Windows 7 Home Premium, Pharos Bluetooth GPS, and Streets & Trips 2009. Has anyone managed to get this combination, or a similar one, working?

I've managed to connect my laptop (an older HP touchscreen) to a Pharos BT II (with the GPS500 receiver), and the Bluetooth Device Manager is reporting the Pharos as being on COM8; I sucessfully [eventually] reset the baud rate to 4800 (I had to go to the device manager screen and adjust the properties on COM8 to do that so it stayed at 4800 though - from the "devices and printers" screen it would revert to 9600 immediately after closing the window.), but even still, Streets and Trips won't find Com8 as a GPS device when I scan.

When I subsequently tried to plug the GPS500 directly into the USB dongle it fired up right away.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong, or not doing right?

I have only helped a friend configure a blue tooth one time, but I might see your problem... I think you are missing a link in the chain... You have the blue tooth talking to the computer on COM8... And, when you plug the gps dongle directly into the computer, you have S&T talking to the GPS (but likely not on COM8... maybe its on COM3or4). The problem, I think, is that S&T is not looking at COM8 when you have the set up blue tooth running. So, I think you have two options:

1) Set up the blue tooth hardware configuration and check that it is operational. Then launch S&T, go into the gps pane and launch the gps configuration option. See if COM8 is available for use (that is, S&T now sees Com8). If so, set Com8 as the default port. If COM8 is not available, take note of what Com# is set as the default and
2) Go into the blue tooth and configure its COM# to be the same as S&T's COM#

Bottom line is that you have to get everything on the same COM#.

You may want to search this forum for the link to "XPORT". It is freeware that lets you feed multiple COM ports from a single source.

Oh yeah... I have read that some higher end GPS units not only need to have the baud rate set to 4800, but also need to have the refresh rate set to once (1) per second... Not likely to be a problem for you, as you had the GPS working with S&T when you had it directly plugged into the computer...

Is xport stable in W7? I had issues with it blocking (and subsequently not releasing) the COM ports used by my USB ports under Vista, even after "uninstall".

Also, in W7 you can apparently reroute the COM ports (just as Xport does) using the Advanced Settings [from the device list, rightclick on selected bluetooth device then choose properties/hardware tab/properties/general tab/Change Settings], so I'm not sure using Xport is strictly necessary.

When I try to Configure GPS and Scan, COM8 isn't listed as an option, and none of the other ports list a GPS device when I'm not using the GPS plugged in with the USB cable. I can't seem to "force" S&T2009 into choosing COM8. I surmise from this that either the bluetooth adapter isn't passing info to S&T on the right COM port [it has two, right? Send & Receive? With Receive just being the "handshake"?], or S&T isn't recognizing the bluetooth link as a viable GPS.

Changing the bit rate of the COM port does not change the GPS bit rate (in fact, it does nothing at all). The Pharos 350 and 500 are already 4800 bps and should work fine with S&T if you have the right USB to serial driver; one is available for Win 7.

I assume the Bluetooth you are speaking of is the BT sled adapter for the Pharos. If you have already discovered it with the Win 7 built-in BT stack, you can right click on the Bluetooth icon in the notification bar and choose 'Show Bluetooth Devices'. From the list, choose your device and click the Properties button and Services tab. If the device is turned on and found, that screen will list the correct COM port.

Terry

How would I check to see if I have the right USB/serial driver?

Yes, it's the BT II sled which Pharos sells as an accessory to the 500-series receiver. [From its product description it seems like it'd be the bee's knees.] I'm pretty eager to get it working.

The Services tab shows it as being on Com 8, but S&T shows nothing on 8, not even usage by another device...

The Prolific driver for Win 7 is here;

Welcome to Prolific

You might want to test the output from Bluetooth with another free program like Earthbridge to see if it is really there. Make sure the Paros 500 is in the sled when you test it.

Earth Bridge - Bridge the gap between Google Earth and your GPS receiver.

Terry

Not clear. Do you mean the Pharos GPS fired up right away? If so, what does that mean? Just that the blue light in it came on?

