[rescue] Re: cheap gps for time reference

[Mark Price]

Replying off-list....


On Thu, 4 Jul 2002, Scott Newell wrote:

> >Could these be hooked up to a serial port for actual position tracking?
> >Like, could I carry it around with a laptop in my car/boat?
> 
> You'll need a source of regulated 5V dc power--steal from a keyboard or
> mouse connector, maybe a USB port?  

Hmm that shouldn't be too much of a problem

> The serial output isn't RS-232, so
> you'd need a level converter chip to convert it to something the serial
> port would recognize.  

My electronics and rs232 knowledge is lacking.  Would this be fairly easy 
for an average joe to do?

> Finally, the units don't output NMEA sentences out
> of the box, but apparently can be modified to do so by a firmware update.
> It also appears to be a bare board and patch antenna, so some kind of
> enclosure would be a good idea too.

I can build an enclosure for it 

> 
> So yeah, you probably can.  But it's not quite plug and play.
> 

This would be really cool to put on my cheapo boat.  I have an old GRiD 
laptop that might could work with this..

Anyways, thanks for any advice/tips/pointing me to a website if possible

Mark

> 
> newell
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