Motorola Oncore GPS with 1pps output

There are several variants of the Oncore but they all amount to much the same thing.
A feature of the Oncore is the 1PPS output with 500nS accuracy which may be used for locking oscillators.

Click here for connection and configuration data.

Hacking the Speedpuck

The Speedpuck is an excellent device for displaying the speed of a small sailing dinghy. At around 225 pounds, not a cheap gadget for casual day sailing.

Small speed improvements may be achieved by tiny adjustments of sail trim, which can be difficult to detect unless a GPS or some form of speed display is in use. When travelling at only 4 or 5 knots a small increase can represent a considerable percentage speed gain.


The Challenge.

I wonder if I can build something that will do the same job for a fraction of the cost?
Construction details and code here.

Arduino Dinghy Speed Display

Small speed improvements may be achieved with tiny adjustments to sail trim, which can be difficult to detect unless a GPS or some form of speed display is in use. When travelling at only 4 or 5 knots a small increase can represent a considerable percentage speed gain.
Construction details and code here.

Arduino based GPS Compass

On occasions we may not require "degree" accuracy when checking our course. It may be sufficient to know the approximate direction we are travelling and that's good enough.

This little Arduino project will extract our course from a GPS NMEA stream and display our heading on an 8 point compass display.
Click here for construction details

A GPS for 5 pounds

I found a couple of these UBlox GPS modules on Ebay for just £5.
I wish I had purchased a few more.
They are so easy to use and may be configured using the UBlox U-Center software.


The picture shows a module plus a mounting PCB I quickly made.
For more pictures go here. A GPS for £5

Evermore GM-305 GPS Adapter

I picked up one of these GPS units at a local Radio Rally for a few pounds.
The unit came without its power adapter unit, just a female 9 pin D Type connection, so it was necessary to construct one.

After a few minutes probing around inside I soon found the connections.

Red wire on pin 5 = 5v DC
Black wire on pin 1 = Ground = connect to DC Ground and pin 5
White wire on pin 3 is RS232 input = connect to pin 3 TXD
Green wire on pin 4 is RS232 out = connect to pin 2 RXD