Repairing VW Group SatNav GPS Aerial

Bought a Seat GPS Sat Nav roof aerial off ebay recently for not a lot, as it was sold as non working. I thought it might look better than stock aerial on my Octavia Vrs Mk 1. Also better signal than the magnetic GPS aerial stuck under the dashboard.

First I spliced the wires into my Sat Nav to confirm it did indeed not work i.e. nil satellites received. No surprise there.

Picture 1 shows the item as received.

Picture 2 Base of aerial. Unscrew the four screws in the base.

Picture 3 The GPS aerial is the square bit. Also shown is the amplified section for FM/AM and phone.

Picture 4 Is the cheap Chinese GPS aerial I got off ebay when installing my Sat Nav VW MFD DX

Picture 5 Base of aftermarket GPS. Remove the label in picture 4, and then the four screws.

Picture 6 Shows the Aftermarket aerial next to the Seat/VW one. Very similar, and I suspect these all are similar in ebay aerials. (don’t shoot if they are not!). File down the four rivet heads holding the aerial in the Seat/VW unit and carefully remove. It helps if the wire is cut, it’s the one with the FME connector. Remove aerial from ebay aerial and remove excess black fixative, again cutting wire helps but remember to leave 6”-12”. I cut mine a bit short.

Picture 7 Carefully thread cable through hole in base routing as per Seat VW wire. I then stuck aerial in place with a bit of evostick at the edges. Also I had to file a small piece of the corner of the aerial to fit.

Picture 8 Re affix base with four screws. Solder an SMA plug to wire and an SMA socket to the end of the wire from the Sat Nav unit. I could only get Reverse polarity SMA from Maplins at a cost of about £6. Worth checking resistance readings across plug and socket to check for shorts. Sat nav has about 2.5-5V running on the central connector.

Easy to run wire along the inside of the roof lining. Also note easier to work under roof if side grab handles are removed.

So job done. Connect SMA plug and socket and away you go.

Also just saved about £100 on a new unit.

Stef

How to Repair VW SEAT Skoda GPS Sat NAV Aerial Antenna