In-car GPS signal booster

[Ducky]

Hi everyone,

Was hoping you could help me with a problem I've been having.

For some reason, my phone (Huawei P20 Pro) keeps losing GPS signal in my car. I have tried multiple Satnav apps (Waze, Google maps etc.) and it never picks up a signal in the car, unless I move it near the windows away from the dashboard. There is definitely not a problem with the phone, as I have used the GPS in friends cars and it works fine. Furthermore, I have tested friends phones in my car (iPhones and Pixels) and they work fine as well. The issue occurs regardless of whether I am charging the phone or not. Note that the front windscreen is heated, but it does not seem to affect other phones as they work fine.

I'm at my wits end and don't want to replace my phone (or car), so was wondering if anyone knew of any hassle-free gadget that I could purchase and stick into either my phone or the lighter socket/USB drive of my car that would enhance the GPS signal inside the car? I've been doing some research and came across the Garmin Glo, which seems to be a good solution, except for the fact that I don't think it supports Waze, which is unfortunately a deal-breaker for me.

One more thing that I noticed is that my wife's phone (also Huawei, but a different model to mine) has the same problem, in that it picks up a GPS signal everywhere except on the dashboard of my car. So basically it seems like Huawei phones don't pick up GPS signals in my car, because all my friends phones that we tested worked fine under all circumstances. Super frustrating!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

I think the problem is that the front (and rear windscreens) of your car are full of metal heating elements that are preventing the satellite signals entering the car, as the rest of the car is almost entirely metal, the side windows are the only areas that allow the signals to enter, I guess the other phones you have tried have more sensitive receivers.

There are quite a few devices including the Garmin Glo that will receive GPS signals and then send position information out via Bluetooth to your smart phone, the problem as you have found is that most Smartphone App. developers only take position information from the built-in smart phone GPS receiver and won't allow an external Bluetooth GPS receiver to supply the position information - all smart phones have built-in GPS so external options are not catered for.

You don't have many options, some GPS devices have external antenna sockets, but your P20 Pro won't have one, another option would be to use something that receives GPS signals, amplifies them and re-transmits the GPS signals inside the car like this one : -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Enhancer-A...DJZ5/ref=dp_prsubs_2?pd_rd_i=B07Y31DJZ5&psc=1

 

[Ducky]

another option would be to use something that receives GPS signals, amplifies them and re-transmits the GPS signals inside the car but I don't know of any suitable device

Thanks for your reply. This is exactly what I was hoping to get (see above quote). Anyone with any suggestions or first hand experience? Any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

I have edited my post #2 with more info.

 

[Ducky]

Thank you so much