Has anyone looked into using the GR-10 with an embedded antenna? The vendor has a few reference designs (http://www.micro-modular.com/support.php) and the helical Sarantel P2 antenna seems interesting to me. There’s a distributor (actually, local to me) who has those antennas for $22.50 (http://www.jdgastore.com/index.php?act= … oductId=14).
I’ve never used one of these GPS modules, but it seems like you could build a board with the GR-10, the Sarantel P2 antenna, a PIC, and a small low-power 2 meter transmitter, and have a nice, very small APRS tracker.
I’m wondering what the challenges of that project would be. The reference design for the Sarantel antenna (http://www.micro-modular.com/docs/MN101 … rantel.pdf) calls for a RF2370 amplifier and some inductors - could you throw a few SMD inductors with the specified values on a board and call it a day, or is there likely to be some tuning and testing required?
I’m sure I’m missing something here. Not sure at all about the design for the TX either, but there’s a ton of info out there from ham radio guys so I’m sure something could be built. For example, the “[MicroTrak 300” does packet encoding and transmission, but you have to plug in an external GPS.](Byonics - MicroTrak)