GPS Not Seen

[glenn.225]

First I’ll like to thank Dbcat for the excellent program and making it opensource. I’m doing some testing now since the boat is on the hard for the winter. But I’m having some problems with OpenCPN seeing my GPS. Looked in the help files and through the posts but can see what I am doing wrong. Currently I’m running 1.35b on XP pro desktop with a Magellan Explorist 210 GPS attached via USB. The GPS is set to NMEA data comm V2.1 GSA, also have tried V1.5 XTE and V1.5 APA. In the device manger the GPS shows up as a modem that is working correctly on Comm Port 1. In OpenCPN tools GPS is set to Comm Port 1. I tried turning on and off both GPS and Ocpn but still no connection. The GPS signal is not terribly strong but I’m getting 4 Sats in the house and accuracy is 30-100 meters.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Glenn

[gmau]

A new beta release just came out.

I updated the help file at OpenCPN Help File

I would like to know if the help file has enough information to fix your problem.

Gordon

[yachtvalhalla]

Originally Posted by glenn.225

In the device manger the GPS shows up as a modem that is working correctly on Comm Port 1.

Hi Glenn,

I presume the device is NOT shown under 'Ports (COM & LPT)', right?

My experience using a Motorola USB GPS is that it showed up under 'Modems' but required two drivers, one installed by XP and the other one downloaded from the Internet. It's been awhile so I don't remember specifics as to the name of the second driver, sorry. I do recall that although it had a comm port assigned it would not transfer the GPS data until the second driver was installed.

Sorry .. this is the best I can do.

Terry

[gmau]

I just updated the help file.

There are three parts that can or should help you.

The first is Ctrl F to find the GPS sections.

[glenn.225]

Gordon
I had already gone through these instructions. I had clicked "Show GPS/NMEA data stream window" forgot to mention this, the window that opens does not show anything. Also I could not open the .ini file to edit it. Does this need regedit or something else, didn’t try yet. I’ll try this again.
Glenn

[gmau]

Notepad is the best to use to edit the ini file.
If OpenCPN is runnin, Windows may not let you edit the ini file.

Gordon

[glenn.225]

Gordon

Thanks, that's got it. I guess the edit wouldn't take when OpenCPN was running.


The gps show right location, high and dry.

[gmau]

Would like your good and bad comments on the help file?

[glenn.225]

Gordon
Overall the help file is very good, thanks for the great work. I have had a quick look over the file and it is pretty straight forward to me, most people with basic skills should be able to get it. You could really go into detail but I think most people using this are not looking for the over simplification of commercial manuals.
Just one point, a title heading in the GPS help.
For simple NMEA data stream debugging, add the following to your opencpn.ini file:
Looks like the location of the opencpn.ini file maybe located in different places. I think it depends on how a PC is set up.

In between these two lines you could add “How To Find opencpn.ini” and show the rest to be a subset.

Glenn

[detroitsail]

Hi, new here, David asked me to post my question to him here so all could benefit:

Hi David,

First of all, thank you for the great software.

I downloaded it this past February, and found it easy to set up and use.

Being in Michigan, I just today took my laptop to my boat, and hooked it up to my ship's GPS. OpenCPN indicated no signal, yet, when I opened tools, (COM1 was already selected), and checked 'show GPS data', I was able to see the NMEA data strings.

I shut OpenCPN down, and started NAVTREK Solo, and the GPS worked fine.

I tried rebooting computer, starting computer, then GPS; tried starting GPS then computer, and no luck. In all instances, using tools, I was able to see GPS input.

Any suggestions would b greatly appreciated.

I am using version 1.3.6.

[detroitsail]

Here is logfile: (Chart loading removed for space).

18:25:05:

18:25:05: 2010-05-03
18:25:05: -------Starting opencpn-------
18:25:05: Version 1.3.6
18:25:05: SData_Locn is C:\Program Files\OpenCPN\
18:25:05: Using existing Config_File: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\opencpn\opencpn.ini
18:25:05: Setting Viewpoint Lat/Lon 42.3836, -82.9154
18:25:05: Setting Ownship Lat/Lon 42.3836, -82.9154
18:25:05: System default Language: en_US
6:25:05 PM: Opencpn language set to: en_US
6:25:05 PM: Using s57data in C:\Program Files\OpenCPN\s57data
6:25:05 PM: Using Tide/Current data from: C:\Program Files\OpenCPN\tcdata\
6:25:05 PM: Setting Viewpoint Lat/Lon 42.3836, -82.9154
6:25:05 PM: Setting Ownship Lat/Lon 42.3836, -82.9154
6:25:05 PM: NMEA Data Source is....Serial:COM1
6:25:05 PM: AIS Data Source is....None
6:25:05 PM: Using WVSChart datafile: C:\Program Files\OpenCPN\wvsdata\wvs43.dat
6:25:05 PM: OpenPD: 208, new_count = 1 for COM1
6:25:06 PM: NMEA AutoPilot Port is....None
6:25:06 PM: Loading chart db version: V015
6:25:06 PM: GPS Watchdog Timeout is: 6 sec.
6:25:13 PM: Found Garmin USB Driver.
8:09:39 PM: opencpn::MyFrame exiting cleanly...
8:09:39 PM: ClosePD: 208, count_after_close = 0 for COM1
8:09:39 PM: and so CloseComPortPhysical
8:09:40 PM: opencpn::MyApp exiting cleanly...

[bdbcat]

DetroitSail...

Hello again.

Can you post a screenshot of your screen with the NMEA data monitor window shown? We need to see an example of your GPS data stream.

You could also use Hyperterminal or other terminal program to look at COM1 without opencpn running.

I suspect there is a checksum problem with your NMEA data. Version 1.3.6 is fussy about this.....checksums are required for xxGLL sentences at least....

Dave

[champ8242]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

DetroitSail...

Hello again.

Can you post a screenshot of your screen with the NMEA data monitor window shown? We need to see an example of your GPS data stream.

You could also use Hyperterminal or other terminal program to look at COM1 without opencpn running.

I suspect there is a checksum problem with your NMEA data. Version 1.3.6 is fussy about this.....checksums are required for xxGLL sentences at least....

Dave

Would it be hard to enable copy from the COMM port data stream window?

Bart

[detroitsail]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

DetroitSail...

Hello again.

Can you post a screenshot of your screen with the NMEA data monitor window shown? We need to see an example of your GPS data stream.

You could also use Hyperterminal or other terminal program to look at COM1 without opencpn running.

I suspect there is a checksum problem with your NMEA data. Version 1.3.6 is fussy about this.....checksums are required for xxGLL sentences at least....

Dave

No idea how to get screen shot of opencpn NMEA window. Will try with Hyper terminal.

No clues provided in the logfile?

BTW, in the logfile, when it says Garmin USB driver found, the Garmin was hooked up with a serial port connection, to COM1. (That was a handheld, tested at home). The ships GPS is a Furuno, yet, the logfile still has a sentence saying 'Found Garmin USB Driver'.

[detroitsail]

Originally Posted by bdbcat

DetroitSail...

Hello again.

Can you post a screenshot of your screen with the NMEA data monitor window shown? We need to see an example of your GPS data stream.

You could also use Hyperterminal or other terminal program to look at COM1 without opencpn running.

I suspect there is a checksum problem with your NMEA data. Version 1.3.6 is fussy about this.....checksums are required for xxGLL sentences at least....

Dave

One more question: Is there a way to pause the opencpn NMEA data stream window?

Thanks.