Help with Delorme LT-20 GPS and NEMA

[Chris Gullikson]

I am running XP on a Gateway laptop and having problems with my Delorme Earthmate LT-20 GPS with GrLevel and Spotternetwork.
I am using DeLormes serial emulator to send NEMA to ports 2 and 3. GrLevel and Spotternetwork sees these 2 ports and they work just fine.. but only for 20 minutes or so. After that they no longer see the serial ports and I need to do a reboot. Meanwhile Delorme SA 2008 sees the LT-20 just fine and continues without issues.

I have tried GPSGate which will not detect the Earthmate without the serial emulator running. I can make it work by having GPSgate look at one port off the emulator and then sending data on other ports to GR and SN but they fail after awhile. Seems redundant to use 2 different GPS emulators anyways.
I have tried different ports, they all work for awhile then stop.
I have tried NEMA on only one port, same thing, it fails after awhile.
I thought it was maybe tied to my hardrives spinning down after 20 minutes so I left them on, same problem.

I have no problem getting a different GPS receiver if the LT-20 or Delormes emulator is a POS. (pile of scrap)

Thanks!

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Chris,
I run almost the same setup and I do not have that problem. My ports 2 and 3are the same as yours and then on Spotternetwork I use what came up showing as port 7.
I would personally uninstall the GPS Gate if you are going to run the Delorme Serial Emulator. I have no idea if it would conflict, but it might.
As I said, I have been using mine for as long as 14 hours per day and have not had this happen. So, other than a conflict or different port assignment for Spotternetwork, I am not sure. Try this, it may help.
Maybe someone with a little more experience can give you more advice if this does not work.

 

[John Erwin]

Seeing as I don't have the Earthmate I can only suggest some general things to check.

You shouldn't need to run anything else other than the Delorme emulator for this. I'm assuming that you have the Baud Rate etc. set correctly in the various programs you are using since you do get some data.. but check again just in case.

I would also suggest picking some different com ports than COM2 and COM3 for this; try COM5 and COM6 if you can. You might have a conflict with other resources on your computer that are competing for control of those ports.

Hopefully you'll get some other support here since I rememember reading about others here with the same issues.. I'm sure they've since worked them out. The Delorme "puck" is reputed to be a decent GPS receiver so you shouldn't need to replace it.

 

[Donald Giuliano]

One of my chase partners has an Earthmate and has similar problems. He has tried everything he can think of and found no good solution, other than to buy another GPS, and he is a very resourceful fellow. FWIW, according to him their serial emulator is terrible. So far he's resisted buying a new GPS, but after seeing the performance of the U.S. Globalsat unit I bought recently, he's close to changing his mind.

 

[Tony Laubach]

Check to make sure something isn't idle when you boot up the GPS... its possible that something else using those com ports comes to life and boots your GPS off.

 

[Chris Gullikson]

I did forget to mention that I always get 2 error messages related to Delorme serial emulator after a reboot.

These errors show up in little windows.

OEM Data Error Path -2 (sometimes it's path 1)
Error 4 Contact Vendor

I am certain this is not related to GPSGate as I installed that just as a tool to try and solve the problem. I don't even load it anymore, may as well uninstall it unless I go for a different GPS unit.

Thanks for the help all.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Sorry Chris, I am lost on that part of it. Did you try the port changes and other suggestions here?

 

[Chris Gullikson]

Yes I have tried all the ports listed in the serial emulator - they all work but fail after 20 minutes or so.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Sorry, I am lost now. I checked and all my ports from the emulator all are set to NMEA.
You may want to try David Drumond or maybe Jeff Synder. They both are pretty good on the tech issues and may be able to help.

 

[Tony Laubach]

OEM Data Error Path -2 (sometimes it's path 1)
Error 4 Contact Vendor

Do you use Sprint? I get those errors as well, but it doesn't affect my GPS. I typically get those very shortly after a reboot. I think its a connection-related issue.

 

[Chris Gullikson]

Do you use Sprint? I get those errors as well, but it doesn't affect my GPS. I typically get those very shortly after a reboot. I think its a connection-related issue.

I use Alltel and this message only came up since I installed the Delorm serial emulator. The message comes up shortly after a re-boot.

I think I will try uninstalling the serial driver and trying a fresh install.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

I use alltel too. I saw that Contact Vendor thing for the first time the other day, but I could not tell what wasn't working. Everything seemed to be working like normal. Hmmm, unless it was the time I shut the screen too far and it went to sleep. That makes me think of one thing. You don't have a hibernate or sleep issue, or even just screen saver trying to come on after 20 minutes? I guess you'd be using it though, so that shouldn't be.

I also use Street Atlas 2008 with the Serial Emulator, with Vista. It runs fine, but GR3 refuses to see the GPS on any port, even though other programs see the gps fine on those ports.

 

[Chris Gullikson]

That makes me think of one thing. You don't have a hibernate or sleep issue, or even just screen saver trying to come on after 20 minutes? I guess you'd be using it though, so that shouldn't be.

I also use Street Atlas 2008 with the Serial Emulator, with Vista. It runs fine, but GR3 refuses to see the GPS on any port, even though other programs see the gps fine on those ports.

Nope, I keep using the computer so no screensaver or other power saving modes. I thought it might have been related to my hard drive spinning down as I have it set at 20 minutes in power settings, changed it it to an hour, still does it.

This would be easier if it just refused to work. I went ahead and ordered that nice 40 dollar unit somebody mentioned in the NMEA thread. Hopefully that will work, I need to hit the road soon.