Two digits, two buttons, two modes…one purpose. The Velocitek S10 is a GPS that’s been waterproofed and simplified so that those crazies riding kite boards, hydrofoil moths, etc. can track speed and VMG. Either is displayed at a one second update rate. In speed mode the right button gives you absolute max, the left your 10 second max, while in VMG mode the same buttons set the up and downwind marks. The S10 can also log 10 hours of data at 2 second intervals for downloading ashore using the USB port inside the box. You can have your data in the GPX format—probably the most universal, and definitely compatible with the freeware program GPS Action Replay, which is especially designed for reviewing your day’s speed runs, even a whole race if everyone carries logging GPS’s. Or you can use the .kml format to overlay your track on Google Earth. That’s what excited our boy Ed about the Velocitek, but now—thanks, everyone—we know that he can get info from most any GPS to GE.
Panbo reader Ed is looking for a handheld GPS that will save tracks that he can overlay on Google Earth. I don’t know of any common handhelds that will produce .kml files directly (maybe you do?), but there sure are a lot of ways to make the conversion. Today I tried GPSBabel, which did a pretty good job of turning a Mapsource .gdb file full of waypoints, routes, and tracks into a file I could load into GE. Babel doesn’t know many of the more obscure marine GPS file formats, but it seems quite powerful and is freeware (donations encouraged). GPS Utility—also quite powerful (though $55 for a full version)—can import files from Furuno, Northstar, etc. Also, at least some charting programs, like Coastal Explorer, can import data from a Garmin and export it to Google. Any other ideas for Ed?
If you make wireless sensors so tough they can be dragged around attached to trawler nets, a good way to market that quality is to have brawny fishermen chuck them as far as possible. That’s just what Simrad does every year in Norway, and apparently it’s so much fun that they’ve introduced the competition to the U.S. (above). It’s pretty amazing what the whole Catch Monitoring system can do—showing a skipper how his gear is setting, what temp water it’s in and when it touches bottom, and how many fish are in it. Makes you wonder what this technology could do on the yachting side? But mind you that this is Simrad the commercial fishing company, not the spun-off Simrad Yachting, which is now under the Navico corporate umbrella.
If I were at the New York Boat Show this week, I’d check out the headset systems being shown by the relatively new company Piratecom. Their wired gear doesn’t solve the roving deck hand problem, but looks like it can do most anything a captain and crew seated on a loud boat would want…like up to five headsets noise cancelling both ways, triple audio inputs plus a cell phone connection (some exceptions) to the skipper’s set, and an intercom. There’s also a “Captain Isolate” switch such that he/she can speak to the crew but they can’t speak back, useful for cell calls or, you know, just noise-cancelled peace.
I’m pleased to report—at least in part because of discussions here—that EasyAIS has rewritten its Web pages to clearly explain how its multiplexing receiver functions within the Class A and B System, particularly in relationship to more expensive full duplex receivers. In fact, they’ve put together the most thorough analysis I know of on the Web (go to home page, click on “AIS Capability). Besides laying out position reporting intervals in time and distance for various possible target vessels, they point up some other factors that suggest “additional uncertainty of class B reception, independent of the used receiver type.” EasyAIS concludes that both multiplex and duplex receivers “show satisfactory results for all class A scenarios,” but when “looking for fast class B targets, both concepts show weak points, as the information update rate is low.” One can argue that multiplexers are weaker in this regard, but the point is that users need to get educated about AIS target intervals as Class B becomes an actuality, and hats off to EasyAIS for now contributing to that education. (And Panbo rocks again!)
OK, back to work! Today we need to help the captain of a smallish ferry find the right gear so he can talk to his two deck hands “easily, wireless, hands-free and with all 3 connected and able to communicate with each other for docking, emergencies etc.” despite the fact that they work in an environment which includes “crowded decks, loud background noise in terms of voices, engine, wind etc.” Now, besides the popular Mariner 500 Headset above (too funky for commercial use methinks), I once tested a pair of these Eartec TD900s, which sound good, are full duplex and very easy to use. You can add a third set but then one becomes a sort of master, and besides they’re not waterproof and seem a dite expensive. So what other choices are out there? What do they use on megayachts? Do some VOX headsets (attached to VHF, UHF or FRS handheld radios) work well enough for a noisy boat?
Well, I’ll be damned. Apparently Garmin is also introducing a touch-screen version of the 4000 Series, already hot stuff on several counts. At METS I think I mumbled something about how the new large-label interface would work nicely with touch, but no one even hinted that it was imminent. In fact, there’s nothing on Garmin’s site about 5xxx, but a Google search on “Garmin 5212” finds a number of stores taking preorders, including Tiger GPS above (which also has a useful run down on all the new models). Garmin is clearly not messing around in 2007. (Big thanks to Eric for this tip.)
OK, back to work! Today we need to help the captain of 
ne, wind etc.” Now, besides the popular 