GPS Notes
Category: Hacks
Build your own digital compass
August 10, 2006
This is wonderful - instructions on how to build your own digital compass! Superb hack - does require that you know how to assemble electronic circuits.... Read on ...
Simple GPS hack for PSP
July 27, 2006
Hack a Day has found another great GPS related hack - a simple GPS for the PSP. You'll need: Holux GPSlim236 (~$100) Intec G6704 PSP Remote Control (~$11). Alternatively you can rip the connector of your original remote control. USB... Read on ...
Cracking Galileo's secret code
July 9, 2006
"Members of Cornell's Global Positioning System (GPS) Laboratory have cracked the so-called pseudo random number (PRN) codes of Europe's first global navigation satellite, despite efforts to keep the codes secret. That means free access for consumers who use navigation... Read on ...
Using radiosondes as cheap GPS trackers
July 5, 2006
Can a radiosondes be used as a cheap GPS? "A Radiosonde is a small package of electronics used in weather balloons by Meteorologist’s to measure pressure, altitude, wind speed, and humidity. They are mass produced, rarely recovered after use, and... Read on ...
Shock-proofing a Garmin GPS
May 18, 2006
Instructables has a tutorial on how to shock-proof a Garmin GPS receiver and prevent unexpected power-downs by fitting a 4V 470 uF capacitor to the circuit board. Nice!... Read on ...
Connect multiple video inputs to the StreetPilot 7200/7500
April 4, 2006
Chet's Corner (of the Garmin Blog) has a great tip for Garmin StreetPilot 7200/7500 users ... connect multiple video sources to it using a standard A/B video switcher. By doing this you can turn that massive 7-inch screen into a... Read on ...
Add your own external GPS antenna
March 29, 2006
Engadget has an interesting article on how to build your own external GPS antenna. All you need is: A suitable GPS receiver 26 gauge wire (0.4mm thick) 100pF or 47pf ceramic capacitor Active external GPS antenna BNC panel mount connector... Read on ...
Build a massive GPS wall clock!
March 20, 2006
Spark Fun Electronics have posted plans of how to build a massive 12 foot, GPS-powered wall clock that accurate to 100ns! It's not a project for the feint-hearted and involves a lot of building frames, cutting Styrofoam and wiring. Oh,... Read on ...
Inside the $35 GPS
February 23, 2006
Take a look inside the UG-200 $35 GPS receiver. Technorati Tags: GPS, Satellite Navigation, Global Positioning System... Read on ...
Data cable for Magellan eXplorist 100/200/300
February 17, 2006
Want a create a data connection for a Magellan eXplorist 100, 200 or 300? PC-Mobile have the answer with this simple ready-made cable! Technorati Tags: GPS, Satellite Navigation, Global Positioning System, Magellan, eXplorist... Read on ...
Connect a Magellan eXplorist 100, 200 or 300 to a PC
January 27, 2006
Did you buy a Magellan eXplorist 100, 200 or 300 and which that it had a way to connect it to a PC? The Magellan eXplorist 100, 200 and 300 doesn't come with a PC connection port but it's possible... Read on ...
New Garmin Firmware updates
January 6, 2006
Garmin have released a few new firmware updates for January 2006: GPSMAP 60C January 3, 2006 Nuvi 300 January 4, 2006 Nuvi 350 January 4, 2006 StreetPilot 2720 GPS January 3, 2006 StreetPilot 2730 January 3, 2006 Technorati Tags: GPS, Satellite... Read on ...
Free applications for TomTom GO!
Here is a page that contains some very useful (but not official, so take care) free applications for TomTom GO! You have: Autoswitcher which switches between day and night mode based on your current position and calculated sunrise/sunset times. SatSync... Read on ...
Customize your RoadMate 800
January 5, 2006
Lots of great information on GpsPasSion on how to customize your RoadMate 800 GPS receiver. This will give you full access to Windows CE 4.2 mobile terminal and allows you to play movies and customize the device and even increase... Read on ...
Using Google Earth and a GPS to recreate trips
December 23, 2005
This is a cool hack that uses Google Earth to allow you to recreate any trip that you have a saved GPS track for - fly over the tracks at any height or speed and use 3D scenery and satellite... Read on ...
