Another externally mounted antenna question.

[Gavel]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to connect the external antenna to the travel cradle?

Is there a reason Garmin could not add a MCX connection to the travel cradle and the cradle then make the antenna connection through the contacts in the bottom of the iQUE?

It would save wear and tear on the MCX connector. We wouldn't have to disconnect the antenna each time we removed the iQUE from the car.

[jackT]

The iQue use the universal Palm connector. All pins of the connector have an assigned function (see http://www.palmos.com/dev/tech/hardware/palmhardware/ ), and there is no room for any other connection, such as an antenna signal.
It is interesting to see that, according to Palm, the pin 6 of the connector is reserved for future use. In the Ique, this pin is used to transmit sound via the connector.

JT

[Gavel]

Thanks for the info JackT - I had been looking for a solution to eliminating the need to hook and unhook the external antenna.

I would hope there could be a work around, such as sharing the audio pin.

[kamwu]

The GPS signal from the satellite is in the GHz range. An audio pin would not match the impedance of 50 ohms.