Increasing the temperature of the TOP106

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

Hi.

My TOP106 antenna has been powered down for a few weeks while I’ve been tinkering with the ESP32 RTK base and connected GPS-RTK-SMA, and now I’m having problems getting GPS FIX. The unit sees a lot of satellites, but with SNR 0.0 - then it works for a while before it returns to NO FIX. The problem is probably related to a small heap of snow on top of the antenna. The antenna worked well the entire last winter, but I think the first snow this year got frozen onto the surface while it was disconnected. It is possible to remove the snow mechanically, but then I would need to rent a boom lift again.

Is it possible to inject DC current into the antenna (by using a bias tee injector?) or in some other way increase the operating/surface temperature of the unit?

2

Hi,

The TOP106 is an active antenna. It has a small amplifier inside. The RTK-SMA board provides it with 3.3V to amplify the GNSS signal.

According to the datasheet, it can operate from 3.3V to 12V. Please see: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/b/4/6/d … ntenna.pdf

So, you could use a bias Tee to inject 12V. The 0.5W dissipation may help melt the ice?

But please be careful. 12V will damage the RTK-SMA board. Please ensure the RTK-SMA is disconnected while you do this.

Injecting more than 12V will damage the amplifier.

I hope this helps,

Paul

3

The design isn’t optimal to shed snow or ice, antennas used for timing at cell tower locations typically have this type of profile. https://www.pctel.com/antenna-product/h … filtering/

The raydome on choke-ring antennas also performs better https://www.navtechgps.com/polant_choke … 6_antenna/

Perhaps an incandescent bulb mounted below the antenna? We get a lot of problems with LED based traffic lights with snow/ice accumulation.