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Nuvi 660

 
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 9:44am

Has any one been able to fix the ariel on the Garmin 660.
Mine no longer works. I have been able to still use the unit by putting a small wire in the external ariel port,

At one point I found a web site that discussed the repair but can not find it again.

It is not worth ordering a new one from the US because of the shipping costs.

Thanks

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robo
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 4:09pm

Sorry but what is the external ariel port?

Thanks.

Thu, 08/05/2010 - 7:57pm

Hi Robert, I'm not sure if

Hi Robert,
I'm not sure if this can help you in any way, here's a link for a store in Laval, QC that is an authorised dealer for Garmin. You may want to contact them and check if they can do anything for you at a raisonnable price.

https://www.raytech.ca/

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------------------ BigBen63 / Bernard / From Montreal
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 9:22pm

repair

try sharcnet-usa.he fixed my 650 antenna for what i thought to be a reasonable price .
mike

Thu, 08/05/2010 - 9:23pm

660 Antenna Repair

You might be able to find an answer here:

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=126588

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"It's not where you start, but where you end up." Where am I and what am I doing in this hand basket?
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 10:46pm

patch antenna repair--

I'm not sure what the issue could be if the patch doesn't work but something plugged into the ext antenna jack does.

I've purchased a couple of guaranteed-to-be-dead 6xx units on eBay for parts. One of them had a crack in the antenna flex circuit. Repaired that, and it works fine.

The other had signs of immersion... I may be able to use some case parts and other goodies from that one.

bob in sunny silicon valley

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Nuvi 2460, 680, DATUM Tymserve 2100, Trimble Thunderbolt, Ham radio, Macintosh, Linux, Windows
Thu, 08/05/2010 - 10:50pm

Repair

What is the website? Or email address.

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Legs
Wed, 08/11/2010 - 11:19am

Antenna

If the flip-up antenna (actually the GPS receiver assembly) receives signals with a piece of wire inserted into the external antenna jack, then the flex cable is fine. Your SIRF chip is fine too. This is a common problem, which is caused by a component failure.

The component failure causes the RF switching to only receive signals via the external antenna jack. Replacing the defective component with a higher rated part, restores reception with the internal antenna.

There's been talk on forums about installing a jumper wire but that is not the correct way to fix this problem. The failed component becomes resistive and actually shunts part of the incoming signals to ground. The bad part must be removed & replaced. By doing that, the unit will work again with either the internal or external antenna.

Still, with the jumper method, the incoming signal is partly shunted to ground due to the failed part, thereby reducing sensitivity.

Installing the jumper, essentially shorts the internal and external antenna together, causing an impedance mis-match and places a 3v bias on the internal antenna. The 3V bias is what is used to power the pre-amp in the external antenna.

A torn flex cable would prevent reception with either the internal or external antenna. The flex cable provides the voltages to power the GPS receiver assembly and an external antenna and it also sends the data from the SIRF back to the main board for display on the screen.

- Jim
SHARCNET-USA

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SHARCNET-USA