Em-Trak B100 question

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Caladh

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After reviewing several options and taking on board what other forumites recommend I am thinking about buy this after the festivities are over. I note it comes with an external GPS antenna.

Would I be able to site this inside my yacht or must it be sited on a push pit? If I can't mount it inside I think I'll need the aerial splitter, as running another cable deck wise is a pain.
 
Under a fibreglass deck should be fine - Garmin even sell dedicated brackets to mount their receivers this way. There might be some reduction of signal but in practice modern receivers cope perfectly well enough for leisure purposes.

Pete
 
In a regular GRP boat, assuming receiver is not beneath a lump of metal, I've yet to see a problem on recent ones of any make when located below. The current chips seem to be very sensitive.
 
MikeCC said:
In a regular GRP boat, assuming receiver is not beneath a lump of metal, I've yet to see a problem on recent ones of any make when located below. The current chips seem to be very sensitive.
Click to expand...

Agree both my receivers one in my VHF and a little round one to plug directly int my PC with USB, pick up sats. very quickly and both have the same readings inside my cabin, in the marina surrounded by flats. so must be pretty powerful.
 
prv said:
Under a fibreglass deck should be fine - Garmin even sell dedicated brackets to mount their receivers this way. There might be some reduction of signal but in practice modern receivers cope perfectly well enough for leisure purposes.

Pete
Click to expand...

I am not worried about receiving as ilM doing that via a Stanrd Horizion combined vhf/ais interfaced to my plotter. I'm more worried about transmitting and the implications in signal quality. I guess I can just buy the unit and then buy a splitter if I find it unsatisfactory but the bundles are more cost effective.
 
Caladh said:
I am not worried about receiving as ilM doing that via a Stanrd Horizion combined vhf/ais interfaced to my plotter. I'm more worried about transmitting and the implications in signal quality. I guess I can just buy the unit and then buy a splitter if I find it unsatisfactory but the bundles are more cost effective.
Click to expand...

You ideally need a separate, externally mounted antenna for transmitting AIS. You can use your existing VHF antenna via a splitter, but a separate antenna would, I reckon, be a better option and would also give you some element of redundancy in the event of a problem with your main VHF antenna.
 
prv said:
Under a fibreglass deck should be fine - Garmin even sell dedicated brackets to mount their receivers this way. There might be some reduction of signal but in practice modern receivers cope perfectly well enough for leisure purposes.

Pete
Click to expand...

I am not worried about receiving as ilM doing that via a Stanrd Horizion combined vhf/ais interfaced to my plotter. I'm more worried about transmitting and the implications in signal quality. I guess I can just buy the unit and then buy a splitter if I find it unsatisfactory but the bundles are more cost effective.
 
Emtrak sells a 'Sailor Package', which is the B100 along with the S100 splitter at a reduced price. I've got both and they are excellent.
 
pandroid said:
Emtrak sells a 'Sailor Package', which is the B100 along with the S100 splitter at a reduced price. I've got both and they are excellent.
Click to expand...
I bought that package and can confirm that it was easy to install & seems to work fine.
My boat shows up well on Marine Traffic and other people say they can track me.
My problem is that I use [and like] MX Mariner as a chart plotter on an Android tablet and can't find a way of displaying AIS on that system.
I believe Navionics can do this but I had a bit of an issue with them a while ago and would like to avoid therm.
Any ideas?
 
Caladh said:
After reviewing several options and taking on board what other forumites recommend I am thinking about buy this after the festivities are over. I note it comes with an external GPS antenna.

Would I be able to site this inside my yacht or must it be sited on a push pit? If I can't mount it inside I think I'll need the aerial splitter, as running another cable deck wise is a pain.
Click to expand...

I installed one of those B100 transponders about 3 years ago. The GPS antenna is screwed to the bottom of a locker next to the chart table (about 600mm below the GRP deck) and I have had no problems with it. I used a dedicated vhf antenna mounted on a mast at the stern about 3.5m above the water line but I know lots of people use splitters and the masthead vhf radio antenna.
 
The GPS receiver does not transmit, it's the VHF antenna that does that.

