Currently I'm using a gps receiver fitted under the dash but I 've driven a lot lately in Europe and sometimes I've lost a number of satellites and it has been very laggy in updating the location. I've replaced receivers tried different locations to resolve this only to find on top of the dash does this lagging disappear. So having now seen this I've ordered a sharks fin for gps to fit only I cannot find any info on the correct location for this and the wire path to the head unit. Is there anyone who could help in either suppling the correct info or point me towards the right location or place to find this.
Many thanks ,
BAz

 

[nluk100]

I fitted mine under the dash and never had any issues with GPS reception. I would personally steer away from drilling a hole in the roof and running a cable inside the car. The roof lining is a PITA I've been told too. Try buying a new GPS unit, or if that doesn't work, mount it at the front of your dash (on top in the middle).

 

[millinb]

I have replaced GPS and done lots of moving of the unit and seems to stop the lagging when on top of the dash. In Switzerland you are in and out of tunnels so it has to re-aquire quite quickly and that doesn't happen with units mounted under the dash. I had the same issue with my A4 Avant as well and its not good when you driving and relying on it.Thanks for the reply but I read somewhere the the rear trim is all you need to remove to gain access but I keep looking for more information.

 

[samuelh_888]

Remove your head lining and it’s marked where you need to drill. Run your wires along the roof and down the passenger A-pillar.

I looked at doing it on my previous A3 but drilling the hole in the roof put me off, rust protecting, making sure it’s water tight.

I kept the GPS unit up between the between the vents and never had an issue (I wasn’t in Switzerland). Have you tried up behind the glovebox near the window?

 

[-Ju-]

I did it years ago on my first 8P.
You can pull down the headlining at the rear and work out where to drill from above.
The correct way to run the wire is down into the c pillar on the passenger side and then along the cill.
I did buy the correct extension cable online at the time that connects to the shark fin cable in the c pillar

 

[millinb]

I kept the GPS unit up between the between the vents and never had an issue (I wasn’t in Switzerland). Have you tried up behind the glovebox near the window?[/QUOTE]

I have tried loads of different positions and 4 different GPS receivers, its the time itstakes to re-acquire not that they don’t work, plus at times they only get 3 satellites the lagging can make you miss a junction.

Drove from Southampton to Portsmouth tonight and it worked fine but a a clear day nothing to obstruct the signal.

 

[millinb]

I did it years ago on my first 8P.
You can pull down the headlining at the rear and work out where to drill from above.
The correct way to run the wire is down into the c pillar on the passenger side and then along the cill.
I did buy the correct extension cable online at the time that connects to the shark fin cable in the c pillar

Great info, don’t surpose you know the part number for the extension cable to go in the c pilar?

 

[-Ju-]

I kept the GPS unit up between the between the vents and never had an issue (I wasn’t in Switzerland). Have you tried up behind the glovebox near the window?

I have tried loads of different positions and 4 different GPS receivers, its the time itstakes to re-acquire not that they don’t work, plus at times they only get 3 satellites the lagging can make you miss a junction.

Drove from Southampton to Portsmouth tonight and it worked fine but a a clear day nothing to obstruct the signal.

When I used the hockey puck I would see 5 satellites, with the shark fin I got 8

Sent from my Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

[-Ju-]

It was probably more than 10 years ago tbh but i think it may have been a kufatec cable

 

[ab1702]

I’ve found the best position for me is the bottom of the A pillar. If you pull the cover off which is just held on by some of those trim clips then there is a gap at the bottom. I’ve just stuck mine there with some double sided tape and then you can’t see it when the pillar cover is back on and it gets full signal because it’s praxticall pointing out of the window except for the pillar cover.

 

[millinb]

After a long weekend of fitting and more testing the sharks fin works the quickest, puck does get between 4 sometimes 5 but takes longer to acquire them and after driving out of the Hindhead tunnel yesterday it took over 40 sec's to acquire the 4 it had before. The RNS-e is does a good job of guessing from what it has but was to slow to show the real position and would have missed the junction after the tunnel if I had needed it.
Drove with sharks fin active an hour later over the same route and 5 satellites acquired on exit of the tunnel and within a few more seconds 8 so I can see why I had an issue now. Took a good period of time to fit the fin and was able to get a cable grommet fitted into the hole and still allowed the fin to sit flush to the roof. Used cable guides to route the cable had been told to be slow and take your time with routing. Used the c pilar and along to the where the cable from the phone module routes then just followed that to the RNS-e. Nav is by far quicker on start up then before and on days like today when the weather is not great no satellites dropped at all kept 8 all the time.

