Command to Change GPS from SiRF Binary to NMEA Output

Question

I have several laptops with SiRFstarV GPS. At power up the GPS is in SiRF Binary mode. Does anyone know the SiRF command that I can send to change the GPS output to NMEA? (via command line - print "" > COM1)

I'm in no way a programmer and having a hard time understanding the SiRF Binary Protocol documentation on Message ID 129. (https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/GPS/SiRF_Binary_Protocol.pdf)

Changes made in SiRF DEMO don't save after power cycles.

Thank you.

Answer 1

The SiRF Binary Protocol contains characters that both cannot be printed by your console and cannot be generated by your keyboard. I would advise to download some terminal program to send hexadecimal characters to the GPS module. The terminal program used for the following instructions is CoolTerm, and can be found here.

To switch to NMEA protocol:

• Open CoolTerm
• Adjust the COM settings accordingly, and open the port
• Open the "Send String..." window found in the "Connection" menu.
• Select Hex mode
• Paste the hex string found below into the textbox
• Press "Send"
• The "Send String..." window can now be closed. The GPS module should now report messages in the NMEA protocol.

Message ID 129

A0 A2 00 18 81 02 01 01 00 01 01 01 05 01 01 01 00 01 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 12 C0 01 65 B0 B3