Contents

$GPAAM

Waypoint Arrival Alarm

This sentence is generated by some units to indicate the Status of arrival (entering the arrival circle, or passing the perpendicular of the course line) at the destination waypoint.

  $GPAAM,A,A,0.10,N,WPTNME*43

Where:
    AAM    Arrival Alarm
    A      Arrival circle entered
    A      Perpendicular passed
    0.10   Circle radius
    N      Nautical miles
    WPTNME Waypoint name
    *43    Checksum data

$GPALM

GPS Almanac Data

A set of sentences transmitted by some Garmin units in response to a received $PGRMO,GPALM,1 sentence. It can also be received by some GPS units (eg. Garmin GPS 16 and GPS 17) to initialize the stored almanac information in the unit.

Example 1: $GPALM,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,*CC

1 = Total number of sentences in set
2 = Sentence sequence number in set
3 = Satellite number
4 = GPS week number
5 = Bits 17 to 24 of almanac page indicating SV health
6 = Eccentricity
7 = Reference time of almanac
8 = Inclination angle
9 = Right ascension rate
10 = Semi major axis route
11 = Argument of perigee (omega)
12 = Ascension node longitude
13 = Mean anomaly
14 = af0 clock parameter
15 = af1 clock parameter

Example 2: $GPALM,1,1,15,1159,00,441d,4e,16be,fd5e,a10c9f,4a2da4,686e81,58cbe1,0a4,001*5B

$GPAPB

Autopilot format "B"

This sentence is sent by some GPS receivers to allow them to be used to control an autopilot unit. This sentence is commonly used by autopilots and contains navigation receiver warning flag status, cross-track-error, waypoint arrival status, initial bearing from origin waypoint to the destination, continuous bearing from present position to destination and recommended heading-to-steer to destination waypoint for the active navigation leg of the journey.

Note: Some autopilots, Robertson in particular, misinterpret "bearing from origin to destination" as "bearing from present position to destination". This is likely due to the difference between the APB sentence and the APA sentence. for the APA sentence this would be the correct thing to do for the data in the same field. APA only differs from APB in this one field and APA leaves off the last two fields where this distinction is clearly spelled out. This will result in poor performance if the boat is sufficiently off-course that the two bearings are different.

  $GPAPB,A,A,0.10,R,N,V,V,011,M,DEST,011,M,011,M*82 

where:
    APB     Autopilot format B
    A       Loran-C blink/SNR warning, general warning 
    A       Loran-C cycle warning 
    0.10    cross-track error distance 
    R       steer Right to correct (or L for Left) 
    N       cross-track error units - nautical miles (K for kilometers) 
    V       arrival alarm - circle 
    V       arrival alarm - perpendicular 
    011,M   magnetic bearing, origin to destination 
    DEST    destination waypoint ID 
    011,M   magnetic bearing, present position to destination 
    011,M   magnetic heading to steer (bearings could True as 033,T) 

$GPBOD

Bearing Origin to Destination

eg.  BOD,045.,T,023.,M,DEST,START
           045.,T       bearing 045 degrees True from "START" to "DEST"
           023.,M       breaing 023 degrees Magnetic from "START" to "DEST"
           DEST         destination waypoint ID
           START        origin waypoint ID

Example 1: $GPBOD,099.3,T,105.6,M,POINTB,*01
Waypoint ID: "POINTB" Bearing 99.3 True, 105.6 Magnetic
This sentence is transmitted in the GOTO mode, without an active route on your GPS. WARNING: this is the bearing from the moment you press enter in the GOTO page to the destination waypoint and is NOT updated dynamically! To update the information, (current bearing to waypoint), you will have to press enter in the GOTO page again.

Example 2: $GPBOD,097.0,T,103.2,M,POINTB,POINTA*52
This sentence is transmitted when a route is active. It contains the active leg information: origin waypoint "POINTA" and destination waypoint "POINTB", bearing between the two points 97.0 True, 103.2 Magnetic. It does NOT display the bearing from current location to destination waypoint! WARNING Again this information does not change until you are on the next leg of the route. (The bearing from POINTA to POINTB does not change during the time you are on this leg.)

