To communicate with the GPS, you have to tell Bluewater Racing where the GPS is plugged into the computer, and what communication protocol the GPS is using. The communication port and protocol can be set from tools->preferences->gps.

The GPS will be connected to a com or usb port. A com port takes a RS232 connector, and is specified as “comn:” for some integer n. It’s up to you to figure out what com port number you are plugged into. A usb port is typically just “usb:”. To find out what com ports are available, use the Windows device manager (Control Panel, System, Device Manager).

Bluewater Racing uses the helper application gpsbabel to communicate with GPS units. To see if you are correctly connected to the GPS, open a cmd window, navigate to the bluewater installation folder (by default, c:\Program Files\bluewater) and type at the cmd prompt:

gpsbabel.exe -T -i {nmea|garmin} -f {your input port} -o nmea -F –

({nmea|garmin} means either “nmea” or “garmin“. It should match the output protocol set on your GPS unit.) You should see a sequence of NMEA position messages in the cmd window. If not, there is a problem somewhere between gpsbabel and your GPS. The gpsbabel website provides a lot of useful information to solve connection problems. If you do see messages, but Bluewater Racing still does not show GPS info, then please post a bug report with as much info as possible.

I can’t connect to my GPS.

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