Thanks for the responses...

I haven't connected the computer to the GPS rx pin, so that shouldn't be damaged. And I misspoke when I said I had connected the module to an RS-232 port... it's a serial port on a 10+ year old computer using windows 98 (I keep it around cause it works with the parallel port ePIC programmer I have and runs the 32bit PBP compiler I use... mainly cause I'm cheap and it ain't broke).

The terminal program I use has the option of inverting the data, which I've tried along with several other baud, parity, and stop bit permutations. The garble changes, and I can tell there's consistent exported data behind the garble (lots of repeating characters), but nothing that looks intelligible.

Do I need a pull-up resistor in the connection? Or could it be the logic levels obtained by the gy-new6mv2 module aren't quite high enough? Or could I use a pic as a middle-man between the module and the computer? The pic seems to communicate fine at 3.3v, so maybe importing the data to the pic then the computer would work?

Thanks for the help!
Dave