$GPBWC

Bearing and distance to waypoint, great circle

eg1. $GPBWC,081837,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*13

        BWC,225444,4917.24,N,12309.57,W,051.9,T,031.6,M,001.3,N,004*29
           225444       UTC time of fix 22:54:44
           4917.24,N    Latitude of waypoint
           12309.57,W   Longitude of waypoint
           051.9,T      Bearing to waypoint, degrees true
           031.6,M      Bearing to waypoint, degrees magnetic
           001.3,N      Distance to waypoint, Nautical miles
           004          Waypoint ID


eg2. $GPBWC,220516,5130.02,N,00046.34,W,213.8,T,218.0,M,0004.6,N,EGLM*11
               1      2    3     4    5    6  7   8   9    10  11 12 13


      1    220516    timestamp
      2    5130.02   Latitude of next waypoint
      3    N         North/South
      4    00046.34  Longitude of next waypoint
      5    W         East/West
      6    213.0     True track to waypoint
      7    T         True Track
      8    218.0     Magnetic track to waypoint
      9    M         Magnetic
      10   0004.6    range to waypoint
      11   N         unit of range to waypoint, N = Nautical miles
      12   EGLM      Waypoint name
      13   *11       checksum

$GPGGA

Global Positioning System Fix Data

eg1. $GPGGA,170834,4124.8963,N,08151.6838,W,1,05,1.5,280.2,M,-34.0,M,,,*75

Courtesy of Brian McClure, N8PQI.

Global Positioning System Fix Data. Time, position and fix related data for a GPS receiver.

eg2. $GPGGA,hhmmss.ss,ddmm.mmm,a,dddmm.mmm,b,q,xx,p.p,a.b,M,c.d,M,x.x,nnnn

hhmmss.ss = UTC of position
ddmm.mmm = latitude of position
a = N or S, latitutde hemisphere
dddmm.mmm = longitude of position
b = E or W, longitude hemisphere
q = GPS Quality indicator (0=No fix, 1=Non-differential GPS fix, 2=Differential GPS fix, 6=Estimated fix)
xx = number of satellites in use
p.p = horizontal dilution of precision
a.b = Antenna altitude above mean-sea-level
M = units of antenna altitude, meters
c.d = Geoidal height
M = units of geoidal height, meters
x.x = Age of Differential GPS data (seconds since last valid RTCM transmission)
nnnn = Differential reference station ID, 0000 to 1023

$GPGLL

Geographic Position, Latitude / Longitude and time.

eg1. $GPGLL,3751.65,S,14507.36,E*77
eg2. $GPGLL,4916.45,N,12311.12,W,225444,A


           4916.46,N    Latitude 49 deg. 16.45 min. North
           12311.12,W   Longitude 123 deg. 11.12 min. West
           225444       Fix taken at 22:54:44 UTC
           A            Data valid


eg3. $GPGLL,5133.81,N,00042.25,W*75
               1    2     3    4 5

      1    5133.81   Current latitude
      2    N         North/South
      3    00042.25  Current longitude
      4    W         East/West
      5    *75       checksum

$--GLL,lll.ll,a,yyyyy.yy,a,hhmmss.ss,A llll.ll = Latitude of position

a = N or S
yyyyy.yy = Longitude of position
a = E or W
hhmmss.ss = UTC of position
A = status: A = valid data

$GPGRS

GPS Range Residuals

Example: $GPGRS,024603.00,1,-1.8,-2.7,0.3,,,,,,,,,*6C

$GPGSA

GPS DOP and active satellites

eg1. $GPGSA,A,3,,,,,,16,18,,22,24,,,3.6,2.1,2.2*3C
eg2. $GPGSA,A,3,19,28,14,18,27,22,31,39,,,,,1.7,1.0,1.3*34


1    = Mode:
       M=Manual, forced to operate in 2D or 3D
       A=Automatic, 3D/2D
2    = Mode:
       1=Fix not available
       2=2D
       3=3D
3-14 = PRN's of Satellite Vechicles (SV's) used in position fix (null for unused fields)
15   = Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP)
16   = Horizontal Dilution of Precision (HDOP)
17   = Vertical Dilution of Precision (VDOP)