Specialist vendors

  • ArduSimple are in Andorra and Spain, and are primarily focuses on the RTK case. They make an M.2 card with antenna and time pulse out connectors that can fit in a wifi M.2 slot in a PC.
  • Beitian are a Chinese company that make a range of GNSS boards, modules and antennas. They have their own direct store, but I have bought through AliExpress.
  • BG7TBL is a rather mysterious Chinese vendor. The nearest to an official website is their Taobao store. They make some nice external GNSS units. They also make an antenna splitter.
  • FS make some inexpensive switches with PTP support.
  • gnss.store are in Latvia. They make some USB dongle with SMA connectors for antenna and time pulse out.
  • Leo Bodnar Electronics are a UK company, which makes some GNSS and timing products.
  • SparkFun Electronics make a variety of GNSS boards. I haven’t used them much because their US location is not convenient for me.
  • Star River is a Chinese company that make a number of GNSS boards that are inexpensive and work well in a CM4/5. They have stores on AliExpress and on Taobao. The Taobao shop seems to have a wider range.
  • Time Appliances make the TimeHAT, which is a hat for a Raspberry Pi 5, with an Intel i226 NIC.
  • TimeBeat are in London, UK. They make a board for the CM4/5 in a unique “sandwich” form factor.
  • Waveshare are in China. Amongst other things, they make some carrier boards and cases for the CM4/5.

Distributors

  • AliExpress is a China-based marketplace intended for buyers outside China. It is important to understand that AliExpress does not sell products itself. It is a platform that connects buyers and sellers. The key thing is to choose the seller the carefully. They have ratings out of 5, but it’s best to ignore the leading 4 and treat it as a rating out of 10, i.e. consider a seller with a rating of 4.5 as having a rating of 5/10. I have bought a lot from AliExpress, and my experiences have overall been very good. Shipping times can be long.
  • DigiKey is a large US-based electronics distributor. They are a good source for u-blox EVKs.
  • eBay have a lot of resellers of Chinese-made products. It can be a little less daunting for a Western buyer than AliExpress or Taobao, although the prices can be higher.
  • Mouser Electronic is another large US-based electronics distributor. I have had slightly better experience with Digi-Key.
  • Taobao is a China-based marketplace. It is primarily designed for residents of China, but they can ship direct to some countries outside China in the Asia-Pacific region. If you don’t live in one of these countries, it’s a bit of a challenge to use (Google translate helps a lot), but it is possible. I have found the vendors to be generally honest. As with AliExpress, you need to carefully choose which stores you buy from. Shipping times tend to be long.
  • Tindie is a US-based market place for small electronics vendors.