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SVPenguin

Furuno Questions: FA50 and MFD8

By SVPenguin on Apr 15, 2010 at 12:39 PM 3 Vote 0 Votes

Hi,

I am spec'ing out an installation of an FA50 (from a distance). Can someone confirm for me the socket style on the back of the FA50? PL259?

Also working on my power consumption budget and wondering if anyone can confirm power consumption of a) the FA50 in the field. I know the transmitter is rated at 2A but wondering about average power usage. b) I have an MFD8 and wondering if anyone can tell me how much power a sleeping MFD8 uses? I found a quote that it uses 1.7A in "awake" mode.

Thanks for any guidance,

Matt


3 Replies

  • Adam | April 15, 2010 4:56 PM

    Matt, VHF antenna connector is a PL259. GPS antenna is a TNC. Unclear whether a long TNC cable is packaged with the FA50. The new GPA-017Ss shipping with current Furuno AIS units have short (~6") pigtails with TNC connectors. See page 1-5 and 1-6 of the FA50 manual.

  • SVPenguin
    SVPenguin | April 17, 2010 4:50 PM

    Thanks very much for that Adam, I thought as much, but your confirmation means I can order some parts so when I get to the boat, I can get to work. SVP

  • Jeff
    Jeff | April 20, 2010 1:07 PM

    Matt, I just got done installing the FA50 on my boat. The external GPS antenna does come with the cable and TNC connector attached. I believe the cable is about 20' long. I then bought a Digital AIS antenna and it comes with a PL259 connector.

    Installation is pretty simple. The power cord which also includes the NEMA 0183 wires is 6' long.