NMEA Connections

NMEA

NMEA Connections

Often on larger boats, NMEA signals will be distributed by wire and available at several location.

Connection to a 9 pin serial connector is very simple. In a 9 pin D plug connect:

Pin 2 to NMEA Data in (�Data Out� form GPS or other NMEA device)

Pin 5 to Ground (usually the same wire as connects to the negative of the power supply)

It is not necessary to make any other connections. PAMGuard does not send any data back to the GPS, so connection of Pin 3 (NMEA Data Out) is not necessary.

Using Serial to USB converters

Most PC’s no longer have a built in serial (RS-232) port. If you don’t have a serial port, then purchase a serial to USB converter. Follow the manufacturers installation instructions for the converter and once installed connect your NMEA device. Your device will appear in the NMEA configuration dialog as a normal serial port.

Note that if you move the serial to USB converter to a different serial port, then your operating system may re-install the drivers and assign a different serial port number, in which case you will have to reconfigure the NMEA settings in PAMGuard.

Using a USB GPS

Some GPS’s have an USB connector instead of a serial one. In reality, the data are still the same serial data as from a GPS with a serial output, but a USB to serial converter has been built into the GPS. Therefore connect your GPS and install the manufacturers software drivers as you would for a serial to USB converter described above.

Connecting one NMEA source to Multiple Computers

If you want to connect an NMEA device to multiple computers, then it’s generally possible to split an NMEA signal from a serial device and input it to multiple serial ports. If you do do this, ensure that only pins 2 and 5 are connected.

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