Which VHF/DSC?

Thing I found on single handed circuit, the other way round, was that handheld was most useful and handy. An Icom M21, but the rechargeable batteries kept dying and it eats regular AA.
Recently replaced it with a Cobra HH325 - very pleased with it, especially the battery life.

The Icom with command mike is great - we have one, but most of the time is way more than we need.

An AIS receiver would be useful but a transponder? Personally I would go for a decent radar reflector and a PLB, be a lot more use when you need to be found.
A NAVTEX that is properly installed, running, you understand and can programme is well worthwhile for the weather, when out of range of mobile signal - which can be often.

Do not rely too heavily on getting reliabe and consistent internet connections or mobile phone connections. Consider a signal booster if you can.
 
Gwylan said:
Thing I found on single handed circuit, the other way round, was that handheld was most useful and handy. An Icom M21, but the rechargeable batteries kept dying and it eats regular AA.
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Wouldn't a command mic in the cockpit do exactly the same job, without the battery issue?

Pete
 
Gwylan said:
Thing I found on single handed circuit, the other way round, was that handheld was most useful and handy. An Icom M21, but the rechargeable batteries kept dying and it eats regular AA.
Recently replaced it with a Cobra HH325 - very pleased with it, especially the battery life.

The Icom with command mike is great - we have one, but most of the time is way more than we need.

An AIS receiver would be useful but a transponder? Personally I would go for a decent radar reflector and a PLB, be a lot more use when you need to be found.
A NAVTEX that is properly installed, running, you understand and can programme is well worthwhile for the weather, when out of range of mobile signal - which can be often.

Do not rely too heavily on getting reliabe and consistent internet connections or mobile phone connections. Consider a signal booster if you can.
Click to expand...

Thanks, very useful. The Cobra? yet another to look at ;)
I have a PLB and a radar reflector so OK there. Navtex? well I don't intend to be far off the coast and only port hopping so I should get weather on my smart phone most of the time.

It's looking more and more like the 2100E, or equivalent.

Cheers

R
 
Robert Wilson said:
Navtex? well I don't intend to be far off the coast and only port hopping so I should get weather on my smart phone most of the time.
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I have Navtex; it's interesting but I wouldn't regard it as essential for what you're doing. The Shipping Forecast and the Inshore Waters once or twice a day is very limited compared to what you can get with an Internet connection; there will be places you can't get a connection but you're moving on rapidly, it won't be for long and there's usually the Coastguard VHF announcement as backup - or just listen to Radio 4! I don't really trust the Shipping Forecasts nowadays anyway - to be on the safe side they're required to give the strongest weather that might be possible, but often that doesn't materialise so they're essentially crying wolf. And offering a range from F3 to F6 as they sometimes do is not useful.

Pete
 
pvb said:
If you're buying a plotter, it'll no doubt have a GPS, so you wouldn't need the extra GPS in the GX1700E radio. You could get a GX1600E and save money.
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Just been talking with Force4 and the guy said just that.
Just something else to feed into the tiring grey cells!

Time for a cuppa, and take stock of the days tech bombardment :confused:

Thanks Pete.

R
 
pvb said:
If you're buying a plotter, it'll no doubt have a GPS, so you wouldn't need the extra GPS in the GX1700E radio. You could get a GX1600E and save money.
Click to expand...

It does mean you have to run the plotter all the time though. I quite often have mine turned off, either in familiar waters or out at sea where there's nothing to hit. My VHF has its own GPS puck (also feeds the AIS display) so it works independently.

Pete
 
pvb said:
You won't go far wrong by choosing Standard Horizon. Both the GX1700E and the GX2100E can be used with the CMP30 command mic. As already mentioned, if you get an AIS transceiver you won't really need the features of the GX2100E. Equally, the GX1700E has a built-in GPS which you won't really need either, so you could save £50 and buy the GX1600E instead (which also works with the CMP30 command mic).

The CMP30 has a screen and full remote functionality. It's waterproof too!
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I have the SH GX2100E and CMP30. Everyone on board loves this remote external mic which is in reach of the wheel on Tui. It displays an AIS list/plot and it makes it easy to call a ship using its MMSI. It also serves as a GPS repeater. As you have an AIS transceiver go for the similar model that displays AIS but does not have the built in receiver. For whatever reason on Tui the stand along Matsutec HP33A picks up AIS further away than the SH even though the aerial is not as high.
 
Bi111ion said:
For whatever reason on Tui the stand along Matsutec HP33A picks up AIS further away than the SH even though the aerial is not as high.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. The SH 2100 will only report targets out to 15 miles, but I found whilst de-bugging an integration to a Raymarine i70, that targets as far away as, IIRC, 43 miles were being output by it over NMEA 0183 (HS).

I'll have OpenCPN integrated within a few weeks (I hope) so I should know then the limits of what the SH is picking up.
 
pvb said:
You can vary the range of the AIS display on the GX2100E, with a maximum of 20 miles, I believe. However, the display only shows a max of 10 targets.
Click to expand...

I only remember seeing or using 15 miles on the display. I can double check when on the boat. Meanwhile I do have a copy of the manual on my laptop and it is contradictory. At one point it shows a screenshot with a "20 miles" option but at another point lists the available range selections as 0.5, 1.0, 2, 5, 10 and 15. In practice I usually vary between 2, 5 & 10, mainly the latter two depending on the volume of traffic.

I saw the max limit of 10 on the display in the manual - I could've sworn I've seen more. I'll play around when next on the boat - there's a gaggle of trawlers nearby who all leave their AIS on full time, so I should get enough targets.
 
lpdsn said:
That's interesting. The SH 2100 will only report targets out to 15 miles, but I found whilst de-bugging an integration to a Raymarine i70, that targets as far away as, IIRC, 43 miles were being output by it over NMEA 0183 (HS).

I'll have OpenCPN integrated within a few weeks (I hope) so I should know then the limits of what the SH is picking up.
Click to expand...
I seem to remember they weren't coming through to OpenCPN from the MX2100 but I was seeing things up to 40nm away on the Matsutec. It could be that the coax and connections on the Mizzen antenna (Matsutec) are newer. suspect also that as the Mx2100 loses some AIS contacts as it has to multiplex with the VHF.
 
Bi111ion said:
I seem to remember they weren't coming through to OpenCPN from the MX2100 but I was seeing things up to 40nm away on the Matsutec. It could be that the coax and connections on the Mizzen antenna (Matsutec) are newer. suspect also that as the Mx2100 loses some AIS contacts as it has to multiplex with the VHF.
Click to expand...

I know there's a lot of undisplayed AIS data getting to the Seatalk ng bus from my 2100 (via an Actisense convertor). I'm fitting a WiFi box (in the post at present) which takes all the data off the bus and sends it to a PC where I'll be running OpenCPN (NMEA 0183 format over WiFi so no 4.8Kb limit). I won't know what I can find until I have a play, but I'm hopeful of being able to track down each message.
 
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