Alternative GPS for the 536HP?

[y84media]

Does anyone know of other GPS's that can be used with the 536HP?

I'm just curious


Sent from my iPhone, because it rules!

 

[ofd8001]

I was thinking any GPS unit will work as long as it is NMEA compatible (4800 bps) and has the RS232 connector.

I've used a couple of Garmin units with other Uniden scanners.

 

[Anvil]

When I traveled before I retired I used a Garmin 18x PC GPS. It comes with a DB 9 Pin Serial Connector and a cigarette lighter plug. I used it with my HP-1 and it worked very well. I used a serial to USB adapter with FTDI chipset. I haven't tried it with my 536 but I'm pretty sure it would work. Amazon still sells them for $67.98.

 

[JamesO]

Check on ebay and you should be able to get a Garmin 18X for as little as about $35 if you keep watching.

Although you can use other full featured GPS units, the bar bones hockey pucks have some benefits as far as I am concerned.

BE VERY CAREFUL about the Garmin 18/18X as there are a lot of USB Garmin 18/18X units, you NEED to make sure the unit you are going to buy is a SERIAL unit, not USB.

There was also some question is the Siren App would port the GPS info from the phone to the radio as well?? I recall a discussion on that, but do not recall 100% if the GPS info would be ported from the phone to the radio via the Siren App??

 

[BigLebowski]

I've been looking for a good solution as well.

I would like to get something that I can wire into my car that will come on with my master power switch when I cut on my mobile radios, but I haven't seen anything yet that looks like a good solution. I would also like something that I can feed into my laptop dock for navigation as well as to the scanner.

I dug up an old thread where someone suggested using a Garmin Nuvi 360 as a stand-alone GPS unit as well as using an aftermarket serial cable for that unit to kind of kill two birds with one stone.

 

[dkf435]

I have several Radio Shack Digitraveler gps units, Delorme Tripmate with the loop/self start mod, and a few Garmin GPS II III and IV and a handful of the older Yellow, Legend, and Vista Garmin Etrex units, Magellan Meridian Gold, Platinum, Color units.


Digitraveler Ebay 29.99 BIN
Digitraveler RadioShack GPS Receiver 20 1602 | eBay

David Kb7uns

 

[JamesO]

Digitraveler Ebay 29.99 BIN
Digitraveler RadioShack GPS Receiver 20 1602 | eBay

David Kb7uns

DigiTraveler Tutorial: GPS Receiver and PDA Setup

Looks like the DigiTraveler will run on 3 internal AAA batteries and/or an external power source.

Might be a little bit cleaner than the Garmin/Uniden option as far as cables?

 

[ofd8001]

I'm presently using the Uniden GPS unit in my vehicle. Previous to that I had a Garmin eTrex Legend, which used the accessory 12 volt power wire.

Both of these had the cigaretter lighter type plug and I installed a 12 volt cigaretter lighter receptacle that was "hot" when the ignition was on. Thus the GPS units were powered up only when the ignition was on. It took less than a minute for both GPS units to acquire a GPS signal on power-up in most circumstances.

 

[dkf435]

DigiTraveler Tutorial: GPS Receiver and PDA Setup

Looks like the DigiTraveler will run on 3 internal AAA batteries and/or an external power source.

Might be a little bit cleaner than the Garmin/Uniden option as far as cables?

There were two versions of the DigiTraveler one came with a RS-232 DB9 and the other came with several different PDA connectors with the GPS being the same for both.

I have them with both and take the PDA version and cut the end off and you can splice in a USB cable from a camera with the 4 pin connector for the Uniden or put on a connector that mates with the scanner cable and twist the RXD and TXD so a gender changer and null modem adapter are not needed. If you want to make up your own cables the DigitTraveler has a 6 pin modular plug and the Hirose 4 pin connector should be available but using a premade one is simpler.
.
For most of my uses I use the Delorme Tripmate and just put in 4 AA NiMH and a set will last for most of my day trips.

David Kb7uns