[aprssig] Cheap USB GPS available again

[Ben Jackson]

I bought 3 of these $35 USB GPS pucks last time they were on sale.  If
you look around you can find coupon codes for 10% off orders over $50,
so they come to $31.50 if you get more than one.

	http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=UT-41&cat=CON

The USB driver is a Prolific USB-to-Serial chip which works with drivers
you can get directly from Prolific.  I've used it on my Mac and my PC,
and eventually I plan to take them apart and use the TTL level NMEA for
trackers.

Here's the output of one sitting in my back window (not a great satellite
view, but it has been on for weeks straight):

$GPRMC,054319.00,A,4531.3384,N,12251.3592,W,000.1,320.6,180806,017.4,E,A*29
$GPGGA,054319.00,4531.3384,N,12251.3592,W,1,06,01.4,00032.5,M,-021.2,M,,*58
$GPGSA,A,3,05,02,30,04,,10,09,,,,,,02.2,01.4,01.7*09
$GPGSV,3,1,11,05,71,185,36,02,66,069,37,30,55,299,31,04,27,050,34*78
$GPGSV,3,2,11,06,25,277,,10,23,140,39,09,09,197,35,24,08,045,*72
$GPGSV,3,3,11,35,06,105,33,25,05,331,,00,00,000,*4E

If anyone really needs to see the guts before committing to buy, let
me know and I'll get around to taking one apart.  Of course they may
be sold out again by then...

(btw, the same place also has a SiRF III 20 sat Bluetooth puck for $65)

-- 
Ben Jackson AD7GD
<ben at ben.com>
http://www.ben.com/