So that's what that character was. That makes sense then. The whole point behind this simple code was to see if I could get the gps data to appear on my serial monitor. It was a simple test before I got into more complex coding. This simple code actually comes from watching a youtube video at this link - YouTube. I'm a beginner at this and I knew that this arduino has hardware ports. If the easier route is to use those, then could someone briefly tell me how? Thanks.