Phil Stanton wrote:
Hi Wout

Thanks for the information. I will definitely investigate this further, as
in addition to the depth problem, I am having problems getting my Laptop to
talk to the Autopilot. May be a wiring fault, but apparently the ST60 multi
instrument has NMEA In and Out.

A good way to trouble shoot NMEA data problems is to use the
Hyperterminal communications utility included with Windows. That will
show you the NMEA data flow as scrolling ascii text strings. And the
strings can even be saved to a text file for later study.

To use it, select the COM port your NMEA data is on in the "Connect
using:" box. Then change the settings to 4800 baud, 8 data bits, parity
to none, and stop bits to 1. If your NMEA data is at a different baud
rate you may have to change that, the display will be repeated garbles
when that happens. Sometimes you can check the setup on your NMEA
talkers to see what baud rate is being used, they all need to be the same.

Seeing the NMEA data strings tells you your laptop setup is working and
can help you isolate the problem.

There is a known problem with Windows misidentifying a GPS or NMEA input
as a serial mouse. If you go to the device manager find a serial mouse
there, disable it and leave it disabled and that will not happen again.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)