Comments on: Raspberry Pi Pico: NEO-M8N GPS Logger and Display on Google Earth (MicroPython)

By: Chip F.

Chip F. — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:11:46 +0000

In reply to Chip F..

Another thing to look at to help identify a genuine u-blox part vs a counterfeit is Section 9 of the datasheet at https://content.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/NEO-M8-FW3_DataSheet_UBX-15031086.pdf, which tells you how a genuine part should be marked. You should be able to read the Data Matrix code on the label with an app such as QR Scanner (Android) or a barcode scanner app on an iPhone.

In the “Wiring the Circuit” figure above, the Data Matrix code reads “242218577100100”. The “24221857710” part corresponds to the number below “NEO-M8N-0-001” on the label, and the “0100” that follows corresponds to the number just above the black dot in the lower left.

HTH.

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:21:51 +0000

In reply to Peter Lutz.

Hi.
Thanks for your feedback.
However, the library is not ours.
We’re using a fork from other author. Of course, we can then improve it. But, at the moment we’re using it as it is.
Regards,
Sara

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:16:48 +0000

In reply to Chip F..

Thanks for the info.

Regards,
Sara

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:10:29 +0000

In reply to Floyd Geouge.

That’s right.
Thanks for the info.
Regards,
Sara

By: Peter Lutz

Peter Lutz — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 16:54:04 +0000

I have had great fun with all your various tutorials. This one led me to find my old GPS unit and attach it to a rPi-pico. I have one request, however, that applies to many of your examples. I wish that you would return just the numeric data from your libraries so that we could do our own formatting. For example, the macroGPS.py returns 3 date formats, none of which are ISO standard format (2025-02-10). Many times you return data as a string, which is great for just printing the result in your chosen format, but makes life more difficult if we wish to do further processing on the data. Thank you. I really appreciate that you respond to our comments and requests for help.

By: Chip F.

Chip F. — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 13:36:18 +0000

In reply to Sara Santos.

This video is helpful: youtube.com/watch?v=2qPivbIXfQE

And so is this u-blox blog post, to a lesser extent:
u-blox.com/en/blogs/innovation/tracking-down-fake-modules-shenzhens-huaqiangbei-district

If the module passes initial visual inspection, meaning it has a u-blox label that looks like the one in your figure at https://i0.wp.com/randomnerdtutorials.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/RPi-Pico-NEO-M8N-Get-Raw-GPS-Data.jpg, then use the u-center software at https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/u-center to program the flash in the NEO-M8N. If u-center can’t program the flash, or says it can’t find the flash, the module is either fake or defective.

I had this problem with a NEO-6M module seven or eight years ago, if I recall correctly.

Another clue might be Chinese characters in the startup message sent by the NEO-M8N to u-center. I vaguely recall seeing that on the NEO-6M.

By: Floyd Geouge

Floyd Geouge — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 11:49:58 +0000

Thanks Rui and Sara for another excellent project using the U-Blox GNSS module.
Now that you have moved up to the M8N, the u-center evaluation software should prove useful to those wishing to go a bit deeper into the workings of GNSS and getting the most out of the hardware. All they will need a USB serial communications module, the M8N or equivalent, and a good antenna to get things going.
U-center can be downloaded from the U-Blox website and for my experimentation I was using the DSD TECH SH-U06B USB to TTL Serial Adapter available from Amazon for around $10.00.

By: Sara Santos

Sara Santos — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 09:49:50 +0000

In reply to Chip F..

Hi.
Thanks for your comment.
How can you tell they are counterfeit? I would like to confirm that.
I thought those were just a different more recent version.
Regards,
Sara

By: Chip F.

Chip F. — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 15:23:24 +0000

This tutorial looks like an interesting project, and I may try it.

Unfortunately, while it appears you used a genuine u-blox NEO-M8N in your tutorial, all of the products you list on https://makeradvisor.com/tools/neo-m8n-gps-module/ seem to be counterfeit parts, based on the labels I see in the product photographs.

u-blox currently sells the NEO-M8N-0 in quantity 250 for about US$20.613. If you see a single breakout board priced less than that, be very suspicious.