GPS Antenna

How many of you have painted your "Do Not Paint" antennas? Has there been any degradation in performance? I'd like to paint mine with a flat black and mount it on the glare shield. Any concerns?

Thanks.

I assume you're trying to have it blend in on top of the glare shield.

Make a little pouch from black cloth, if it interferes, just remove it.

My other concern is it will get hotter being black.......

p51dplt said:

How many of you have painted your "Do Not Paint" antennas? Has there been any degradation in performance? I'd like to paint mine with a flat black and mount it on the glare shield. Any concerns?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

The type of paint is a real challenge. Getting it to stick to that smooth plastic means you have to scuff sand the antenna. Kiss warranty goodbye.

Earlier comments about temperature are VERY real - antenna performance analysis with these pre-amplified antennas uses something called g/t (gain over temperature) to characterize the unit's performance. Typically as temperature rises so, too, does noise from the pre-amplifier, meaning less true GPS signal is available to the receiver and the receiver has more noise to contend with. You want to keep pre-amp'd antennas as cool as is practicable. This is one of the reasons they are white in the first place.

The earlier suggestion about covering the unit in cloth is an excellent suggestion. I have some very light-weight cloth that's ideal for this application. A dollar's worth of cloth and a few minutes with a needle and thread will make you a bag-like enclosure to hide the antenna from view while keeping it cooler than if it were painted.

Thanks for the replies.

I will make a little bag cover for it unless I decide to put it elsewhere.

Thanks!

Try some vinyl wrap and a little heat.

If you're to lazy to make covers try these, used many times with good results.
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/ps/head_ear/avcommacces5.php

I like the headphone cover idea.

Should be available elsewhere too...........

Scuffed mine and painted it flat back with a rattle can of Rustoluem. Works great.