Dec 5, 2010
One of those almost “Must Have” items anymore is a GPS on your computer.
Many people confuse this with a TomTom or other GPS device with a screen you put on your dash, this it is not.
Some Garmin models do feature the ability to use the GPS chip in the device but I am not going to cover that since it’s so cheap to have a dedicated unit.
GPS started becoming popular for use in vehicles around 1997 so it’s been around a while. GPS or Global Positioning System uses a network of satellites put up by the government to triangulate your position.
This is a one way receiver that mounts on your dash and calculates the time between a signal is sent and you receive it. There are no subscription charges necessary to use GPS.
The receiver module uses a serial connection, or COM PORT to communicate with your PC. Most modern GPS units use USB connection then emulate a serial connection to your PC… this is important to know… a COM PORT.
The most common GPS unit used by chasers is the Microsoft’s GPS puck that is included with Streets and Trips. It’s a fantastic unit.
If you don’t mind a year or 2 outdated copy of the maping software you can pick this up for less than $25 from Amazon.com
Personally I would live with the year old copy and pick one up, the new maps are not going to help that much and still might have streets on them that don’t exist anyway 
(See Bowdle Adventure)
Another option for a GPS unit could be a permanatly installed unit like the MR-350-USB… this is what I personally use.
It’s going to cost you a lot more (about $70) but if you are already drilling holes in the roof why not?
What I love about this unit is the universal driver, there is no additional driver needed on Windows PC’s it sees it as a Motorola Modem.
It never falls off my dash and ALWAYS works even in the worst rain.
Ok so now we have our GPS device and installed it on the machine…
Now remember it might be USB but really this thing is a COM PORT… this is so important to remember.
There is not a ton of information a GPS sends so serial communication works well, you may remember the old 56k modems for dial-up that would transmit 56,000 the GPS only needs 4800.
COM PORTS are not really “Plug and Play” your going to save yourself a ton of trouble by finding out the port your GPS is on.
For my example here I am just using the one included in my Aircard you can see it is on COM PORT (COM32)
(You can get to this screen by right clicking on MY COMPUTER and say MANAGE)
Now this is where 99.9% of your GPS problems are going to happen…. THIS PORT TENDS TO CHANGE EACH TIME YOU ATTACH THE DEVICE
It might or might not, it depends if your aircard was in the computer when it booted, or if you had your phone connected (The RIM ports are Blackberry)
If you can’t find your GPS with your software (GR3, GPS Gate) look to make sure your watching the right COM PORT!
Ok so now we know our GPS is on COM32 so we can plug that into our software when it asks and you are set for ONE PROGRAM.
But like everyone I am sure you want to use more than 1 program with your GPS device, you don’t want 5 different GPS devices for 5 different programs… that is where a product called GPSgate comes in.
YOU ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CAN NOT HAVE MULTIPLE PROGRAMS ON THE EXACT SAME COM PORT!
GPSgate is like a splitter for your GPS, it enables multiple devices to connect to the same GPS device.
You can download it here this software is going to set you back $40, there is a 14 day trial and I received a 20% off coupon just as my trial expired so use a real email address!
Upon installation we know our GPS is on COM32 so go ahead and tell GPSgate that you have a generic GPS on that port in the install process.
Here is the main screen of GPS gate… you can see mine is on COM32 and if I click open it should turn green
Ok so now we have GPS gate installed and working to receive the data!
We need to create the “virtual” com ports our other programs will need to use the GPS.
This could include…
Streets and Trips Software
Gr3
Spotter Network Client
Streaming Software
So lets create 4 virtual COM PORTS.
Click on the OUTPUT tab and select Virtual Com Port and click on ADD
You are more than likely safe to just use their suggestions, do this over and over until you have enough virtual ports.
You can now see I have all the COM PORTS I need for all 4 of my programs!
When you setup each program just make sure to set each one to a different COM PORT.
Like…
Streets and Trips Software (COM1)
Gr3 (COM2)
Spotter Network Client (COM7)
Streaming Software (COM10)
If thats all you need you should be good to go…
If you want some extra stuff read on…
I personally don’t like the SN client running on my machine so I use the GPS gate software to send my location to GPSgate… in turn SpotterNetwork picks it up and no extra software needed.
You can use THIS THREAD on the SpotterNetwork forum to see how to do that.
The other WAY COOL feature is GPSgate’s website will keep track of your chases for ya… here is my Aurora 6/17/09 chase
Another helpful thing might be to output your location to a file.
This is great if you want to go back and make maps of where you went!
Do this by selecting “File Recorder”, click ADD then select NEW FILE EVERY 24 hours… last thing you want is an INSANE large file with ALL of your locations in it!
One of these days I will do a “HOW TO” with making maps.
Well thats it!
If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below or email me scott@endlessweather.com