Skanti Leisure VHF 1000P DSC radio

[Plevier]

I have this radio http://www.nonstopyacht.com/static/browse/session/Product/View/SKT&2D1.htm
in my boat. The VHF reception and transmission are superb but there is an aspect of its DSC that I don't think is very good. As far as I can find there is no way of telling if it is getting a GPS input. It doesn't display a position on its screen like my old cheapo MTech one, or have any sort of indicator.

I can't even check if it's physically connected up as the (rather incomprehensible) operator's manual (at http://www.findpdfnow.com/view.php?...perators_manual.pdf&k=Skanti-Leisure-DK-1000P ) doesn't include a connection diagram. I've googled extensively and been unable to find an installation manual. I found a component level service manual with schematics but no physical connection diagram in it! I can't trace the cables through as they go into trunking between the base unit, the handset and the chartplotter.

If anyone reading is familiar with this radio, and knows how to tell if it's getting a GPS signal or has an installation manual/connection diagram, I'd really appreciate some information!

 

[ostell]

Does one of the setup settings change what is displayed on the screen, ie is position display selectable?

Get someone else with a DSC radio to request your position from you and see what comes back.

 

[Plevier]

Does one of the setup settings change what is displayed on the screen, ie is position display selectable?

Get someone else with a DSC radio to request your position from you and see what comes back.

No to the first question.
Second point sounds a good idea - i must read up on how to do that

 

[Bilgediver]

IIf anyone reading is familiar with this radio, and knows how to tell if it's getting a GPS signal or has an installation manual/connection diagram, I'd really appreciate some information!

Skanti is very good equipment though some of their earlier DSC radios DID NOT have the obligatory cover over the DSC button.

A man from MArconi tells me that if you go to the DSC menu on the handset display then you can select a display of position. Marconi supplied Skanti to many ships and rigs.

If this doesn t work we shall have to try harder.

 

[Plevier]

Skanti is very good equipment though some of their earlier DSC radios DID NOT have the obligatory cover over the DSC button.

A man from MArconi tells me that if you go to the DSC menu on the handset display then you can select a display of position. Marconi supplied Skanti to many ships and rigs.

If this doesn t work we shall have to try harder.

Thanks but I can't find that in the manual. http://www.findpdfnow.com/view.php?...perators_manual.pdf&k=Skanti-Leisure-DK-1000P
On P23 the flow chart indicates that if you set up to transmit a DSC distress call, it will tell you if there is a valid GPS input (I can't tell if it confirms the values) and lets you manually input a position if not, but that's all.

I wonder if your Marconi man is thinking of the integrated unit rather than the remote handset one as it has a larger display built in?

 

[Gypsy]

I have a Skanti 1000P with DSC circa 2002. On mine if I press the 'Tel/DSC' button, which is the left most button under the screen, it selects DSC mode. If the GPS-NMEA signal is connected a bottom of screen line 'crawl' displays basic status information such as 'Watch Ch70', 'UTC time', 'Lat' and 'Long". When I turn off the DSC source I get an alarm. If I start the radio without GPS connected it does not complain but when DSC is selected the status information is replaced with 'xxxx's'.

I agree the manual does not help much at all. It doesn't mention the display I have described, only describes making a DSC call or alarm and reading an incoming DSC message.

 

[Plevier]

Thank you. Mine is also 2002. Will try that at the weekend.

 

[fergie_mac66]

Thank you. Mine is also 2002. Will try that at the weekend.

Page 32 of pdf file

Manual page number 28 (cutting)

Dsc Settings Self-id MMSI-NU> XXXXXXXXX GrpMMSI XXXXXXXXX
| | |
| | Position Posview X:XX’XX X:XXX’XX Utc time Utc XX:XX
| | | Pos auto X:XX’XX X:XXX’XX
| | | Pos mode Show X
| | | Posupdate X:XX’XX X:XXX’XX AT Utc HXX MXX

 

[Plevier]

Thank you Fergie

I have pored over that table and found it totally incomprehensible. Will try harder. Hope not to send any false alarms

 

[fergie_mac66]

Thank you Fergie

I have pored over that table and found it totally incomprehensible. Will try harder. Hope not to send any false alarms

have to admit its not very clear !

 

[Plevier]

Coconuts for Gypsy and fergie_mac66!
Had a play with the radio this afternoon. (Incidentally saw 35kts on the wind meter a mile up the river at Shoreham)
Yes when you switch to DSC a scrolling display shows the position and it was connected, it also shows what time the radio thinks it is.
It doesn't warn you if you switch the radio on with the GPS off, but an alarm goes off if you turn the GPS off.
The manual quoted by fergie_mac suggests it draws the time from the GPS too, but it doesn't. Mine was 11h 10m fast. You have to set an internal clock and it took me ages to understand how to. I've seen better manuals in Taiwanese English! It is really dreadful.
If you are going to send a distress, and there is no GPS input, the radio lets you input coordinates and also (I think, but it's unclear) time. However if there is a GPS input but the radio's internal clock is not set, it doesn't give you the chance of inputting the time.
Would this time actually affect the DSC alert?
Poor logic if it would.

 

[Gypsy]

Good to see you 'cracked the code'. The manual was probably written by one of the software engineers who knew it all off by heart anyway.

