FURUNO GPS GP-70 MkII Navigator, GPS Head

[Jomac]

I recently bought some equipment which the previous owner has had removed as part of an upgrade, one of the working units I bought was a Furuno Navigator, but the GPS antenna was left in the original boat.

I have seen these advertised on eBay for just under £50 but the connection is a BNC plug and socket, this being a 2 wire system. Looking at my GP-70 there is a BNC and two data sockets marked data 1 and 2. Data 2 socket still has its original dust cap fitted, whereas data one looks to have had something connected to it, both of these sockets have the NEMA connections. Looking at the antenna or BNC socket, this has a light film of corrosion, so thats not been used in a while. I can get a GPS 6 wire NEMA unit and I am wondering if this would work, connecting it to the used data 1 socket.

Can anyone advise?

 

[jwfrary]

The previous install was likely using nmea for data out to a radio or plotter.

The BNCs go crusty whether used or not!

But being furuno I expect its threaded which is TNC

 

[prv]

What are you trying to achieve? There doesn’t seem much point buying a new GPS receiver to feed position data to an obsolete GPS receiver.

Pete

 

[andsarkit]

From the handbook it seems the connector is a TNC (similar to a BNC but with a thread).

You can get very cheap GPS antennae but you might have to change the plug on the coax to TNC or get an adapter.
GPS Antenna adapter
Or this: TNC GPS

My old GP31 has just failed after a rollover and there is no software update to fix it. Furuno just say spend more on a new one but I don't think they make a basic set anymore. If you are anywhere near to Devon you would be welcome to try my old Furuno antenna to check the set works before you spend money on a new one.

 

[Jomac]

The previous install was likely using nmea for data out to a radio or plotter.

The BNCs go crusty whether used or not!

But being furuno I expect its threaded which is TNC

You are right with the TNC, my error. The threads on the TNC look just as dirty as the rest of the TNC, looking at it, it suggests its never had a plug fitted in ages. My question is, has this unit got its GPS data via another piece of equipment via NMEA and if so, can I simply connect an NMEA GPS to the previously used DATA 1 socket?

 

[Jomac]

From the handbook it seems the connector is a TNC (similar to a BNC but with a thread).
View attachment 121235
You can get very cheap GPS antennae but you might have to change the plug on the coax to TNC or get an adapter.
GPS Antenna adapter
Or this: TNC GPS

My old GP31 has just failed after a rollover and there is no software update to fix it. Furuno just say spend more on a new one but I don't think they make a basic set anymore. If you are anywhere near to Devon you would be welcome to try my old Furuno antenna to check the set works before you spend money on a new one.

Thanks for the info, very interesting. Is this GPS receiver in the link likely to be a plug and play solution? It is 1/7th of the price I've seen on eBay! Unfortunately I am in Suffolk, miles from you.

 

[Jomac]

What are you trying to achieve? There doesn’t seem much point buying a new GPS receiver to feed position data to an obsolete GPS receiver.

Pete

I am disabled and whatever I do, I have to finance on the income I get and with the help of friends. I recently purchased at a very low price several pieces of equipment that came out of a boat which had a complete electronics refit, items such as a Koden Colour radar, Stowe dataline waypoint, Cetrek Autopilot Navico VHF and this GP-70. It would be nice to afford new but my circumstances just wont allow it.

 

[andsarkit]

From the handbook it seems that Data 1& 2 are outputs only. If you have a handbook look at page 79 for the connections. The online one I found is not clear but I think Data 1 is Tx and an alarm output and Data 2 is Tx and a factory test.

I would try and borrow an antenna to check it works before spending anything on it. It might have the same GPS rollover problem as my GP31 which is now effectively scrap for lack of a little foresight by Furuno software engineers.

 

[Jomac]

From the handbook it seems that Data 1& 2 are outputs only. If you have a handbook look at page 79 for the connections. The online one I found is not clear but I think Data 1 is Tx and an alarm output and Data 2 is Tx and a factory test.
View attachment 121248
I would try and borrow an antenna to check it works before spending anything on it. It might have the same GPS rollover problem as my GP31 which is now effectively scrap for lack of a little foresight by Furuno software engineers.

The two manuals i have don't show the connections above which i cant see because its very blurred. One manual is a quick start guide and the other has completely different page numberings grouped into chapters. I bought the whole lot and the seller said everything worked prior to removal. The main thing i bought this lot of equipment was for the Koden Colour radar, after quite a search I managed to locate a plug and fitted it to a spare cable I had, since then I've had the radar up and running. Let me PM you direct.

 

[prv]

I am disabled and whatever I do, I have to finance on the income I get and with the help of friends.

I‘m not questioning doing things on a budget, I’m genuinely enquiring what you’re trying to use the GP70 for so I can advise how best to do it.

Pete