Which antenna can I use with my SnapperGPS receiver?

[JonasBchrt]

Which antenna can I use with my SnapperGPS receiver?

[JonasBchrt]

Your antenna must have the following properties:

• It must have a female U.FL connector (also known as I-PEX MHF, AMC, or UMCC).
• It must be an active antenna.
• It must support the GPS-L1 band with a centre frequency of 1.57542 GHz (often written as 1575.42 MHz).
• We recommend an amplifier (LNA) gain of at least 19 dB. The higher, the better since it improves signal quality.
• It must be able to operate with 3.3 V supply voltage.

Here is a list of antennas that we used in the past:

manufacturer	part	size [mm]	cable length [mm]	gain [dB]	comment	link	picture	where to buy
Siretta	Echo 27	15 x 15 x 7.45	100	27	A good trade-off between size, weight, and gain. Used for our open data collection and the evaluation in our paper. Works well in evironments with partial sky visibility, too.	https://www.siretta.com/products/antennas/echo-27/		Octopart
Abracon	APAM1368YB13V3.0	13 x 13 x 6.8	22	19	A lighter antenna with a lower gain that still works well if sky visibility is good. We used it to track sea birds.	https://abracon.com/parametric/antennas/APAM1368YB13V3.0		Octopart
Maxtena	MIA-GPS-25	25.27 x 25.27 x 9.13	55	28.5	A larger antenna that we used to track sea turtles. A little fragile, but suitable for deployments where it is rigidly mounted and weight and size are less important.	https://maxtena.com/products/microstrip/mia-gps-25/		Octopart
Siretta	Echo 19	10 x 10 x 6.7	100	16	A smaller antenna with a lower gain. Not recommended, especially if there is only partial sky visibility.	https://www.siretta.com/products/antennas/echo-19/		Octopart
Abracon	APAM2764YK0175	27 x 27 x 7	36	28	A larger antenna with a high gain and a shorter cable. Works well in environments with partial sky visibility, too.	https://abracon.com/parametric/antennas/APAM2764YK0175		Octopart

A rough guide: If weight and size are not important or you just want to do some basic testing, go for the APAM2764YK0175. It is affordable, robust, and gives good signal quality. If weight and size are somewhat relevant, go for the Echo 27. It is smaller than the former while still giving good signal quality. But it is also more expensive and a bit more fragile. If weight and size are really important and your deployment will mainly be under open sky, go for the APAM1368YB13V3.0. It is small, but at the expense of reduced signal quality. Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive!

Note that U.FL connectors are usually only rated for a small number of mating cycles, for example, 30. So, do not connect and disconnect your antenna too frequently.

Figure 1: The male U.FL connector of a SnapperGPS receiver. Your antenna must have a female U.FL connector to fit.