 

[samuelh_888]

Did you take any pics of the process? It would be good to see the before and after, and the mid-way through!

 

[Daveyonthemove]

I'm tempted to replace my shark fin with a DAB aerial.
I don't need the GPS as I removed my RNS-E and the new head unit has it's own which is very good. If I could get the DAB to work better then that would be an improvement.

 

[ab1702]

Did you take any pics of the process? It would be good to see the before and after, and the mid-way through!

I did this exact same thing a few week ago but I did it for dab and used a normal antenna instead of a shark fin but I also forgot to take pictures.

The way I did it was to pull pretty much all the headlining down which isn’t as quick as you’d think as you have to remove some back panels and also all the lights, sun visors and handles etc.
I then drilled a 19mm hole in the roof from the outside using a hole cutter for the drill rather than a normal drill bit and then using some wet and dry paper I smoothed the hole out. The antenna came with a rubber seal for the outside and a kind of grommet for the inside. Then there is quite a big nut which you tighten from underneath from the inside to hold the antenna in place and create the seals.
The whole length of the cables are permanently attached to the antenna so this is why i dropped all the headlining as I had to get a decent sized spanner in there to tighten it up rather than being able to use a socket. Also I knew the quickest way would be to just run the cables across the headlining and down the pillar at the side of the windscreen and then behind the glovebox to the headunit.
The hardest part is definately removing the headlining and then just making sure you get the hole drilled slowly and central.

I didn’t use a shark fin as for dab the signal wouldn’t have been as good as what I have gone for but as you have heard above for sat nav it would be perfectly fine with it working off satellite rather than a mast somewhere.

My signal for dab is now perfect everywhere I go.

I’ll attach a pic of the final result incase anyone is curious.

@Daveyonthemove

 

[Daveyonthemove]

I did this exact same thing a few week ago but I did it for dab and used a normal antenna instead of a shark fin but I also forgot to take pictures.

The way I did it was to pull pretty much all the headlining down which isn’t as quick as you’d think as you have to remove some back panels and also all the lights, sun visors and handles etc.
I then drilled a 19mm hole in the roof from the outside using a hole cutter for the drill rather than a normal drill bit and then using some wet and dry paper I smoothed the hole out. The antenna came with a rubber seal for the outside and a kind of grommet for the inside. Then there is quite a big nut which you tighten from underneath from the inside to hold the antenna in place and create the seals.
The whole length of the cables are permanently attached to the antenna so this is why i dropped all the headlining as I had to get a decent sized spanner in there to tighten it up rather than being able to use a socket. Also I knew the quickest way would be to just run the cables across the headlining and down the pillar at the side of the windscreen and then behind the glovebox to the headunit.
The hardest part is definately removing the headlining and then just making sure you get the hole drilled slowly and central.

I didn’t use a shark fin as for dab the signal wouldn’t have been as good as what I have gone for but as you have heard above for sat nav it would be perfectly fine with it working off satellite rather than a mast somewhere.

My signal for dab is now perfect everywhere I go.

I’ll attach a pic of the final result incase anyone is curious.

@Daveyonthemove

View attachment 156600

Thanks for the info, it's certainly something I will look at later in the year. There is no way I can do it during the warm days we have right now, I'd dissolve into a sweaty puddle on the leather seats.
I'll keep my eyes peeled for a shark fin DAB aerial though as I prefer them.

 

[ab1702]

Thanks for the info, it's certainly something I will look at later in the year. There is no way I can do it during the warm days we have right now, I'd dissolve into a sweaty puddle on the leather seats.
I'll keep my eyes peeled for a shark fin DAB aerial though as I prefer them.

The reasons I went for that antenna is because the signal is better than a shark fin for dab as we have a few rural areas round here and so far it’s been perfect.

I did plan on unscrewing that antenna that it came with and replacing it with the better looking ones that they have on polo’s etc but when i did that the fm worked but dab didn’t work so I’ve had to put the original back on.

When I were looking at shark fins for dab they were anything between £70 and £140 but the one I bought were only £25 and I think they’re chinese resellers, the quality is perfect though and came with everything I needed. You can get shark fins off a chinese seller on eBay for about £35 -£40 that do dab so if I were you id get one of those, everything is made in China these days and you’re usually just paying extra for a better name the majority of the time.