BCD396XT and EarthMate GPS question

[Moosemedic]

Greetings,

I'm trying to connect an older yellow EarthMate GPS receiver to my new 396XT

I've got the gender changer to adapt the serial cable on the GPS to the Serial to proprietary Uniden cable. With fresh batteries in the GPS I connected this to the side of the scanner, but nothing happened.

The only videos I have been able to find are for the HomePatrol and indicate it should automatically recognize the GPS being attached. I've looked through the massive manual and can not find a way to configure this to recognize that there is a GPS attached.

Questions to the Forum;
Has anyone used this type of GPS with these scanners?

Is the 396xt capable of GPS use?
(I have configured this setting - range using FreeScan)

Thoughts about how to make this work?

Thanks

 

[AC0RV]

Answer to question 2 The 396XT is capable of gps use.

 

[phask]

Need to make sure the baud rate - etc. are the same. Not sure where in the menu it is because I have not had mine connected in years.

 

[dkf435]

If you have the Delorme Earthmate you need the Byonics Sentence Translator as it is not a NEMA device, but it is no longer available.

Byonics - GST-1 GPS Sentence Translator

If you have the Delorme Tripmate you need to do the self start modification.

The Delorme Tripmate Self-Start Modification

I have done 4 of Delorme Tripmate units and they work good for a self contained unit.

David Kb7uns

 

[Moosemedic]

Thanks everyone... I have the older yellow EarthMate...
Doesn't put out NMEA, so no joy there.

So I fired up my Geko 301 which is saying it's sending NMEA at 4800 baud. The scanner Serial port is set to 4800 baud (I down graded from the 11520 it was set for programming with FreeScan) as well and still shows no GPS input data.

Any idea what's wrong?

 

[UPMan]

Depending on the cables you are using, you might need a null-modem adapter in the setup.

 

[SB-Wi]

So I fired up my Geko 301 which is saying it's sending NMEA at 4800 baud. The scanner Serial port is set to 4800 baud (I down graded from the 11520 it was set for programming with FreeScan) as well and still shows no GPS input data.

Any idea what's wrong?

The scanner needs NMEA-0183 ver. 3.01 compliant, including GGA and RMC sentences.

The Geko 301 owner's manual shows NMEA-0183 ver. 3.0

 

[UPMan]

It will still likely work.

 

[frazpo]

UPman

UPman,
Why is it when entering a POI manually in the GPS settings the format is as follows,,

00.000000N
000.000000W

My west coordinates only have 2 digits with a preceding (-) sign. How do I enter it in this format?

 

[UPMan]

The "-" sign means West. If you are not so far west as to need 3 digits before the decimal point, use only two digits.