[aprssig] Re: Anyone use GPS module as alt to full GPS unit ?

[Al Wolfe]

Maiko,
    Five or six years ago I bought a Garmin GPS-25 OEM receiver at Dayton 
from TAPR. I mounted it inside an old Kenwood TR-7800 2 meter rig. It gets 
the 5 volts it needs from the regulator inside the Kenwood. Ran a pig-tail 
out the back with a SMA connector on it for the GPS antenna. Velcro'd a 
tnc3+ to the Kenwood. The whole package lives behind the seat in my Ranger 
pickup. A laptop usually sits in the passenger seat running an APRS program. 
Was always going to mount the laptop somewhere but never got around to it.
    This has worked out very well for me for several years, logging over 
100,000 miles on this setup.
    I think the Garmin 18 may be the replacement for the 25.
    FWIW, there are several OEM GPS modules on ebay, often for less than 
$30.  Some of the units are very small and put out TTL levels that may need 
to be inverted and/or converted to RS232. Some don't. I believe someone 
mentioned that the Tiny-track would work with either polarity.
    I've also seen other display-less units on ebay and other places for 
sale. I picked up some old Trimble units at an auction one time. The Trimble 
Placer 400's work fine but need to be flashed to put out NMEA data. I 
believe the ones I got were pulls from a defunct vehicle tracking system. 
They are a little large to put inside of anything but they are available 
cheep and do the job.
    There was the Garmin 35 and 36 that were more like the common "hockey 
puck" units that you might look out for.

73,
Al, K9SI


> Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:39:40 -0600 (CST)
> From: maiko at pcs.mb.ca
> Subject: [aprssig] Anyone use GPS module as alt to full GPS unit ?
> To: aprssig at lists.tapr.org
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.58.0503141236180.7804 at jedi>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
>
> Does anyone recommend a good 'GPS module + Tracker' circuit
> as a lower cost alternative to buying a full blown GPS unit ?
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