How to use HYPERTERMINAL

[Geordie]

Answers to a recent post about NMEA monitoring recommended using Hyperterminal. I have found it on my computer but its use is not intuitive. I am running XP home edition. Can anyone give me an idiot's guide?

Many thanks

 

[Jomo]

Hypertimnal allows very basic command line interaction with another piece of hardware.

When activated it will ask you to set up a new connection, in this case the NMEA device, usually using the com1 (serial 9 Pin port) on your pc, but with whatever port you've plugged the cable into. It will then ask you for the baud rate and hand shake settings - should be in your hardware manual. If all set up ok, you will be able to 'talk' to your device, and it to send textual info. However, you will almost certainly need to know some commands to get it to do anything for you. A quick google for your device should bring some info.
A very short quick pointer, hope it sends you in the right direction

Jomo

 

[misterg]

Open Hyperterminal (wade through the wizard if there is one)

Select the following menu options [....]:

[File] [New Connection]

(agree to close any existing connections)

Choose a name and icon (both irrelevant)

[OK]

Select the serial port you will connect to in the "Connect Using" drop-down box

[OK]

Select:

"Bits per second" - 4800
"Data bits" - 8
"Parity" - none
"Stop bits" - 1
"Flow Control" - none

[OK]

You should now see whatever is coming into your chosen com port on the screen.

You may have to use [Call] [Disconnect] then [Call] [Call] after you connect up your NMEA source.

Use [Transfer] [Capture Text...] to save the input to a file for later use.

HTH

Andy

 

[PembrokeshirePromise]

Just to add - Coms port will be relatively obvious if you have plugged it into a serial port (normally 1-4). If you are using a USB convertor then this will tell you (or you can look in your systems hardware settings) - but can be higer numbers (e.g. 10, 11, 12)

Baud rate for normal NMEA will be 4800 (normally can leave all other settings at the default). If you are looking at AIS data then baud rate will be 38400



Getting the wrong port or baud rate won't damage anything - so you can just use trial and error until you see something appear