TT5 + Arkon BT001

[usabio]

After some struggling before eventually getting it to work, I thought I would post a couple of tips on getting TomTom 5 Navigator to work with another Bluetooth GPS under Windows Millenium 2003 2nd edition.

As background, I bought the Arkon BT001 for $130 from yourmobiledesk.com, who were quite responsive by phone in getting it shipped out quickly. Arkon themselves are not so responsive, with no support on their web page other than an email form, and no one answered the customer service phone # when I called. The unit appears to be reasonably attractive though.

To configure the device on my Axim X30, I went into Bluetooth Settings and generally accepted all the defaults. (For each service setting, all the options were checked except authorization required.) In the Bluetooth Manager, I used the New..Explore option to locate the device (BT GPS) and selected the one and only service (SPP slave). I checked both the Authentication and Encryption options under Security. I connected to the device (hold down cursor on icon, select Connect) and it asks for the passkey, which is 0000.

Upon connecting, it added a pairing, which remained even after disconnecting. (A number of posts on this forum suggested that pairing wasn't necessary, but I'm not sure if that applies to TT5 or not - certainly the GPS Status dialog in TT5 says you have to create a pairing if you select the Other Bluetooth option.) I was also confused about whether to make the Bluetooth connection first before going into TT5 or not (seems not to matter, although doing the connection first may be a useful debugging step.)

The big trick with TT5 however, is that the "Other Bluetooth" option doesn't seem to work; instead, set it to "Other NMEA Wired". I set the baud to 4800 and the COM port to 7 (which matched the Outbound COM port in the Axim Bluetooth settings for the Serial service.)

The other trick seems to be that you have to first make sure the GPS has a satellite fix before trying to connect from TT5. Otherwise, although it would see the device, it would then say there was no GPS signal. (Which is reasonable, but I couldn't get it to update this status even after the GPS had a fix, so it worked much better to get the fix, then launch TT5.)

One possible problem with the Arkon is that it failed to get a satellite fix indoors in a single-story house. The one page manual did say that if connecting for the first time or after moving, you should go outside with a clear view of the sky, and that did work. Supposedly after that, it shouldn't be necessary, although so far it has been.

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!