Or do you mean that Streets&Trips found it and was cheerfully ready to use it? If so, don't waste any time on the USB-to-serial driver that Terry mentioned. That was just to try to help you at least get the USB connection working, if it wasn't. If you've already got Streets working on the USB connection you're golden in that regard. The USB-to-serial driver will have no effect on the Bluetooth issue.

No experience with Xport on Win7. GPSGate works. There's a 14-day free trial if you want to see if it will find the GPS on Bluetooth. Its scanning is about as good as it gets ... if there's a GPS connected and functioning, it will generally find it. It does the same basic stuff as Xport and more but it's not free. Cheap, considering, but not free.

...ken...

Ken - Yes, the GPS receiver worked when used with the USB dongle - it located me in less than 30 seconds. The problem to me seems to be with the Blutetooth interface and S&T.

I've included screenshots to show what I'm getting on my screens - The first two show that S&T isn't seeing Com8, the third shows the Com8 connection through the Bluetooth Device Properties.

I installed Earth Bridge (and the Prolific driver, just in case) to see if I was getting anything from the sled. It gave me raw data on Com 8 (wish I'd gotten a screenshot of that) so I disconnected the GPS from within Earth Bridge and launched S&T. Still no luck. And now Earth Bridge doesn't see the sled anymore (fourth screenshot), although the BT device properties show it as being connected...

Update: Earth bridge is now working - locational fix and everything. Screenshot included -it's at home, so if you're in the neighborhood and want a bad cup of coffee... Still no joy on the S&T front though...

Attached Images

No connection.jpg (17.2 KB)

GPS Scan.JPG (57.8 KB)

Pharos BT II Properties.JPG (24.2 KB)

EB no connection.JPG (61.9 KB)

Earthbridge fix.jpg (35.3 KB)

It sounds like you may want to clean the contacts where the Pharos 500 connects to the BT sled.

Terry

If it's working to Earthbridge, how would that help?

It seems more likely that there's something about the virtual COM port off the Bluetooth stack that S&T doesn't much like but Earthbridge is okay with.

...ken...

The contacts are pretty much pristine - I cleaned them anyway, but no change... I've even tried swapping out the Pharos-branded GPS500 receiver with the Microsoft-branded one I got with the USB dongle (I misread the website when I ordered the sled, and got myself an unintentional spare...) - still no luck.

I can't tell from the Earthbridge screenshot .. what COM port is Earthbridge getting the data from? Or is it grabbing it directly from the Bluetooth stack? Does it tell you on one of the other tabs?

Last time I was in your neck of the woods was for a weekend meeting in the early 80's. That was in Fredricton, which isn't really that close. But it's a lot closer than where I live! I've never eaten lobster since.

...ken...

EB's using Com 8. Um - screenshot!

Attached Images

EB settings.jpg (23.5 KB)

Now I'm confused.

1. The Pharos 500 works fine with Streets& Trips on USB.

2. The Pharos 500 does not work with Streets&Trips on Bluetooth.

3. The Navation 168 (MS branded black stick of gum) does not work with Streets&Trips on USB.

Are those three statements exactly correct? If not, please correct me because that's what I understand from the discussion so far.

And just to add to the data points for complete understanding:

4. The Pharos 500 works with Earthbridge on USB.

5. The Pharos 500 works with Earthbridge on Bluetooth.

6. The Navation 168 works with Earthbridge on USB.

Are those three statements exactly correct? If not, please correct them.

...ken...

I haven't tried using the Navation 168 at all recently - but it's around here somewhere - so statements one and two are bang on accurate.

3 - The Microsoft-branded Pharos GPS-500 (manufactured by Pharos, but with a Microsoft logo) shipped with my copy of S&T 2007 (or 2006? I forget which), and my Pharos-branded GPS-500 shipped with the Bluetooth sled - the "GPS BT II". Apart from the logo, the GPS-500 units are absolutely identical and interchangeable. In Streets, both work on the USB dongle, neither work on the sled. Blurry screenshot, ironically for clarity!

