USB GPS

This dongle is around £23 and worked first time for me just following the instructions with the supplied software - ND 100S GPS USB Dongle. The supplied software will immediately show your home location.

I use it with the IMRAY digital charts and it's very easy to set up - just go into the serial port configuration of the chart software and change the baud rate to 4800 cos it defaults to 9600 (why?)

Once i'd cracked that (the only silly bit of the process and thanks to Forumite Tillergirl who sorted me out) my boat appeared on the Imray chart onscreen.

I like the Imray charts and they come with tide data for a bit extra which is useful for passage planning but i'm sure the dongle will work with just about any chart package
 
Some screen shots of belfield & polar view

Photo 1 shows Belfield CP, with Polarview in a smaller window giving a wider view and Polarcom instruments in the corner on a 17" monitor and the Notebook as an instrument repeater.

(Its on a swivel arm so can be rotated so I can see it through the aft wheelhouse window)

Photo 2 shows Polarview and instruments on a 10" Acer notebook.

Photo 3 shows Belfield CP with Polarcom instrument panel.

Navmon is loaded first and minimised and sends data to both Belfield and Polarcom - not that this is necessary.

Ian
 
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ianj99 said:
Photo 1 shows Belfield CP, with Polarview in a smaller window giving a wider view and Polarcom instruments in the corner on a 17" monitor and the Notebook as an instrument repeater.
Click to expand...

I've been playing around with PolarView and PolarCom at home - I'll try them on the boat next week with some 'live' NMEA data. I've found that PolarView will load my BSB4 (Maptech) charts which is a plus.

What charts are you using on the Belfield (ARCS?) and PolarView (S57?). Can you use the same charts on both?

As I'm sure I've said elsewhere, I currently favour OpenCPN with Admiralty (Maptech) charts for route planning and real time nav, and CM93 charts (with detail turned down) for AIS. However, my Maptech charts are up to 10 years old now so it might be a good investment to get an up to date chart pack.

One feature of OpenCPN that I find particularly useful is the ability to upload a route direct to the Garmin 128 using the Garmin protocol. I don't think Polarview/Com will do this.
 
Playtime said:
I've been playing around with PolarView and PolarCom at home - I'll try them on the boat next week with some 'live' NMEA data. I've found that PolarView will load my BSB4 (Maptech) charts which is a plus.

What charts are you using on the Belfield (ARCS?) and PolarView (S57?). Can you use the same charts on both?

As I'm sure I've said elsewhere, I currently favour OpenCPN with Admiralty (Maptech) charts for route planning and real time nav, and CM93 charts (with detail turned down) for AIS. However, my Maptech charts are up to 10 years old now so it might be a good investment to get an up to date chart pack.

One feature of OpenCPN that I find particularly useful is the ability to upload a route direct to the Garmin 128 using the Garmin protocol. I don't think Polarview/Com will do this.
Click to expand...


Perhaps you don't understand the great value for money that Belfield and Polarview represent..

For £70 your receive the Belfield plotter software AND all 800 Admiralty ARCS charts on a disc or memory stick.

or for £55 you receive a disc from Polar Navy in the USA with all the UK Admiralty AVCS charts on it (S63) and can download Polaview and Polar com from their website and activate it.

So there is no hassle or effort required to import charts.

You can buy updates annually for about £40

Ian
 
ianj99 said:
Perhaps you don't understand the great value for money that Belfield and Polarview represent..
Click to expand...

I do understand the current chart offers from both Belfield and Polar, thanks. However, before I decide which (if either) to 'invest' in, I was curious which charts you were using and whether you could mix and match chart types and programmes.

My dream package would be ARCS and AVCS charts for all of the UK, plus CIs and northern/western France, all running on one programme with multiple windows, for less than £100. Which package comes closest?
 
Playtime said:
I do understand the current chart offers from both Belfield and Polar, thanks. However, before I decide which (if either) to 'invest' in, I was curious which charts you were using and whether you could mix and match chart types and programmes.

My dream package would be ARCS and AVCS charts for all of the UK, plus CIs and northern/western France, all running on one programme with multiple windows, for less than £100. Which package comes closest?
Click to expand...

Both options cover CI & Northern France.
Belfield comes with the ARCS and Polarview with the AVCS. You can't open Belfields charts with Polarview or vice versa. You can import additional charts into Polarview so it may be possible to use ARCS as well but not the ones that come with the Belfield CP.

In any case, why is it a problem running both programs? It does after all, have the advantage you can switch from raster to vector instantly or have both on screen at the same time.

The total cost (excluding any gps source) is about £125 - I'm sure you won't quibble over £25 considering what you are getting for the money!

Belfield have an offer on of the Plotter and a usb GPS receiver for £99.95, making the total about £155 - not that much of an investment really....
Ian
 
ianj99 said:
Both options cover CI & Northern France.
Belfield comes with the ARCS and Polarview with the AVCS. You can't open Belfields charts with Polarview or vice versa. You can import additional charts into Polarview so it may be possible to use ARCS as well but not the ones that come with the Belfield CP.

In any case, why is it a problem running both programs? It does after all, have the advantage you can switch from raster to vector instantly or have both on screen at the same time.

The total cost (excluding any gps source) is about £125 - I'm sure you won't quibble over £25 considering what you are getting for the money!

Belfield have an offer on of the Plotter and a usb GPS receiver for £99.95, making the total about £155 - not that much of an investment really....
Ian
Click to expand...

A better price for the antenna
http://www.expansys.com/globalsat-b...tm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=base&ito=1701
 
when you do use the usb gps, you may find your computer decides to see it as a microsoft ballpoint mouse from time to time, with the result that the cursor jumps all over the screen. Most people wait until windows is loaded then plug the mouse in which aviods the problem. This suits a laptop and dongle well. If you are going for something more permanent as i did - a fixed marine pc, then this can be a pain if you wish to leave an externally mounted usb gps permanently set up. Fear not there is a fix, something you do in the registry, its a bit beyond me computer wise but if you google it there are some clear instructions on how to stop windows from doing this. you basically set a value of zero to tghe ms ballpoint mouse and it makes the problem go away.
 
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