The emtrac B100 does indeed come with an external GPS, but the unit has an inbuilt GPS as well. So if you site the unit accordingly, you might not need the external one. If you do, mounted under the deck head will likely be OK.

I liked the emtrac AIS so much i became an official dealer :)
 
PaulRainbow said:
The GPS receiver does not transmit, it's the VHF antenna that does that.

The emtrac B100 does indeed come with an external GPS, but the unit has an inbuilt GPS as well. So if you site the unit accordingly, you might not need the external one. If you do, mounted under the deck head will likely be OK.

I liked the emtrac AIS so much i became an official dealer :)
Click to expand...

I was waiting for you to respond Paul, so thanks very much for that !!
 
PaulRainbow said:
The GPS receiver does not transmit, it's the VHF antenna that does that.

The emtrac B100 does indeed come with an external GPS, but the unit has an inbuilt GPS as well. So if you site the unit accordingly, you might not need the external one. If you do, mounted under the deck head will likely be OK.

I liked the emtrac AIS so much i became an official dealer :)
Click to expand...

.... So I will need the vhf splitter to transmit then ?
 
Caladh said:
I am not worried about receiving as ilM doing that via a Stanrd Horizion combined vhf/ais interfaced to my plotter. I'm more worried about transmitting and the implications in signal quality.
Click to expand...

You specifically posted a question about the GPS antenna, which does not transmit. You also cannot use an interface with an external GPS receiver to supply the AIS with position data, it must use its own.

Pete
 
prv said:
You specifically posted a question about the GPS antenna, which does not transmit. You also cannot use an interface with an external GPS receiver to supply the AIS with position data, it must use its own.

Pete
Click to expand...

Yes - sorry I now understand that the supplied antenna is for GPS receive only and I didn't realise the transmit uses the VHF antenna - now I know. The power of the Forum hey ! With many thanks for all who contributed and Merry Christmas to all and Fair Winds for 2019 - what ever it may bring....
 
I ordered the B100 and happy to hear that I don't necessarily need to drill for the GPS antenna maybe it could even stay in the box... Anyone compared how much the signal degraded below deck of an AWB? My phone and tablet does fine when using them as drag alarm.

Another GPS-question: is the GPS data transmitted trough NMEA0183 and USB? I plan to use the unit both as AIS and external GPS for my tablet by relaying the data by a Raspberry running Openplotter.

Some more USB-woes:

USING THE USB PORT ON THE B100
We occasionally hear from customers who have experienced unit failures when a unit has been powered by 12/24V whilst also being connected to a PC/Laptop.

The reason for this is that the USB port built into this product is not isolated from the vessel power supply, VHF antenna ground or GPS antenna ground. This being
the case, we advise you to observe the following procedures when connecting the USB port to avoid grounding problems;

– If the computer is permanently installed on the vessel and/ or electrically connected to any other vessel equipment, including power supplies, it is recommended
that connection is made using NMEA0183 or NMEA2000 connections. These benefit from being specifically designed for use in the marine environment and provide
isolated and robust communication between your devices.
– If a battery powered laptop is being used then it is recommended to switch off the computer, connect the USB cable, then switch on the laptop. This will help to ensure
that all equipment grounds are correctly referenced before use, minimizing any risk of equipment damage.
Click to expand...
https://www.virtualware.nl/wp-content/uploads/B100-FAQ.pdf
Apparently some more research needs to be done about that Raspberry & USB setup :mad:.
 
Last edited:
The position data can be sent over NMEA0183 - I’m using it to feed my VHF - but I believe you need to reconfigure the firmware to enable it. The Em Trak helpdesk can send you a file which you put on an SD card and insert into the unit. Then you can select in the setup software what sentences you want to emit.

I don’t know if it also sends it over USB; seems quite likely. Might as well ask Em Trak when you contact them for the firmware config file. They‘ve always been quite responsive when I’ve emailed them (had to do so for work a while ago, before I bought my personal one).

I‘m not convinced about the built-in GPS antenna. It comes with an external one, and you can mount it below a GRP deck with negligible loss, but I haven’t seen any mention of a built-in that would allow you to leave it in the box.

Pete
 
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