[aprssig] Garmin 276C

[Wes Johnston, AI4PX]

I really like this GPS unit.. super fast refreshes on the screen, I don't
have to limit the number of miles around my d700 to keep from overflowing
the waypoint memory, navigation is good....  The bad?  they seem to have
more trouble with firmware than most units.  They seem to fix one thing and
break another.  Right now I have the unit set to power itself off when the
cigarette lighter power goes away.  If I turn the key on for a moment (ie to
roll up windows) and right back off again, the unit is supposed to power
off... but if it does get a fix before it powers off during the 30second
grace period, the unit will stay on all day instead of going ahead and
powering down.

It has two serial ports, but they can't be in the same mode at the same
time... I had hoped to use one serial port for d700 and one for laptop (both
in NMEA mode), but instead I use one in NMEA and one in Garmin Host mode.
Net stumbler works with garmin text mode but not garmin host mode.  Also,
Scott Miller's open trac won't work with garmin host mode.  You see, he
sends a command to the GPS to make it send GPS data every second or so.
This unit seems to ignore that command and never publishes the data.  It
does work with the opentrac in NEMA mode... it'd be nice if it worked with
OT in garmin mode b/c Scott sends the station icons in that mode.

So it's a very very good display gps... it's really fantastic to use, but
has a few rough edges.  Given that most of garmin's product line of
automotive gps units don't even have a serial port anymore, it's a good
choice regardless.  I think my 2nd choice would be the GPS76map but it is
not as easy to use in a car.

Wes


On 4/12/07, Keith VE7GDH <ve7gdh at rac.ca> wrote:
>
> Can anyone comment on the suitability of the Garmin 276C for APRS use? In
> particular, can waypoints from a HamHUD, D700 etc. be sent to the 276C?
> Thanks in advance...
>
> 73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
> --
> "I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"
>
>
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In theory there is no difference between practice and theory.
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