GPS / Franson / Open CPN

[concentrik]

Please could anyone tell me the correct port settings for Franson GPS Gate and Open CPN? I'm using one of the little USB GPS receivers and Franson is 'green' - it says it is getting valid GPS data.

What should my Franson output settings / OpenCPN input settings be? I have tried...

 

[Playtime]

Firstly, do you actually need Franson i.e. do you need your GPS fed to more than one running programme simultaneously?

If the answer is yes, have you got Franson working with the other programme(s)?

If you really do need Franson and haven't got it working yet, it should be fairly simple. You choose in the output screen what virtual ports you want the GPS NMEA stream to be output by Franson. Then go into the programme (OpenCPN in this case) and in the GPS set-up screen, choose the COM port corresponding to the virtual port chosen above (it should be visible in the drop down menu), set speed to 4800 (unless your GPS is different) and away you go.

If it doesn't work, reboot the PC, start Franson and check you've got 'green' and then start OpenCPN with the settings unchanged from the first attempt.

Serial ports are a bit flaky in Windows but it does work - I have been using Franson and OpenCPN (plus Maptech and other progs requring GPS virtual ports) for several years now with complete success.

That said, I have just been experimenting with NavMonPC which is free. It provides virtual serial ports (up to 6) with flexibility on the NMEA sentences passed etc. and works fine on XP. However, I couldn't get it working on W7 (although I didn't try very hard). I have stopped using Franson as I want to use NavMOnPC to give me the instrument and log functions.

 

[LadyInBed]

Have a look at this post on setting com port.
I assume you have read gpsgate_client page

 

[concentrik]

Firstly, do you actually need Franson i.e. do you need your GPS fed to more than one running programme simultaneously?

If the answer is yes, have you got Franson working with the other programme(s)?

If you really do need Franson and haven't got it working yet, it should be fairly simple. You choose in the output screen what virtual ports you want the GPS NMEA stream to be output by Franson. Then go into the programme (OpenCPN in this case) and in the GPS set-up screen, choose the COM port corresponding to the virtual port chosen above (it should be visible in the drop down menu), set speed to 4800 (unless your GPS is different) and away you go.

If it doesn't work, reboot the PC, start Franson and check you've got 'green' and then start OpenCPN with the settings unchanged from the first attempt.

Serial ports are a bit flaky in Windows but it does work - I have been using Franson and OpenCPN (plus Maptech and other progs requring GPS virtual ports) for several years now with complete success.

That said, I have just been experimenting with NavMonPC which is free. It provides virtual serial ports (up to 6) with flexibility on the NMEA sentences passed etc. and works fine on XP. However, I couldn't get it working on W7 (although I didn't try very hard). I have stopped using Franson as I want to use NavMOnPC to give me the instrument and log functions.

Thanks Playtime; I don't need to supply NMEA to more than one prog, only OpenCPN. It works with Garmin GPS Tracker, anothe plotter program. If I close that and start O-CPN none of the settings seem to allow O-CPN to see any data. Franson is green and sending to virtual com 4 / garmin emulator generic device. Garmin GPS tracker likes this but O-CPN doesn't.

When O-CPN looks at a COM port is it looking for a virtual COM? And is it expecting Garmin format?

 

[Playtime]

When O-CPN looks at a COM port is it looking for a virtual COM? And is it expecting Garmin format?

If you don't need simultaneous GPS to more than one programme, then I would close Franson (and disable from future start-up) and route the GPS straight into OpenCPN, using NMEA-NMEA protocol from the GPS (not Garmin protocol).

If you really want to keep Franson, then I suggest you set up a new virtual port in Franson to feed to OpenCPN. This should output standard NMEA, not Garmin (which is subtly different to standard NMEA). As I said above, whatever COM port you choose as the virtual output from Franson should be the COM port that you set in OpenCPN. It should be visible in the drop down in OpenCPN/toolbox/gps.

If you retain Franson, you will be able to run Garmin GPS Tracker simultaneously.

Addition
It's worth noting, if you want to upload routes from OpenCPN to the GPS you will need to do this direct i.e. with Franson closed and OpenCPN set to the 'real' Com port for the GPS. If the GPS is Garmin, you set Garmin - Garmin protocol in the GPS (interface they call it) and tick the box in OpenCPN/toolbox/gps for Garmin output.

 

[concentrik]

............... and route the GPS straight into OpenCPN.

Sorry,I know I'm being dim - but the gps is connected by USB. If I just plug it in to the laptop how can I get O-CPN to find it? It seems to look for COM ports....

I don't need to feed other progs, I'm happy with CPN only!

 

[Playtime]

............... and route the GPS straight into OpenCPN.

Sorry,I know I'm being dim - but the gps is connected by USB. If I just plug it in to the laptop how can I get O-CPN to find it? It seems to look for COM ports....

I don't need to feed other progs, I'm happy with CPN only!

If Franson is showing green it is already receiving the GPS signal. You must have a serial to USB adapter on the end of the GPS lead before it plugs into PC (or laptop), or your GPS output is already sending in USB format. USB data is similar to old style serial data and is received/transmitted on COM ports. If in doubt, start up Device Manager and look at Ports (COM and Lpt). This will show which COM ports are in use.

Another way is to look at the Franson input screen and this will tell you which port Franson is receiving it's data from.

To re-route the USB data from Franson to OpenCPN, make a mental note of the COM port above, close Franson, start OpenCPN (close and then re-open if it was already running) and set OpenCPN/toolbox/gps to the COM port number that Franson was previously using.

 

[RobBrown]

just an observation, that as per posts in the linked thread, it is possible that the OpenCPN toolbox GPS dropdown menu may not pick up the coms port it is operating on, but you can type it in to the drop down menus box rather than selecting one of the default items, if that is the case. Worked for me with a USB feed bluetooth gps.

 

[concentrik]

If in doubt, start up Device Manager and look at Ports (COM and Lpt). This will show which COM ports are in use.

I was in doubt so I did. The USB to serial entry had the ! exclamation. I downloaded the up-to-date Prolific device drivers and installed them. Rebooted, Franson found the GPS and made it available as NMEA on COM 3 to 6. Pointed O-CPN to COM 6 et voila! Working. Thanks to all esp Playtime for your patience.

 

[Playtime]

Good to know you got it working.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Conachair]

If you don't need simultaneous GPS to more than one programme, then I would close Franson (and disable from future start-up) and route the GPS straight into OpenCPN, using NMEA-NMEA protocol from the GPS (not Garmin protocol).

A more direct route , yes, but I found franson was much better at finding the gps signal again when the comp wakes up from hibernation. On maxsea anyway. To save power the laptop lived mostly in hibernation.

 

[Playtime]

A more direct route , yes, but I found franson was much better at finding the gps signal again when the comp wakes up from hibernation. On maxsea anyway. To save power the laptop lived mostly in hibernation.

Understood. I always hibernate my laptop between outings. It's quicker to start up and the settings are preserved. However, I do close down OpenCPN before hibernating as it sometimes fails to start properly (and this is also using Franson).

I haven't tested NavMonPC with start-up yet as the few times I've used it, I've closed OpenCPN before hibernating.

On passage, I set the power profile so the screen and disc turn off after 2 minutes but the processor keeps running. It's an old Novatech laptop (600MHz) so it is not too 'thirsty'.