WHEN BUYING A GPS MODULE FOR THE SDS200 KNOW THAT GPS CHIPS ARE WILDLY COUNTERFEITED AND THAT BUYING A CHIP FROM AMAZON, EBAY, OR ALIEXPRESS IS LIKELY TO GET YOU A FAKE OR A REBRANDED CHIP.
I’ve been on a Uniden Police Scanner GPS DIY tear lately and my last radio scanner to need a GPS accessory is my prized Uniden SDS200. Sure you can buy a GPS unit for about $50, but our goal is to make one for less than that.
Oddly enough, this was the easiest one to make. Here’s what you need:
- GPS Module STM32 (not serial) – $12. NOTE: THIS TURNED OUT TO BE A REBRANDED U-BLOX 7 CHIPSET SOLD AS A NEO-8M. It works and is good enough for a police scanner……..but it was not as described. Also on these breakout boards there is usually a chip for flash memory for upgrading the firmware. No flash memory exists and the firmware cannot be upgraded.
- Any 4 wire RJ14 telephone cord. You can get them at Walmart for about $4. I’d be willing to bet you have one laying around in a junk drawer or hooked to an old phone you’ll never use again.
- 3D printed case (optional)
Oddly enough I bought a NEO-6M board from one seller on eBay for $8 and it is authentic which really surprised me. The NEO-6M is a pretty old chip though so I guess I’m not surprised old authentic stock is still out there. An $8 NEO-6M is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for this project……..if you can find one.
Lots of different GPS units will work but they must not be serial devices. Make sure you get a 3.3 Volt, TTL logic unit and not an RS-232 serial device.
Let’s wire it up!
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