EQMOD + GPS

[SteveL]

As a complete techie, I love gadgets. You may have noticed that

Anyway, while *STILL* waiting for a clear sky to get a proper night out with my EQ6/C11 kit, I have been playing with EQMOD a lot, and was curious about the GPS option for setting date/time/location.

EQMOD requires a GPS unit that spits out NMEA format from a COM port, so I did some digging on eBay and found this:

(Click on the image to go to the eBay item itself)

(£35 + £7 shipping)

It arrived quickly, well packaged, complete with Haicom driver CD, small Haicom manual, a small rubber sucker to keep the cable tidy if required, and the Haicom GPS unit itself.

NOTE: The base of this GPS unit is actually a strong magnet with a rubber covering. I assume this is so that it can be stuck to the top of a car or other such item. Sticking it ANYWHERE near you laptop could cause serious and permenant damage to your laptop and/or hard drive.

You plug the unit in via a USB port, and the system will detect new hardware and request the drivers from the CD. The drivers are actually just Prolific USB to Serial drivers, which my system already has installed, so I did not have to install anything.

The CD also contains a small application called "Haicom Viewer" that shows the GPS output. Select the COM port that the GPS is connect as, select 4800 baud, select the view tab, and this popped up:

Now, the moment of truth with EQMOD. Fire up EQMOD via a planetarium application, click on the "setup" button to expand the view, select the GPS button in the Site Information section. Select correct COM port and settings and BINGO

Checking the supplied location against Google Earth nails my position accurately.

The sharper eyed members will have noticed that large difference in altitude between the two images. This is almost certainly due to me testing this from INSIDE my company building. Yes, i`m getting a fix from inside a building!

I just thought i`d share this with you, in case you were interested. I am not the eBay seller by the way, just a happy customer.

[Ford Prefect]

COOL, just ordered mine. Much cheaper that the skywatcher alternative.

Jon

[steppenwolf]

Heck of a good deal!

[George]

Yes that's a lot cheaper than Skywatchers offering Altho its a use once toy if you have a permanent setup, I use my TomTom for exactly the same thing.

[beamish]

:salute: great find ! Well done Steve.

[Earl]

Digging up an only thread but will this do the job?

NEW 20-channel USB GPS Receiver for PC laptop compter on eBay (end time 26-Sep-10 20:22:51 BST)

[SteveL]

it *SHOULD* do... it spits out NMEA, so EQMOD will understand it, and it comes with drivers that I assume will create a virtual COM port (FTDI or Prolific chipset I would guess).

But dont hold me to any of the above

[MarkF]

Should do Earl, as long as it can output NMEA which that ones says it can, my old Garmin Emap GPS works with EQmod too as that outputs to NMEA.

Handy if you are prone to setting up away from home at different locations and syncing the time of your computer against the satellite time for more accurate go to.

Edit: Doh had to answer the phone before I hit the send message button, wot Steve said.

[beamish]

It ought to but just to let you know I 've one of these cheapo Bluetooth Gps recievers for my TT app on the phone and works a treat with Eqmod

Global Navigation Technology

For Sale: Bluetooth GPS Reciever for PDA on eBay (end time 22-Sep-10 17:46:44 BST)

[chrisshillito]

Altho its a use once toy if you have a permanent setup

Not necessarily - the GPS provides an accurate time as well as location. So if you don't have internet access to keep your PC's clock synchronized, EQASCOM can use the GPS time to determine any correction that need to be applied.

Chris.

[martin_h]

I use one of these >> http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=256536

[beamish]

Handy for when you go to Star Parties too

[r3i]

If you happen to have a Windows Mobile based PDA/Smartphone with a built in GPS receiver and bluetooth, you can use this utility GPS2Blue on the PDA, which will allow you to use the GPS on your PDA with EQMOD.

[martin_h]

GLOBALSAT ND-100 USB GPS Dongle Receiver For: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

[milan]

Ive just ordered this USB GPS dongle for £18 having been told by a friend he uses it on his EQ6/EQMOD setup. Apparently it just plugged straight in and worked.

Bluenext - BN903S 65 Channels GPS Dongle: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure

[pilkinn]

Just took delivery of this GPS Bluetooth reciever. Tried it with EQMOD and it works! Not bad at less than a tenner. See it here ..

Co Pilot GPS receiver - 49821

[pilkinn]

... oh, and it comes with a charger that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket.

[Earl]

The Unit has arrived from china, and installs as a mouse.......

The cursor dances all over the screen.

Im trying to get technical support from them, they sent me a link to "latest Drivers" but the same issue

[simon84]

Thats not good, can you uninstall it all again and let Windows connect to the net and have a look?

Been looking into going GPS, I was just entering the data manually from my Tom Tom but it would be nice to have a one that works with EQMOD.

[Earl]

Yeah I have spent some time looking into it, and others have reported the same issue with several similar GPS units.

One for the Bin as I cant be bothered with putting any more brain time to it.

[simon84]

If your going to bin it mind if I have a play with it?

[rll1288]

I don't know if this is any use but I have linked ASCOM / EQMOD...on my laptop via the GPS in my HTC legend...

I use bluetooth to connect to the laptop as a generic comms service Com6, 9600 etc and then setup EQMOD via the GPS tab and it has downloaded the service.

Roy

[rll1288]

Acually I did have to download an application from the Android market place which allows the mobile to connect via network/bluetooth and activates the GPS....

[rll1288]

[Earl]

is there an app for that on the iPhone?