SH CP180 - downloading Track to PC

F

fireball

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 Nov 2004
Messages
19,453
Visit site
To me it seems such a basic requirement ... being able to send a track as an NMEA sentence to any listener (such as a PC) .... but no, according to the manual you can only send Route/Waypoint this way ... you need a User data card (and expensive hardware) to get your track information off ... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Has anyone else looked into this?
 
Most plotters in fact do not send TRACKS to a pc etc. or to another plotter / GPS. Routes and Waypoints yes - that is common and provided for.

It is usual to save the track to a card ie on my Lowrance I use SD or MMC cards ..... then take out and insert into a standard multi-card reader. BUT Lowrance Simulator on PC only reads a Lowrance card reader ... so you have top copy the track file to the simulator chart directory on PC ... as a usr file.

No doubt SH is similar ? Also remember that track files are not cross platform ... very difficult to display a SH track file on a Garmin for example !! You would need to do a conversion ... maybe even pull file up into software that creates a mp file to then convert in another bit of software !!

Once you sort the sequence / method - in fact usually falls into place and is not the problem that you imagine at this stage. I regularly convert track files into chartlets etc. and it's become a hobby ..... in fact I added various track files to an Ozi-Explorer base map I created to start thye creation of my stretch of river at back of my house .... no chart was available for it. The tracks converted and added to sat imagery / road map sections etc. produced a highly accurate 40km stretch of river chart that keeps me safe when I go boating !! When I go offshore - I just pull out that card and insert the chart card .... simple ... no hassle.

Good luck !!
 
yer ... but I need to buy a user card at £30 and then the software/hardware for CMap .... at £130 ... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

With my garmin I could download the track via serial cable and then import to whatever program I wanted ...
 
I'm trying to figure out why you would want to download a Track ? Waypoints / Routes OK ... but Track ?

If you want to keep a record ... then buy a card ... can't remember what format card they are ... but surely as tracks are only small files - you don't need a large memory card ... and so cheap. Save track to card ... when you want to return to look / work on it - reload to plotter - all tracks are loaded into plotter memory and are overlaid onto charts displayed ... you could pull your chart card and still have track displayed ...albeit on base map now !!

Malcb has a point and he has been very successful with planning CMap on PC ....

Me - I create routes / waypoints in various programs ... Seaclear / Maxsea / Ozi-Explorer - depends on charts I have etc. and then convert to upload to Lowrance via SD card ...
 
just want to keep a record and interrogate the data ... yes, I can buy a card ... but I can't put that onto a PC unless I buy the (expensive) PC Planner ... where as with the Garmin I could just transfer the track into a text file and away I go ...
simple little functionality that is missing from this unit (and I guess others) is just infuriating ... turning a cheap unit into a more expensive one by the time you buy all the bits to get up to the functionality of the garmin units! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
As I illustrated ealier - there are various ways to cheat the format .... a track file is usually saved in an unprotected format that can be read as any file can be. You just need something to interpret it ... Mapedit .... various other mapping conversion programs .... even Ozi-Explorer will load up most track files. OK the rub is that you need a chart as background to do it justice, but bsb / Kap charts are available of web ... etc.

If you only want to play with a track file - then thats the way to do it ... BUT if you want to plan and do it properly then Malcb is right.

You say the garmin would do it via serial cable as a text file ... this sounds more like a passage log, collection of relevant positions - not a track line as displayed on plotter screen ... if that's the case - different ball-game all together.
 
[ QUOTE ]
You say the garmin would do it via serial cable as a text file ... this sounds more like a passage log, collection of relevant positions - not a track line as displayed on plotter screen ... if that's the case - different ball-game all together.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is all the track line is on the CP180 ... a big join the dots game ...

I have no problem in messing around with the data - I'm quite used to maniuplating huge amounts of data and have various chart progs to use ... but I'm objecting to the requirement to buy yet more expensive kit just to get access to a tiny text file ....
 
If you have to buy SH gear to save a track file - then thats absurd .... even my Lowrance with its own card readers etc. - I can still save tracks to own card - read in standard reader - not Lowrances ... etc.

As I run GPS Navigator group on Yahoo ... I'm very interested in what solution you come up with ... maybe you can ask on the group ?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

You never know - someone may already have sorted it ?
 
The functionality is there to send waypoints and routes via the cable ... but not tracks ... I've looked through the unit and the manual, but there doesn't even appear to be a facility to convert a track into a route ...

I don't think you have to buy SH specific kit - it takes standard SD cards (well - the marine version of SD cards ... ) and the track can be saved on one of those ...

Now ... I wonder if there is a way of converting a normal PC style SD card to put into the unit ... they have pretty much the same connections and the technology has to be pretty similar ... so a physical fit to sort out first ... anyone else tried that?
 
An SD to C-Map card adapter?

That might work, well worth giving the techies at Horizon a call and see if they know of one.

I know what you mean about the track data, I review my garmin data quite a lot and find it very useful. Can you change the port to high speed and see if that opens more options up?
 
Following this debate with interest. I've not done anything with tracks from the CP300 I have - but do use the C-Map stuff with my Simrad CX unit to get tracks out for overlaying on Google Maps (for example). Its clunky and a bit buggy though - Simrad don't include the date/time of each track point which is frustrating and lots of track points can result in the C-Map card not being written correctly.

If I could get more complete data out of the CP300 and more easily, that would be great.

Rick
 
Marine version of SD card ???? Never heard of that ! New one on me ...

My Lowrance takes MMC or SD cards ... I have a Verbatim card reader that takes up to 24 different formats ... 12 quid.

I save user data - ie tracks / points etc. onto sd card ... reader reads ok.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Marine version of SD card ???? Never heard of that ! New one on me ...

My Lowrance takes MMC or SD cards

[/ QUOTE ]
Typically I don't have the unit with me ...

A standard SD card is very thin where as the CMap card that I put into the SH unit (and I presume the same as other units) is 3 or 4 times the thickness ... yet has the same connections as the SD cards.
 
Interesting .... never seen a thicker SD card ... except my MMC and later SD are different by about 50% thickness. The later SD can be unclipped from its extension piece to be a mini sd ...

But both thicker older MMC / SD and the thinner SD later all fit same slot in my plotter / card readers ...

So are you saying that a standard SD card is not useable in the SH plotter ? I would be interested to know what actual card type is the C-Map card ... I was under impression that SD / MMC were produced to a standard size etc. ?
 
Sorry - my mistake - they are C-Cards ... not SD cards ... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Which then makes it even worse as I have no choice but to buy C-Card stuff now to get a simple little text file off /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Now this is even annoying me now !! Given that most company's manage to use standard card forms - albeit with encrypted algorithms to protect content etc. - seems daft for a co. to go completely against mainstream ....

I'm interested to see if there are multi-reader that would read a C-Card ... OK it won't work a C-Map chart card - cause of encryption etc. - but maybe there is a standard c-card out there to do what you want with the track file ... with reader of course !

At least most manufacturers do use standard formats !!

have you checked the manual to see if slot can take other card types ? You never know !!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top