Designing a microstrip GPS patch antenna
December 20, 2005
This page contains a lot of interesting information on creating a microstrip patch antenna for GPS receivers. This is quite a technical article but the resulting antenna is pretty effective. Technorati Tags: GPS, Satellite Navigation, Global Positioning System, antenna... Read on ...
Build a GPS helix antenna
December 2, 2005
Here's a good project for the weekend - build yourself a GPS helix antenna! I built one of these for Hacking GPS and what surprised me was not only how simple it was (if you mark things out right the... Read on ...
Garmin Geko secret startup commands
November 25, 2005
The Garmin Geko is a popular GPS receiver among Geocacher - it's small and lightweight and easy to use. A few people have asked me for the secret startup commands for the Geko for putting it into test mode and... Read on ...
Build a re-radiating antenna
November 22, 2005
This is a great web page that walks you through the process of building a re-radiating antenna for GPS receivers like the Garmin eTrex or Geko. Warning - this kind of project is for geeks and requires a basic knowledge of... Read on ...
GPSP (GPS front end program for PSP)
November 21, 2005
Here's a great link that shows you how to turn the PSP (PlayStation Portable) into a GPS navigation system, complete with circuit diagrams and pictures of the hardware required. Hi Guys, this is the first version of a program for... Read on ...
Find your GPS location from your LG phone for free
November 17, 2005
This is a hack for LG phones that are on the Verizon network - following the instructions will give you your GPS location. However, be warned! It might forward your location to 911 dispatch! Technorati Tags: GPS, Satellite Navigation, Global Positioning System... Read on ...
Customize your TomTom GO splash screen
November 11, 2005
Club TomTom have details on how you can customize the splash screen on your TomTom GO GPS receiver. You will need: A PC The USB connection cable A new replacement image/photo Have fun! Technorati Tags: GPS, Satellite Navigation, Global Positioning System,... Read on ...
Stop GPS screen scratches
How can you stop your GPS screen becoming scratched in use? One thing that I can tell you is that if you don't take steps to prevent scratches, scratches will happen! Screens are quite robust but not indestructible and since... Read on ...
Mounting a iPAQ cradle car vent mount
November 2, 2005
I love this hack because it combines a proper iPAQ mount with four washing line pegs to make a car vent cradle for the iPAQ! Interesting hack - but as with anything that you fix to your vehicle, make sure... Read on ...
Pretec CF GPS serial port hack
October 25, 2005
Here's the details of a great hack - modifying a Pretec Compact Flash GPS to work off of a standard RS 232 serial port. As usual, this will totally void your warranty but is otherwise good, clean fun! (via Hackaday)... Read on ...
DIY GPS tracker
October 10, 2005
Introducing Mologogo. What is Mologogo? It’s a free service that will let you track a GPS enabled cell phone from another phone (no GPS required by the tracker) or via the web. And the great thing about Mologogo is that it works on pretty... Read on ...
Preventing vibration induced GPS shutdown
October 7, 2005
CycoActive have a very interesting page looking at how to properly hardwire a GPS to a motorcycle to prevent vibration induced shutdown ruining your GPS experience. The have some very good advice – such as eliminating spring fuses, taping up... Read on ...
Removing scratches from a GPS
October 2, 2005
The reports of the new iPod Nano being easily scratched has resulted in a lot of interest in the blogsphere about removing scratches from electronic devices, and because GPS receivers spend most of their working lives outdoors they pick up... Read on ...
GPS NMEA spoofer
September 30, 2005
The headlong rush to using GPS to monitor and charge car owners might now take a serious hit as a £5 ($8) GPS spoofer. This device outputs false NMEA data that spoofs data loggers by providing them with false information. ... Read on ...
GPS battery problem
September 16, 2005
A lot of people are affected by a battery problem with many GPS receivers that causes the receiver to cut periodically. One common element to this problem is that rechargeable batteries are used in the GPS rather than disposable alkaline... Read on ...
Build your own GPS
September 5, 2005
For those that have just way too much time of their hands - instructions for building your own GPS! It even shows you how to make your own circuit boards! "This is a short description on how I spent some... Read on ...
Virtual Earth hacks
September 1, 2005
Alex Barnett's blog lists a number of interesting hacks for Virtual Earth. Pocket Earth, is a client for the Smartphone and Pocket PC Movie Finder Flash Earth... Read on ...
