If the nuvi antenna switch fails, wouldn't it be easy enough to bridge the connection internal/external inside the unit with a small strand or wire (or solder blob)?
I had an external antenna fail recently. It worked in the mornings, but in the afternoons would not get a fix for 10's of minutes. For the first few days I just assumed that it had something to do with my proximity to a large airforce base. In the end, the preamp in the antenna couldn't take the heat on my roof in the afternoons. Wes On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 09:42, AE4BP <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tray, > > I also encountered this exact issue a while back. My research found that it > appears to be a common issue with the Nuvi 350. Apparently, there is an > automatic switch within the Nuvi that fails and leaves it switched to the > external antenna port. This is an smd device and requires some pretty > extensive work to replace. That being said, there is a workaround...use and > external antenna. Actually, a very easy confirmation for this is to > carefully insert a small (2-3 inches) piece of wire into the external jack, > being careful to get it into the center slot. You will be able to verify > receive when you power on the Nuvi and go to the reception menu. I just > carefully taped the wire into place around the existing antenna hinge. While > it is not pretty, it works perfectly now! Of course, you could go ahead and > attach an external antenna for possibly even better performance. But, my > resolution works well. I hope this helps! > > Brad AE4BP > > --- In [email protected], "n4pat875" <n4p...@...> wrote: > > > > My Garmin nuvi 350 has stopped acquiring satellites. It unfortunately sat > in a hot Virginia sun when I forgot to remove it from its cradle a couple of > times. > > > > I came out at lunch, it was fine. At quitting time, it showed "Poor > satellite reception". I hit OK and it tried to acquire for the entire 30 > minute trip home. I left it on overnight and it was fine in the morning. > > > > About a week later, I came out at 4:30pm, again, "Poor satellite > reception". This time, an overnight sit didn't fix it, nor has it returned > to acquiring sats since then. It doesn't even appear to try. It goes through > the "Are you indoors?"..."Have you moved hundreds of miles since last using > it?"...and "Is today's date xx/xx/xxxx?". But the acquisition screen doesn't > even seem to attempt to work through the constellation and find satellites. > > > > I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I don't know if the > receiver is fried, or if the antenna connection between the hinged patch > antenna (which also holds the external antenna connector, so I'm not sure an > ext. antenna will help diagnose the issue). > > > > I'm having trouble finding a way to open the unit up, the internet sites > I've found are useless. Any ideas from the great minds out there? > > > > Thanks! > > Tray Murphy > > N4PAT > > APRS: N4PAT-10 > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > -- Wes --- God help those who do not help themselves.
