Just to share something I found out, and to (re)kindle interest in the OpenCPN autopilot_route plugin: When using the OpenCPN route/track function, the pypilot option 'gps' lights up by default, provided you set up a connection on tcp/20220 to pypilot. However, when using the autopilot_route plugin, pypilot does not show the gps option by default. The solution to this is to add RMC messages to the NMEA output in the plugin preferences (see image below). By default, the NMEA output is limited to APB messages only.
It took me hours to figure this out, only after tracing large parts of the pypilot code. The moment I realised I knew I had read it somewhere.
The GPS option in the pypilot interfaces only seems to light up when RMC messages are provided. The pypilot, however, only seems to use the content of the APB messages for following a track (XTE and BRG). This seems a bit weird, because XTE is in RMB messages and not in RMC messages. The OpenCPN route/track option provides RMB, RMC and APB messages by default.
It took me hours to figure this out, only after tracing large parts of the pypilot code. The moment I realised I knew I had read it somewhere.
The GPS option in the pypilot interfaces only seems to light up when RMC messages are provided. The pypilot, however, only seems to use the content of the APB messages for following a track (XTE and BRG). This seems a bit weird, because XTE is in RMB messages and not in RMC messages. The OpenCPN route/track option provides RMB, RMC and APB messages by default.