Hi all , planning a 500l Trekking which has an Athermic windscreen and apparently does not let GPS signals through it. Anyone encountered this problem and any solutions? I have a Tom Tom standalone in my Panda and would like to use it in the 500. Thanks again guys. Davie

Hi,
The coating on the windscreen is conductive and attenuates the UHF (1575MHz) GPS signal. The only solution is an external antenna, IF your TomTom has a socket for one. Don't be tempted to get one of the "signal repeaters" that come from China, they can jam other GPS receivers including those on aircraft or boats and are illegal.

Robert G8RPI.

By design, solar reflective windscreen will dampen, reduce or even block GPS signals however there is usually a gap in the coating to allow for this. Plug-in GPS units are a lot better these days and can easily pick up signal through the side windows or via the uncoated bit in the windscreen (usually above or around the rear view mirror; there'll usually be a shaded dot matrix there).

I hard wired a TT on my old van which had an athermic windscreen. The dashboard had a recess in the dashboard which allowed me to fix the unit in permanently. No problems getting a signal. In fact, the TTFF was impressively quick.

Take you TomTom to the dealer and try it in any car with the same windscreen.

Cheers Nigel, did that yesterday and it seemed to work OK! Picked up 11 satellite's inside 500l so I am hopefully collecting my new(to me) 500l 1.6 Trekking on Monday, can't wait!! Thanks to all, Davie