Using GPSout with fs2k4 and a Lowrance AirMap1000 GPS

[grevesz]

This message is primarily for Peter Dowson, but any help would be highly appreciated.

Peter,

I was trying to use my Lowarnce AirMap1000 GPS with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 yesterday.

The GPS unit cannot aquire the position.

Speed is set to 9600 on the GPS. My gpsout.ini file contents (without the comments):

[GPSout]

Sentences=RMC,GPRMZ,AV400,RMA,PGRMZ,GLL,VTGGGA,GSA

Interval=1000

Port=COM1

Speed=9600

I rebooted the machine and the GPS but that did not help.

Questions:

1. I have two serial ports. How do I know which COM port to set in the gpsout.ini file to point to the one I plugged the cable in?

2. If the gpsout.ini file changes, what (if anything) do I need to restart for the changes to take effect? (fs9.exe? GPS? windows?)

3. Does it matter what the order of start up is (for example fs9.exe first and GPS after or reverse)?

4. How can I confirm that data is being sent to the GPS (therefore the problem is on the GPS side) or not (therefore the problem is on the GPSout side)?

Thanks for your (or anybody's help)!

Gabor

[Pete Dowson]

Sentences=RMC,GPRMZ,AV400,RMA,PGRMZ,GLL,VTGGGA,GSA

I very much doubt that your GPS recognises all these -- and certainly the AV400 format will muck the NMEA sentences up somewhat in any case as that isn't NMEA at all.

Additionally you have lots of errors. There are no entries GPRMZ, PGRMZ, VTGGGA at all. There are RMZ, VTG and GGa but you aren't listing them correctly at all. The only sentences you can ask for are those listed -- please check the documents provided more thoroughly, and you will see.

1. I have two serial ports. How do I know which COM port to set in the gpsout.ini file to point to the one I plugged the cable in?

No one here can tell you which of your connectors are which -- if they are not labelled then the documentation that came with your PC or its motherboard should tell you. Generally the top one (the one nearest to the power supply) is COM1.

2. If the gpsout.ini file changes, what (if anything) do I need to restart for the changes to take effect? (fs9.exe? GPS? windows?)

FS. GPSout is loaded when FS loads, and it reads the INI file then.

3. Does it matter what the order of start up is (for example fs9.exe first and GPS after or reverse)?

No.

4. How can I confirm that data is being sent to the GPS (therefore the problem is on the GPS side) or not (therefore the problem is on the GPSout side)?

No idea -- you'd need to see if the GPS has some sort of test or display mode.

To be brutally honest I very much doubt whether your GPS is capable of being used with NMEA input. Not many are. Why do you think it mught work in the first place?

GPSout is designed to make FS look like a GPS for moving map programs which are designed to accept the output from GPS units. It was never designed to feed satellite type signals into an actual GPS, though there are apparently a few which can apparently override their own signals with inputs, but only via AV400 format so far, not NMEA. This was a surprise to me in any case.

Regards,

Pete

[grevesz]

Pete,

First of all, please accept my apologies for calling you Peter (as you were listed on some web site where I found you) instead of Pete.

Secondly, thanks very much for the quick response!!!

Thirdly, you are absolutely right, I mistyped the "Sentences" entries.

Why do you think it mught work in the first place?

My GPS does recognize NMEA input. (Just in case you are interested in the unit, you can find it along with a full downloadable user manual in PDF format that proves this at http://www.lowrance.com/Aviation/Products/AM1000.asp)

There are no entries GPRMZ, PGRMZ, VTGGGA at all.

The last entry (VTGGGA) is clearly missing a comma, but the incorrectness of the first two entries is a bit confusing.

• 1. The gpsout.ini file I downloaded with GPSout contains the line
  

Sentences=RMC,GPRMZ

eventhough GPRMZ is not listed in the comments as a valid entry. I assumed that it was valid. Should it be removed?
2. PGRMS is listed as a valid option in the comments of the gpsout.ini file. Is it not?

What do you suggest that I do to make this work?

Once again, thank you very much for your help and quick response.

Regards,

Gabor

[Pete Dowson]

First of all, please accept my apologies for calling you Peter (as you were listed on some web site where I found you) instead of Pete.

That's okay, they are alternatives.

My GPS does recognize NMEA input. (Just in case you are interested in the unit, you can find it along with a full downloadable user manual in PDF format that proves this at http://www.lowrance.com/Aviation/Products/AM1000.asp)

I can see that, like most GPS units, it can provide NMEA 0183 output. You use that for driving a moving map, or even, as it says, for an autopilot.

The picture showing the COM port configuration has a checkbox for NMEA input too, I see, but nowhere does it mention what it is for. It may simply be for the transfer of waypoints or something. Can you actually find anything that switches the GPS's own satellite reception and indications off so that external data can be accepted and used instead? Obviously it cannot accept and show positions from NMEA at the same time as it does its main job as a GPS!

The gpsout.ini file I downloaded with GPSout contains the line

Sentences=RMC,GPRMZ

eventhough GPRMZ is not listed in the comments as a valid entry. I assumed that it was valid. Should it be removed?

