GPS device not being read correctly

[wb8tyw]

2. The program is not connecting with or reading an attached GPS dongle properly. It sometimes says it is unable to open the GPS port and other times says it cannot get a GPS lock even though the position is able to be obtained on the same computer using a different program, such as YAAC APRS client.

[wb8tyw]

I am assuming that the GPS dongle appears to be a serial port to applications. What I need to diagnose is a sample of the exact bytes that the GPS device sends out the serial line so that I can see how to parse it. If there is some documentation for using that device from a program, that would be helpful.