It is surprising that Skanti doesn't take the time from the GPS signal. I have never really bothered to check it before but I was curious to see it was not showing the same time as GPS when I looked at it for you the other day. I guess it shows this type of radio is meant to be left on permanently for commercial applications rather than leisure as it would be a PYA to have to set the time each time you power up the radio. Also misleading if the time is sent with the DSC signal. Hmm.
Other than those comments I have found the radio to be very reliable and top Tx/Rx quality.
BTW. Be careful of dropping the handset. You may find some of the screen characters get corrupted or simply do not work. This happens because the screen seems to be physically 'planted' onto the circuit board, not soldered or glued, and the sharp knock from a fall can offset the screen from the contacts. I have been able to reposition mine once or twice but now live with a few 'duff' characters on the bottom scroll line.

 

[Plevier]

Do you want me to explain how to set the time then?
(Actually I couldn't, not straight off!)

Maybe in a DSC transmission, GPS time would override the internal clock - perhaps it's just there for systems without a GPS?

I agree the radio is superb, such a shame the manual is probably the least helpful I have ever seen for any product.

Re your PYA (? is that like PITA?) comment, next time I go to the boat I will check if it has stored it.

 

[Gypsy]

Thanks for the offer of a tutorial but I have been down the menus a few years ago and could again, however I would be interested in what you find about any memory of the clock. I will do the experiment on mine too.

The PYA was indeed meant to be PITA! I wonder what PYA means and where I got it from???

 

[Plevier]

Reading again last night - glutton for punishment! - there is a specific statement that distress calls take location and time from the GPS. Implication is that the clock must just be for cases with no GPS connected.

 

[NB Willawaw]

I used to work for Skanti's agent in the UK.
I don't know the TRP1000 intimately, but if you get really stuck, try calling Thrane & Thrane in Denmark who took over the Skanti production and amalgamated it with their Sailor/SP range.

There's a good possibility that one of their service people will know the answer.

 

[Romagould3]

ditto

I have 2002ish model too. if you press dsc button it will display lat/long and will alarm after about a minute if thsi signal is stopped. i.e. I moor up, turn off plotter but n ot radio. useful feature.

 

[Gypsy]

After our various discoveries regarding the time display I felt I had to dig into the situation regarding what 'time' is shown on the Skanti 1000p so I worked through the Function Menu today. Here is my conclusion:
1) In the 'Function Menu' select DSC/Settings/Time Date. Here you have 2 options, View and Set.
2) In the View option you step through to see 'Time Zone=xx', 'Local Time=hhmmss'. The Time Zone is set in Set (below) and 'Local Time' is the time entered in Set with the Time Zone offset, if any. In my case - Sydney - I enter 10 in the timezone in 3).
3) In the Set option you step through to see and change 'Time Zone' (00=UTC/GMT), 'UTC Time' (enter hh+mm+ss to match UTC) and 'Date' (enter dd+mm=yyyy). This is the time you see on the bottom line crawl when slecting the DSC mode in normal operations.
4) The time and date set in 3) are kept active by an internal battery when power to the radio is removed (here I mean turn off radio AND remove power to radio). I don't know if there is a long life lithium battery in there like in a PC but I suspect so.
5) My experiments show that the handset time display for DSC and View is taken from this clock as entered in 3) and I suspect a DSC alarm uses this too but maybe the software is smart enough to grab the actual GPS data for an alarm. I didn't try to test a real alarm.
6) If I set an incorrect time in 3) it will display as that time even though the GPS data is connected.
7) When the GPS data is missing the View mode still displays the clock setting not the last GPS time but the DCS crawl info shows only xx.xx.xx.

I am going to try to contact Thrane & Thrane to get some certainty about exactly what time is used for the DSC message. Stay tuned.

 

[Gypsy]

Just spoke to the local agents for Thrane and Thrane. From his documentation he says the time comes from GPS but if not present then from the internal clock. After further discussion we think that perhaps my radio is not getting the correct NMEA sentence for the 1000P to extract the time. He tells me the 1000P supports GLL, GGA and ZDA but can't be specific as to which one is used for time.

I will have to see what sentences I am sending to the radio. More detective work but it is interesting.

Perhaps you could experiment with your system. Try manually setting the clock to an incorrect time, perhaps 10 or 20 mins off and then connect the GPS to see if the bottom line time displayed in DSC mode is correct or the incorrect time which you entered.

I will report the results of my system in a few days.

 

[Gypsy]

Sorry for the multiple posts but I continue my detective work.

My GPS is a Raymarine 112 which outputs Seatalk. I have the Raymarine ST to NMEA converter module for feeding NMEA to my Skanti VHF and Nav6+ Navtex which provides additional data display capability. I can see Lat/Lon/Time on the Nav6+ at the same time as I view the Skanti handset.

I happen to have a file of NMEA data taken from my boat a couple of years ago but it is the same setup as I have now. I see that I send GLL to the radio but not GGA or ZDA. ZDA is a specific NMEA UTC time message.

It looks like in my case the Skanti 1000p is not getting an NMEA message it needs for time so it ALWAYS displays the time of the internal clock, yet the Nav6+ is quite happy with it or perhaps another sentence as a source of time. A more remote possibility is that my radio has a fault, but I am not going down that path.

Your system might be sending the correct NMEA messages and may well be working correctly. The experiment I suggested about setting the internal clock to incorrect time will demonstrate yes/no.

Over to you whilst I chase up the possibility of getting ZDA to the radio.