4 - Pharos 500 with Earthbridge - I haven't tried it yet, but have no reason to believe it wouldn't work were I to change the COM port setting.

5 - Yes, The Pharos 500 now works with Earthbridge on Bluetooth. The integration with Google Earth is impressive.

6 - Navation 168 with Earthbridge - untried, but I'm making identical assumptions here for #4.

I've never seen much of a performance difference between the Navation and the Pharos 500. And I like the blue steady glow better than the white blinky one at night... If only S&T had better nighttime graphics!

...uh, If only S&T had better Bluetooth integration?

Attached Images

GPS units.jpg (35.4 KB)

Only one GPS navigation program (Garmin Mobile PC) works directly with Bluetooth. All others we have tried require that the GPS device be registered with the BT stack to generate a COM port. S&T works fine with a BT generated COM port in every case I have tried. Your problems are elsewhere.

Terry

Progress is being made! S&T now recognizes a GPS on Com 8 after a scan - but when I try to start the GPS I get the first message below; subsequent attempts (without rescanning) gets the second message. I feel we're almost there, though - Many thanks to you both, Ken & Terry.

Attached Images

GPS no connection.jpg (17.0 KB)

GPS no signal.jpg (18.4 KB)

Thanks for the clarification, Jonathan. Now I understand that you have three GPS receivers, not two as I originally thought. I thought you meant the Navation stick when you refered to the Microsoft-branded one. It never occured to me you had two Pharos receivers. I didn't pick that up from your original comment about a "spare" (thought you meant new Pharos made Navation the spare). Ooops.

So. The Navation is irrelevant so we won't talk about it anymore. Like you, I assume it will work just fine with Streets.

Also, I agree that we should see no difference at all between the two Pharos receivers so I'll leave it to you if you want to use one as a sanity check against the other as we work through this. You only need to mention it if you do a test with both and the test results are different for each.

My Windows 7 system is out in my workshop (use it for my golf swing monitor) and it's just way too cold out there to muck about with it tonite. I'll put the heat on at breakfast and maybe it will be warm enough to play by lunch.

...ken...

I forgot to mention the behaviour of the LED on the sled in my last message - When the sled's searching for a connection, the LED flashes quickly. When it finds one, or after a few minutes gives up searching, it turns on solid. When I connect to the GPS using EarthBridge, it stops blinking almost immediately and stays on; when I scan with S&T it sort of pauses, then resumes blinking rapidly, as if it got checked out but didn't pass muster with S&T.
(Sort of "blinky-blinky-blinky-blinky-blinky-bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink-blinky-blinky-blinky"... if that makes any sense.)

Why do you set S&T to scan if you know the GPS is on COM 8?

Terry

I'd assumed that it was some kind of handshake thing for S&T - usually I've had to do this when anything had changed in my system - on my old laptop, just plugging the GPS dongle into a different USB port was enough. Once it was recognized, I wouldn't have to scan again until I made another change. In this case, the scan was to get it to see a GPS on Com 8 so I could select it. Prior to that, Com 8 wasn't listed as an option on that configuration screen.

That is a problem with the PL2303 USB to serial driver. The Microsoft serial drivers for the Pharos 500 and the Navation 168 do not have that problem. You can change USB ports and they will retain the same COM port. If you have built in Bluetooth, it also will maintain the same COM port once it has been set up.

Of course, if you change GPS devices, the COM port will be different.

Terry

In trying to fix the Bluetooth routing issue I'm experiencing, I've loaded in the GPSGate demo - and seem to be hitting a roadblock when it comes to setting the output to a virtual com port - I get an error message (attached image), and I'm wondering if that's maybe a GPSGate/Windows 7 issue. As soon as I choose GPSGate Direct for an output I get "Running OK!" in place of the error message. I'm running GPSGate in XP/SP3 compatibility mode, with admin rights. Am I misconstruing what I should be doing with this software?
Ideas, anyone?

