Nav Equipment

[Mark26]

Can anyone tell me if a basic chart plotter needs a separate aerial or if its self contained and works in the same way a car satnav does.
Many thanks in advance.
Mark

 

[Momac]

If you are talking about new or not very old products they usually have built in antenna but with an option for a plug in antenna which might be necessary in certain boats - eg if it has a steel roof .
Older products would have had a separate mushroom antenna .

 

[oldgit]

if you have fairly modern VHF radio with GPS it usually will have the capability of supplying a signal to any plotter without internal attenna.
In my case on the flybridge a ICOM IC330GE is interfaced with an Raymarine RL80.

 

[Antony Collis]

The answer is that it could be either depending on what plotter it is. It does not matter what age they are.