Ooops! Is that old error still there? Sorry. Yes -- there's no GPRMZ. It's a typo for PGRMZ.

2. PGRMS is listed as a valid option in the comments of the gpsout.ini file. Is it not?

PGRMZ is okay. Sorry -- I sent the first reply too hastily. But there's no support for PGRMS. I don't even know what it is (a typo? :) ).

Originally I used the sentence names as they are generally known in the NMEA spec -- RMC, RMA and so on. The "GP" is a prefix common to all the standard ones, so it isn't used. But the "P" series are "Proprietary" -- PGRMZ is "Proprietary", "GaRMin", "Z". I assume Garmin have others too, this is just its "Z" one.

What do you suggest that I do to make this work?

I really don't know -- this is a matter for the GPS and its manual I think, and it doesn't seem to say. I really do doubt that it will do what you want it to, but you may need to go to their tech support to find out.

Regards,

Pete

[grevesz]

Hello Pete,

Thanks again for your quick response!!!

The picture showing the COM port configuration has a checkbox for NMEA input too, I see, but nowhere does it mention what it is for. It may simply be for the transfer of waypoints or something.

You are right, unfortunately the documentation of the AirMap1000 is inferior to the product itself.

Based on the photo I just took (http://johanne.is.dreaming.org), the unit understands the following sentences: GLL, GGA, APB, RMC and RMB, GSA and GSV.

I am not familiar with these, just starting to do my research on the internet. But the fact that RMC and RMB are listed as one option suggests that RMC in itself (which is supported by GPSout based on its INI file comments) would not work. Similar should be the case with GSA.

Since your documentation says that listing more than the necessary sentences "[is] not very efficient, but useful to determine whether the target program supports any of these", I set senteces to GLL,GGA,APB.

Unfortunately this does not seem to help.

Once again, thank you very much for your help!

Regards,

Gabor

[Pete Dowson]

Based on the photo I just took (http://johanne.is.dreaming.org), the unit understands the following sentences: GLL, GGA, APB, RMC and RMB, GSA and GSV.

Yes, fine, but those are probably for selecting what you want the GPS to output to the PC or whatever it is you want to receive GPS data. It is most unlikely to be anything to do with its input capabilities, but I would love to be proved wrong.

Since your documentation says that listing more than the necessary sentences "[is] not very efficient, but useful to determine whether the target program supports any of these", I set senteces to GLL,GGA,APB.

In most cases you would need two if not three of the sentences -- the inefficiency is when listing more than the unit can understand, especially at a slow connection rate. The default 4800 NMEA rate is too slow for many sentences in any case. I noted that your unit can support faster than 9600, so there should be no problem -- just set it and GPSout as fast as both will go.

Unfortunately this does not seem to help.

How did you tell the unit to switch its own GPS off and feed the display from the NMEA input? Is it even possible? This is where I have my doubts -- I still think you are trying to make it do something it is not designed to do.

Regards,

Pete

[grevesz]

Pete,

How did you tell the unit to switch its own GPS off and feed the display from the NMEA input?

I think you are right. I will try to fgure that out and I'll get back to you.

Thanks for your help so far!!!

Gabor

[grevesz]

Hello Pete,

I contacted Lowarnce and they said all I needed to do was to reset the GPS. It worked, so everything is is fine now.

They also said that the answer to your question (What makes the GPS use the NMEA data received via the RS-232 cable rather than the satellite data?) is simply that the NMEA data has higher precedence.

Thank you very much for trying to solve problem that (as it turns out) wasn't even a problem on your side. I learnt a lot from it!

Regards,

Gabor

[Pete Dowson]

I contacted Lowarnce and they said all I needed to do was to reset the GPS. It worked, so everything is is fine now.

Amazing! So, do you have to reset it each time you change some configuration item like this?

They also said that the answer to your question (What makes the GPS use the NMEA data received via the RS-232 cable rather than the satellite data?) is simply that the NMEA data has higher precedence.

Oh, rightvery clever! Sounds like a good device -- but expensive no doubt? Does it come with NavData just for one location, or can you get world-wide coverage?

Regards,

Pete

[grevesz]

Hello Pete,

So, do you have to reset it each time you change some configuration item like this?

No. Since I didn't quite know what I was doing, I may have made changes that shouldn't have been made and it was the easiest to just restore all default settings to clear up things rather than figure out what particular setting was incorrect.

Sounds like a good device -- but expensive no doubt?

It sure seems to be a very good unit. I have no grounds to compare it though because this is my first ever GPS. But I am extremely happy with it. As to the price, it is significantly less expensive than a similar Garmin unit, so it's not bad at all and it comes with very many accessories. The only one thing I needed to pay extra for was the serial cable.

Does it come with NavData just for one location, or can you get world-wide coverage?

It comes with the North American Jeppesen information, but you can purchase world wide coverage for extra.

It uses an MMC (or SD) card to store information not in memory. The card works like a floppy disk. It comes with an MMC card reader which works like a floppy disk drive and it's not only a reader really, that's just its name. It's a plug and play device (using Windows 2k or XP) and you can copy files to and from it or erase those files just as if it were a floppy disk. Very handy and makes it very easy to back up staff.

Regards,

Gabor