[shaft]

Part Number 25726417
Currently the part number listed above is not available from GM at this
time, as GM is out of stock and the part is on national backorder, with
ETA of late March 2006. We will have to cancel your order.
Please check back with us in 30 days to check on the availability of the
part we are unable to supply you at this time.
Thank you for choosing www.GmPartsDirect.com

:rant2:
Suggestions?

 

[shaft]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...018748381QQcategoryZ38653QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Can anyone confirm that this looks like it might work?

or this one..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GM-N...019343812QQcategoryZ38653QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[odysseus]

Any GPS micro-antenna with a SMB (male) connector should work fine. There are plenty on EBay for under $20. Neither of those that you linked will work.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SMB-M-Amplified...ryZ73348QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This is an amplified antenna, which is normally reserved for long runs. The stock antenna is not amplified, and thus only has about 18" of lead. I doubt the factory Nav puts the proper 5 volts down the center pin, but the antennas should work in non-amplified mode without it. I'm not sure how much loss the cable will give, though, without the amplifier powered.

I have an old one in my desk here at work that I used for my Jeep that I am willing to send you, but I just looked at it and it has a SMA connector, which is not compatible. (doh)

 

[shaft]

Thanks Ody, I will look around. Anything will be better then waiting till March.

 

[-1-]

Thanks Ody, I will look around. Anything will be better then waiting till March.

:hmm: Bummer! First, I'd try some local or close by dealers. Maybe someone will have one in stock? Then, I'd try either a local junk yard or directly contact some of the GPS NAV sellers on eBay. Try elliottent5. He sells a lot of NAV units on eBay and would be my first choice to contact. Put out an APB on this forum that you're in need of a GPS antenna. Hopefully, someone will step forward and help you. March 06 is way too long to go without a sense of direction.

 

[shaft]

I contacted elliottent5, he didnt have any. Seems noone is crashing cts's in MN becasue I could only find one car, and it was 60 miles away, with a standard radio. Called the local dealer, the woman over the phone insisted that the part number was to some heater "module". I told her I was absolutely positive that it was the part number I needed, then I asked if she could confirm that is was on a national backorder. She puts me on hold for a couple minutes, then gets on and tell me they dont sell that part. That if I needed that part, the only way for them to get it and be able to sell it to me, I would have to bring in my car, they would have to read my vin and do some special request form to have the part made. LOL. So I said whatever, thanks for your time, and hung up. :bigroll:

So my order is still open with gmpartsdirect, I ordered that generic gps antenna from ebay, I think its the one Ody listed. Ill give that a shot, hopefully it will get me by till they come off of backorder.

 

[Bmg785]

Hi, I ordered this part from GM direct yesterday and it says it is on order (25726417) although my cancelation could be coming any time. I will post if I get a confirmed date or the unit shows up. Either way if you find a source for the antenna I would appreciate it if you could post it as I am less optimistic about my order being filled and I can not wait until March either....

Also, when mounting the GPS antenna are people running it out the car and to the roof or setting it on the dash? I dont think 18" would not be enough to get out of the car... but I could be wrong. Thanks BG

 

[odysseus]

The factory location is dead center under the very forward top panel of the dash. The panel is held on with clips. Using a plastic putty knife, start on one end and work to the center then to the other end. The whole 4' wide x 6" deep panel pops right up. Miscreant included pictures of this in his original nav coversion writeup on the FAQ. The antenna goes right in the middle facing up. With such a sloped windshield, it will still have view of 6 to 7 satellites. Only 4 at any one time are needed for a 3D fix.

 

[shaft]

Yeah, this antenna from eBay looks more like a roof mounted one. Similar to a satellite radio antenna. I hope it will work from the same location as the factory one.
I will keep you posted.

 

[dkozloski]

I use a DeLorme Earthmate GPS and it works fine with the receiver/antenna anywhere on the dash.

 

[odysseus]

I'm pretty sure the only thing that may keep it from working properly is signal loss over the 5 meter cable length. Unamplified antennas usually keep to 2' or less for this reason. Most/all roof mounted antennas (the EBay one included) are amplified, meaning the reciever puts 5 volts down the center pin to power the small single chip amplifier on the antenna for 25 to 30 dB signal gain. The CTS nav surely doesn't do this, but hopefully the line losses are not significant enough to keep from getting the unamplified signal.

Please let us know how well, or if it works. If not, PM me and I'll buy it from you for several other navigation projects I have (non-CTS related). I'll feel better when you have a working Nav (since I sold it to you!).

 

[shaft]

Oh, hmm I wonder if it would be possible to shorten the wire then?

 

[odysseus]

Its pretty simple actually, if you're handy around electronics. The first way is to pick up a male SMB connector from Digikey or similar distributor, preferable a screw-on, so you don't need the crimp tool. You simply cut the cable to 2' long out of the antenna, and put the connector on.

The other way is to shorten at the other end. Open up the antenna and desolder the center pin wire, and the mesh sheath that likely is pulled into the shape of a wire. Cut the wire so the SMB connector has 2' of wire, strip back an inch of sheath, roll it into a wire, solder the center pin and sheath onto the pads that you desoldered. You have to be careful not to melt the dielectric insulation around the center pin, which would ground them together.

 

[shaft]

Sounds simple enough, I will give it a try if it dosent work 'as is'. Unless I can find someplace local with an smb connector I would probably have to go the solder route, as most places online have a minimum order. I dont need 1,000 units lol.

 

[shaft]

The antenna works great so far, sitting on the rear deck, or ontop the dash. Havent tried it inside the dash yet though. Didnt have time today to pull apart the whole dash. Cord length wasnt an issue.

This is the one I purchased.
http://cgi.ebay.com/SMB-M-Amplified...ryZ73348QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My only complaint is that the seller charges $10 for shipping, USPS snail mail. Took a week to get here, came in a padded envelope. Tracking number he gave never updated. For $10 you probably could have shipped it 2day via fedex. He did ship promptly though.

 

[odysseus]

So I take it you got the Nav fully working (except the 6 disk changer)? I'm glad the antenna worked out. I was worried that the losses down 5m of cable would be too much. This is a great alternative for half the price of the GM unit. Personally, I'd put it in the stock location inside the dash for a true stealth look.

 

[shaft]

Yep, works great! I plan on putting it in the stock location, I just didnt have the time today. I might wait for a warmer day, it gets cold working in the garage now that winter is here. Thanks again for all your help Ody.

I was a bit surprised that my street wasnt on the map disk, this development had been here at least 2yrs, I went out to eat tonight and the whole area around the restaurant, which was built 3+ yrs ago wasnt on the disk either.
Does anyone know what the latest versions are for the cd-rom? I think I have 5.xx somthing.

 

[odysseus]

The CDROM (ver 5.1?) was originally from the car when it was introduced in very early '02, so it's already almost 4 years old. It was likely based on map data that was several years older than that. I found that my street, which has been here for 15 years, wasn't drawn correctly either. It's been corrected in the newer versions.

The Zenrin CD's for Infinity are your best bet. They're up to version 5.5 for the CD's and were released 11/05 (last month). Only buy the one you need, since they're $120 each. They have a four week backlog right now.

 

[shaft]

Damn, didnt relize they were that old. Thanks for the info.
$120 bucks though! Thats not even proportionate to the cost of a DVD, isnt the dvd like $250?, and that has the whole nation. If you bought all the cd's it would be over $1,000. :suspense:

 

[odysseus]

Yup, the DVD is only $180 for the whole country, vs 10 CD's. It blows, but the good thing is you only need to by the region that you drive it. Unless you drive cross country, you'll never use the other disks. At least you have the original set of those to fall back on.