GPS Module Receiver,Navigation Satellite Positioning NEO-6M (Arduino GPS, Drone Microcontroller, GPS Receiver) Compatible with 51 Microcontroller STM32 Arduino UNO R3 with Antenna High Sensitivity

I have been using this GPS module for several months to turn a Raspberry Pi into a home NTP server and it is working great. I needed to use an active antenna to get a stable signal indoors, but that was pretty much expected.

This one worked right out of the box. Plugged it into a 3.3v source and within an hour it came to life and the PPS light started blinking. I ran a free windows program (U-center 22.05) on a laptop to verify that the GPS was working. It took some fiddling but eventually the program showed all the data I expected to see. This GPS requires a "serial to USB" adapter since the GPS output is not compatible with USB protocol of my laptop. No instructions came with the unit. Update after 1 month of use: The module runs on 5V and has a 3.3V regulator onboard. Acquires a 3D fix in less than 2 minutes after being powered-up. Antenna is indoors. I use this GPS to routinely update a QRP-Labs radio transceiver with time, location and frequency information. No "serial to USB" adapter needed in this application. Output logic level is 0 to 3.1 volts. Works flawlessly.

I thought the reason I wasn't getting data was that it was too close to my computer and too far away from the window (even though I can touch the two very large windows while sitting at my desk) so I pulled out a USB extension cable and neither of the two modules I got were giving back data within a minute or so. I thought maybe they just weren't good since I literally had it hanging by a window. However, I left the little python script I did running to track it and within 3.25 minutes it got really good data. So out of curiosity I moved it back away and sure enough, it kept returning data. I am not an expert or anything but it seems like they need to "warm up". But now that I know they work and what the data looks like, I'll work on my mobile project with them. the price point is perfect for such good quality data once it I started receiving it.

I found tinygps in arduino did not fit my needs, I wrote my own. It is possible to suppress nmea "sentences" and make this into a master/slave where you make PUBX requests and process the response, otherwise this thing does not shut up and overruns the processor and buffer, leaving no cycles for anything other than serving a flood of packets. My code for GPS synced epoch time is on github. Dave in SD Here is a headstart if interested: onstart //RMCx5 slows RMC to every 5 cycles... //time info may be ephemeral (warm start) time may be from a 2d fix, check GSA sprintf(pubx40,"$PUBX,40,RMC,0,5,0,0,0,0"); //page 82 if (SetCheckSum(pubx40, sizeof(pubx40))) { String sPubx=pubx40; Serial.print(sPubx); gpsSerial.print(sPubx); } //noGSV turns off GSV a useless sentence, just because a satellite is in view does not make for fixed sprintf(pubx40,"$PUBX,40,GSV,0,0,0,0,0,0"); if (SetCheckSum(pubx40, sizeof(pubx40))) { String sPubx=pubx40; Serial.print(sPubx); gpsSerial.print(sPubx); } bool SetCheckSum(unsigned char *pPacket, int bufferSize){ bool bResult=false; //packet sent with five extra spaces -and- without an asterick 0x26 CR_A CR_B 0x0d 0x0a int iSize=strlen(pPacket); if ((iSize+5)<=bufferSize){ //do not include $ int iChecksum = 0; for (int x=1;x<iSize;x++){ iChecksum = iChecksum ^ (byte)pPacket[x]; //xor } char Calc[3]; sprintf(Calc,"%02X",iChecksum); pPacket[iSize]='*'; pPacket[iSize+1]=Calc[0]; pPacket[iSize+2]=Calc[1]; pPacket[iSize+3]=0x0D; pPacket[iSize+4]=0x0A; bResult=true; } return bResult; } bool CheckSum(String sPacket){ bool bResult=false; int iSize=sPacket.length(); if (iSize>10){ int iAstericks=sPacket.indexOf('*'); if (iAstericks>0){ String sCS=sPacket.substring(iAstericks+1,iAstericks+3); //xor bytes between $ and * sPacket=sPacket.substring(1,iAstericks); iSize=sPacket.length(); int iChecksum = 0; for (int x=0;x<iSize;x++){ iChecksum = iChecksum ^ (byte)sPacket[x]; //xor } //yeah, this could be better... think i got the false negatives; case and < 0x10 char Calc[3]; sprintf(Calc,"%02X",iChecksum); bResult=sCS==Calc; } } return bResult; } in your loop maintain a global buffer building sentences from chipset a complete packet starts with $ and ends with 0x0d 0x0a, check the sentence checksum then process based on sentence type https://content.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/products/documents/u-blox6_ReceiverDescrProtSpec_%28GPS.G6-SW-10018%29_Public.pdf

Overall this is a decent module for gps readings, however I would consider it for initial development and testing, for the only reason that some times it would take 10-30+ minutes to connect to a satellite to get the gps readings. In addition, it would not get a reading in my basement, or when it was cloudy outside. However, for the price, you can't really beat it and it's small in size. I would not say don't use it, just be aware that it's not the best quality out there. I ended up purchasing another one that uses the uBlox m8n chip, which was more expensive and larger but connects in my basement, outside, in the dark, clouds or no clouds, etc...

The product is great

Works perfectly. I chabge cable to a ipx to sma . Connected the external antenna and works perfectly

Works absolutely perfect. I set up an NTP server on an old Pi and this gave me zero issues. Has the PPS output pin and includes the breakout pins as well. Antenna functions very well.

Performs well with included antenna inside boat, acquires satellites quickly. Needed to convert output from ttl to RS232 4800 baud for my marine application. Once the power was connected just needed TXD and ground to get the signal over to the radio.

This gps is fairly good but i feel like for the price it could be better, it takes around 15 minutes to lock when it hasnt locked before and it also needs relatively high rssi, and theres no option to lock over the internet but i do like that it comes with an antenna that feels like its decently high quality