Raymarine internal GPS sensor

[aquapower]

From the looks of your setup the roof is blocking the signal. The antenna needs to see the sky. Going one direction the signal comes in starboard and the reverse course comes in port. You get the picture. Best to just pony up and get a little mushroom external antenna.

But why has it workrd ok up untill now

I would have thought if it could not see the sky then it would never have worked.

 

[PaulGooch]

I just ordered up a set of plotters for the livingroom and the penthouse. Internal antenna upstairs and corded external downstairs. Only a few inches of position can make a big difference for signal strength down stairs. From the looks of your setup the roof is blocking the signal. The antenna needs to see the sky. Going one direction the signal comes in starboard and the reverse course comes in port. You get the picture. Best to just pony up and get a little mushroom external antenna.

And if Littleship is reading this, YES I'm getting a mast mounted radar dome.

Bernie

Thanks for your comments Bernie. It's supposed to work inside, as long as there aren't too many obstructions (metalwork mostly). It doesn't have to see the sky as such, just needs a reasonable path to the signal. My boat doesn't have a flybridge, so it only has to work through some GRP, car sat nav's seem to work fine through the steel roof of a car. I know a guy in my marina with the exact same boat as me, he has a Standard Horizon plotter with an internal antenna which works great, as my Raymarine had done since January.

As for paying for an external antenna, well, before i bought the plotter i was told it had Navionics charts installed. I was also told by both the dealer and by Raymarine that the antenna would work fine in my boat (which up to now it had). I later found out that the chart detail doesn't extend beyond 1/2 nm zoom and there is missing data from them, compared to Navionics Gold and Platinum. It's also not possible to update the charts and the cartography was dated 1998, two years old before i start. On top of the price of the brand new plotter i then paid £170 for a Navionics gold card and to now have to pay £225 for a Raymarine antenna would add almost £400 to the original cost of the plotter.

£400 of hidden costs on a £1700 plotter seems excessive to me and makes me kind of feel that i've been conned.

 

[Tresner]

Thanks for your comments Bernie. It's supposed to work inside, as long as there aren't too many obstructions (metalwork mostly). It doesn't have to see the sky as such, just needs a reasonable path to the signal. My boat doesn't have a flybridge, so it only has to work through some GRP, car sat nav's seem to work fine through the steel roof of a car. I know a guy in my marina with the exact same boat as me, he has a Standard Horizon plotter with an internal antenna which works great, as my Raymarine had done since January.

As for paying for an external antenna, well, before i bought the plotter i was told it had Navionics charts installed. I was also told by both the dealer and by Raymarine that the antenna would work fine in my boat (which up to now it had). I later found out that the chart detail doesn't extend beyond 1/2 nm zoom and there is missing data from them, compared to Navionics Gold and Platinum. It's also not possible to update the charts and the cartography was dated 1998, two years old before i start. On top of the price of the brand new plotter i then paid £170 for a Navionics gold card and to now have to pay £225 for a Raymarine antenna would add almost £400 to the original cost of the plotter.

£400 of hidden costs on a £1700 plotter seems excessive to me and makes me kind of feel that i've been conned.

I was only repeating what Scott at Standard Horizon to me the other day. They have the best customer service I have ever encountered. They will walk you through every detail and answer every question. A rarity these days. Their CP180, CP300 snd CP500 come with the external antenna as part of the price, which is considerably less than he competitors price just for the plotter.

Bernie

 

[PaulGooch]

I was only repeating what Scott at Standard Horizon to me the other day. They have the best customer service I have ever encountered. They will walk you through every detail and answer every question. A rarity these days. Their CP180, CP300 snd CP500 come with the external antenna as part of the price, which is considerably less than he competitors price just for the plotter.

Bernie

My previous plotter was Standard Horizon Bernie. I've had the CP180 and the CP300, both with external antenna's. My hand held and fixed VHF sets are both Standard Horizon. I have had a couple of problems with their equipment, but their support was first class and i wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

As i said, a friend has a CP300 with the internal antenna fitted to the same boat as mine, works a treat. I've just taken the Raymarine off and fitted Garmin, i stood the Garmin external antenna on a shelf in the heads and it worked just fine (fixed to the roof now).

 

[WALLY]

As a rule of thumb if you are flush mounting a plotter an external antenna is required - this is why the larger displays tend to be suplied with them. I'm surprised both the dealer and Raymarine told you otherwise, and i'm equally surprised your plotter ever worked to be honest.

 

[PaulGooch]

As a rule of thumb if you are flush mounting a plotter an external antenna is required - this is why the larger displays tend to be suplied with them. I'm surprised both the dealer and Raymarine told you otherwise, and i'm equally surprised your plotter ever worked to be honest.

And the Garmin worked a treat with the external antenna hanging out the back of the helm, through a couple more layers of GRP than the Raymarine. It was about as low down in the boat as it could get.

Two main issues for me, p1ss poor service from Fox's and Raymarine. I accept things can go wrong, i'd just like them sorting out in a timely and sensible manner.

The expectation that i would consider it OK to fork out an extra £400 because the supplied cartography and antenna were not fit for purpose.

Thanks to everyone that replied. I now have the Garmin 4010 and digital HD radar up and running. Had one trip out with jut the plotter and will be going out this weekend with the radar too. Will endeavour to write a report up of how it all performs, with the odd pic, if anyone's interested.

 

[PaulGooch]

Just to end this saga, i've finally got my refund for the plotter. I've had to swallow any losses on the chart card and radar, radar is listed on Ebay and the Navionics Gold card, PC card reader and user card will be there soon.

I've got a Garmin GPSMap 4010 and 18" digital HD radar fitted and working, new thread will be coming to report on those.

When i returned the power/data cable to Fox's last Friday, the two staff in the electronics department were quite rude. I was half expecting them to drag me out to the car park and give me a sound beating. The department manager was very agressive (looked like he'd had a heavy night on the meths and slept in the hedge the nght before, unshaven and very unkempt). The other guy kept telling me how "i'd bought second rate equipment" by buying Garmin (from their competitor just up the road). Funny that, their Garmin stock seemed to outnumber all the other kit they had put together. Nasty people that i will never deal with again, ever.

Seamark Nunn gave me a good price and fantastic service. They shall be recipients of my cash for any future dealings, dealt with them before and always had good service.

Anyway, hopefully things will go well for a while.