I kept losing satellite reception in certain areas and decided to purchase an external antenna for the OEM GPS unit. Ebay had a ton of external antennas and I purchased the Garmin brand that fits the OEM handheld. I had to cut the antenna in order to get the wire to pass through the firewall where I had passed all my other electrical connections for the auxiliary lights. The connector for the antenna was just too big to force through. So I bought a set of coaxial ends and a connector from RadioShack. Once I had all the connections soldered on, I passed the connector that goes to the GPS through the hole where the power cable was and plugged it into the GPS. It got much better reception with the external antenna. The wiring was passed through the same way down the windshield channel as the auxiliary lights.
Coaxial connectors in gold. Other cable is power from the cigarette lighter.
Connection on back of GPS for external antenna. The other side with the cover still on is for a mini USB plug.
External antenna placed right behind the light bar (steel). This antenna is very magnetic and also contains some sticky glue on the bottom for extra adhesion. I tested with and without the antenna and it gave me at least 3-5 ft extra accuracy in this position.