Attached Images

GPSGate error message.jpg (21.7 KB)

You can't set the output to the same as the input. Go back and run the wizard and let GPS Gate set up the COM ports it wants. Then change S&T to match one of them.

Terry

With all my fiddling recently, after trying a reinstall the BT GPS got switched to Com 9, and Com 8 was on the 'available' list furnished by the GPSGate device wizard. I thought it would be a good COM to try since S&T was already looking for something on Com8...

Sorry, should have mentioned that sooner.

When I use the wizard, it generally gives me at least a couple of COM ports (as that is what GPS Gate does). What did you do with the other ones?

Terry

Attached Images

GPSGate.jpg (82.3 KB)

I removed them for clarity - but they were all giving the same error. Seems (from the Franson forums) that it's a known issue with many versions of 64-bit Windows; They suggested moving a driver from one folder to another (details here - gpsgate + ms vista + virtual com ports - NOT ), which I'm in the process of trying. I'll post results as soon as they occur, for better or worse...

Sorry, that was XP. Here is Win 7 but I am using 32 bit.

Terry

Attached Images

GPSGate_Win7.jpg (83.0 KB)

WOOT! Success! S&T now showing GPS available on -all- virtual COM ports through GPSGate. Hmm, looks like I have a working BT sled for 12 more days. Where's that credit card?

Thank you all for your help in this.

You mean this link.

GpsGate for 64-bit Vista and Windows 7

I guess the sled is putting out something S&T doesn't like. Great that GPS Gate could fix it. If you only want a couple of COM ports, take a look at GPS Gate Express. It is a very inexpensive product. I did check to the manual to ensure the sled was 4800 bps. You must have the manual though otherwise how would you know the code is '12345678' - hardly standard.

Terry

Ah, yes. The link to that was directly below a message which detailed SOME of the instructions needed to fix 32/64 driver problems.

Jonathan

I did end up grabbing the Express version of GPSGate - it's already doing more than I really needed it to, but I'm going to have fun playing with its other features now. Mm, toys.

...like running the GPS on S&T and Autoroute at the same time. And if anyone can think of a practical purpose for doing that, I'll purchase a tasty beverage for them.

One thing I omitted mentioning - I switched the compatibility mode of GPSGate to XP SP2 on the W7 compatibility wizard's advice. Don't know if it was necessary, but it's working.

Just a thought. Did you actually input the passkey when the Windows Bluetooth wizard asked for it? If you choose a different option, Windows immediately forgets the device exists and you have to set it up again the next time you want to use it. GPS Gate doesn't care because it queries the Bluetooth stack directly rather than using a COM port.

Terry

Yes, I had the passkey in there from the get-go. I'd remembered it from the previous, aborted attempts to get the sled working in Vista. It allowed me to keep the COM port at 8 (and subsequently 9, after I'd tried re-connecting.)

J

I have used GPS Gate on and off for many years since learning about it when experimenting with Garmin Que on a Toshiba PDA. An excellent tool for GPS issues, particularly Garmin related. However providing 2 COM ports for S&T and Autoroute is just plain silly. You would never use them at the same time (with a GPS) - set the COM ports the same.

I don't know about compatibility mode for GPS Gate in Windows 7. I don't need it for my 32 bit version but it may be a 64 bit thing.

Terry

I seem to be able to use more than two applications with the Express version of GPS Gate. (To check this, I used Earth Bridge, AR07 and S&T09, all simultaneously. They were assigned differing virtual COM ports, out of necessity.)

This may well change after the 14-day trial period elapses, depending on how they've coded the permissions on new licenses. Beyond checking GPSGate's functionality, though, you're right. Totally silly - hee hee - but in character, I'm afraid.

I have doubt that modifying the compatibility mode is necessary, too, but at the level of complexity of the maps in my current neck of the woods, any performance hits aren't much of an issue.
I'll certainly keep it in mind if I start seeing unusual lag when in more complex areas, and play around with it then, just to see. I'm also accustomed to seeing refreshes on a slower machine with less memory, on a slightly slower[?] platform (XP-SP3).

Jonathan