GPS firmware updates
May 20, 2005
GPSMAP 182/182C April 27, 2005 GPSMAP 182/182C April 27, 2005 GPSMAP 188/188C Sounder April 28, 2005 GPSMAP 188/188C Sounder April 28, 2005 GPSMAP 2006/2006C April 28, 2005 GPSMAP 2010/2010C April 28, 2005 GPSMAP 232 April 28, 2005 Quest April 28,... Read on ...
Garmin GPS input voltage values
May 12, 2005
It's a good idea where ever possible to power your GPS from an external source so that your batteries are fully changed for when you are on the move. However, you need to make sure you don't put too much... Read on ...
No serial port - no problem!
April 29, 2005
Want to connect your GPS to a PC but you don't have a serial port? No problem! Pfranc.com now make a USB to Serial adaptor to solve your problems. If you're in the UK you can buy this from Lynks... Read on ...
Google Maps UK waypoint extraction
April 21, 2005
Yay! With Google introducing Google Maps UK Badsegue.org has released an updated and upgraded script that handles waypoint extraction from the UK maps. The old script didn't work for the UK and an update was required that allowed the scripts... Read on ...
Google and MSN waypoint extraction
April 14, 2005
Here's an interesting link I came across from Badsegue.org that demonstrates script code that pulls GPS waypoints from MSN Yellow Pages and Google Maps results using a scriptlet in Internet Explorer (previously there was a script that worked only in... Read on ...
GPS firmware upgrade
April 13, 2005
A lot of people are frightened of carrying out a firmware upgrade on their GPS receivers - they can see it is beneficial because it adds new features and fixes existing bugs but they are worried about doing it wrong... Read on ...
Preventing lightning damage
Whenever you put up an antenna of any sort you are inviting lightning damage. Here are a few interesting articles that cover GPS equipment protections. Unavco Comm-Omni Comant Symmetticon lightning supressors And if you want to predict a storm, here's... Read on ...
Low-cost GPS jamming
GPS jammer Technical article on building a portable GPS jammer that affects the L1 carrier signal. This means that it would have no effect on the military L2 carrier or the P-code that that carries. It does however cast a... Read on ...
SiRFdemo for PC
Here is a link to an advanced configuration utility for SiRF based GPS receivers on GpsPasSion. "Why use SiRFdemo ? 1 - To take a peek at the advanced settings of your GPS receiver and to see how it was... Read on ...
Replacing damaged GPS screen
April 12, 2005
The screen on a GPS, especially the protective plastic, is prone to damage and while it doesn't render the unit unusable (unless the damage is such that it's gone through to the LCD screen) it can be pricey to fix.... Read on ...
Ultimate GPS clock
April 11, 2005
In Hacking GPS I've looked at ways that you can transform a GPS into a clock. Because it involves hooking it up to a PC it's quite cheap - but here's a way to do it that doesn't involve a... Read on ...
Splitting/Amplifying a GPS signal
April 10, 2005
If you've got a GPS antenna on a boat or a big RV then you might find it useful to be able to pipe the signal received by one antenna to multiple locations. To do this you need a signal... Read on ...
NAVMAN mods
April 9, 2005
There are a lot of people out there running NAVMAN GPS receivers in conjunction with iPAQs - here's a great link showing a great (and cheap) in-car mod. PocketGPS.co.uk Quick and easy modification!... Read on ...
GPS virus?
April 7, 2005
Many years ago I came across this newsgroup discussion entitled Virus infected GPS firmware. Is it possible? At the time it was safe to say "no" - wile it was possible to upload duff firmware to a GPS or even... Read on ...
Printing waterproof maps
April 1, 2005
Memory-Map (www.memory-map.co.uk) have announced that they now stock Toughprint waterproof paper. This paper is ideal for printing maps for outdoor use as it is waterproof, resists crumples and tearing and can be wiped clean. The micro-porous surface delivers vibrant colours... Read on ...
Converting Degrees
March 9, 2005
http://www.calculatorcat.com/latitude_longitude.phtml I always found it a real pain having to convert between decimal degrees and minutes/seconds format - now it's a lot easier thanks to the new online conversion tool at CalculatorCat. There are a load of other cool calculators... Read on ...