GPS Dongle for PC

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andrewbarker

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Following several threads about these things, I went and bought one from Maplins.

Has anyone, ever, been able to make the things work?

I only bought one to see what happened (a GPS for 20 quid is silly money), but I've had no luck with any mapping or charts.

Is anyone sailing majestically along, guided by dongle alone?

Are they a waste of time?
 
andrewbarker said:
Following several threads about these things, I went and bought one from Maplins.

Has anyone, ever, been able to make the things work?

I only bought one to see what happened (a GPS for 20 quid is silly money), but I've had no luck with any mapping or charts.

Is anyone sailing majestically along, guided by dongle alone?

Are they a waste of time?
Click to expand...

Got a mouse GPS which is very similar if a bit older and that worked fine with plotting software. A lot of the time it's the plotting software that has to be configured to accept the signal from the GPS. I presume you've done all this and read the handbook (?). You know what we boys are like for not reading the book first!!!!

It is a comparatively simple piece of kit and providing it can get a good signal should pump out the required data. As I said it's more likely to be a software adjustment issue imo.

Good luck.

Chas
 
andrewbarker said:
Has anyone, ever, been able to make the things work?
Click to expand...
You might get some useful responses if you care to say which dongle you bought and what you're trying to do with it.

I've got three different types of GPS device plugged into a Linux laptop and they work fine. They also work fine on my desktop with Vista or XP.
 
First, have a look at the customer reviews on the Maplin web site, there are a few suggestions there that may help : http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=256536

Assuming you are using a Windows application, run Hperterminal and identify which serial port and speed the dongle is using (you'll see NMEA sentences if you've matched the dongle's settings, gobbledegook or nothing if not). Having done that, ensure that your mapping software is set to the same parameters.

Common problems that I've encountered with similar devices are:

- different speeds, usually one of 4800/9600/115200 .. you may have to change the settings in the config file (e.g. C-MAP) or registry (e.g. Mapsource)

- different ports: serial ports are assigned dynamically (and may change over time or if you use a different USB port). Some software is fussy about which COM ports it will accept, IIRC Garmin's Mapsource doesn't accept any port > COM8 which is a pain if you are already using something like bluetooth.



Alisdair
 
andrewbarker said:
Is anyone sailing majestically along, guided by dongle alone?
Click to expand...

Yes! Over 5,000 miles in my case, and I'd guess many more miles in many other cases.

I used a USB GPS dongle from UK to Malta and back. I use SOB software, with C-Map charts via a C-Map card reader.

The issues were usually with finding out which "virtual" COM port the dongle was using, and setting it in the software.

Sometimes I had to change the COM port in Device Manager to match what the software could use.

If this means nothing to you, I'm not surprised :) Ask again, and someone will talk you through it, (maybe me!!)

What make and model of dongle?
What charting software?

Best of Luck

Richard
 
Thanks for the responses. The dongle is a "ND100" from Maplins - there's not much more info.
One problem is that it seems to assign a different com port each time I plug it in.


Andrew
 
My ND100 came with a mini-cd which has a simple "does it work?" programme as well as the drivers. Dongle runs at 38400,N,8,1 (IIRC) and will only work with one programme so if you have found it with the "does it work?" programme it won't work with anything else until you have closed that programme.
 
I bought my ND100 from Maplin with the intention of navigating DIY on the cheap. I plan to use it with Sea Clear but haven't got round to scanning the charts just yet. But, meantime I have successfully used it with Autoroute 2007, and reassuringly it seems pretty sensitive and will get a fix in my house better than Tom Tom. There was a trick to setting it up though - it required downloading and installing "XPort" - virtual serial port software. This was necessary for it to communicate with Autoroute. I have not tested this with Sea Clear yet. The software can be downloaded from: http://curioustech.home.insightbb.com/xport.html. After installation plug in the dongle, run XPort then run the application. Good luck
 
Thanks for those really helpful responses. I'll try this Xport thing and then have a go at the mapping/plotting software.
Basically I like the idea of using the size of the laptop screen instead of my relatively tiny plotter screen. I could use the NMEA output from the other GPSs but it seems more sensible to keep a dedicated input just for this purpose.

Am I also right in thinking that Google Earth takes a GPS feed??
 
Really do not want to sound commercial and there are lots of other versions of the 'Russian' C-Map around - Charts of the World than mine - probably Ebay etc but it really is an excellent program to run off the laptop with GPS dongle...

I do all my planning and navigating with this system - all over the world and the cost is tiny by comparison with anything else - having said that I have encountered problems with some cheaper GPS dongles and just binned them...
Michael
 
We have four

Hi we use these all the time for deliveries connected to laptops, not the Maplin one but various makes purchased on www.Ebay.com
At first we had similar problems in that the com port was not reconized and once this was sorted we then found the board rate was different .But dont give up they work exceptionally well and use little power. Two small programs downloadable from the net will make the above a simple task:-Franson gps gate allows you to receive the signal and change the output to suit your chart software,{GPS portchecker v1-11} actually finds the gps port Dont give up these little fellows are very accurate they are ideal for our purpose.

Hope this helps J.keen Delivery skipper

www.keenmarine.co.uk
 
andrewbarker said:
Following several threads about these things, I went and bought one from Maplins.

Has anyone, ever, been able to make the things work?

I only bought one to see what happened (a GPS for 20 quid is silly money), but I've had no luck with any mapping or charts.

Is anyone sailing majestically along, guided by dongle alone?

Are they a waste of time?
Click to expand...

I did the same, it did not work at first so I went to their site as per their leaflet enclosed with the unit (wwwglobalsat.com.tw) picked the usa version, usb download for winvista that I then had. Bit of a fiddle loading the driver but ok. Then loaded their test prg from their mini disk with the unit. Set up the com port and it worked perfectly when I clicked 'connect' sysmbol.

Now upgraded to Windows 7. All fall over. Repeat performance, to their site download W7 driver, fiddle with loading, run MiniCDU again, set to new comport provided when the unit is plugged in and the driver found and loaded, click 'connect' and perfect.

Hope this helps. PM me if you have trouble, I may be able to help.

Cheers Mike.
 
I bought the £19.99 Maplin one. It worked first go on the home PC with Maptech software, but as my Maptech chart is only for Turkey it just showed position on the outline world map. I took it to the boat and it again worked first go, showing correct position on the chart. Both PC and Laptop run Vista.
Great piece of kit for the money.

P.S. I will use it on the boat as a backup only to paper charts and a dedicated chartplotter.
 
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