I was glad to see the Solar Stik back at the Miami Show. I'd been impressed with the engineering -- especially that sweet taper -- when it was first introduced years ago, and it was nice to learn how many markets the company has found since. I also got a demo (that's why the photo shows one of the two panels is completely removed, which took seconds), and thus I'm pretty sure that it would be easy to do the turning and tilting required to get the maximum power out the normal panel pair. I may romanticize the notion of putting one's rum swizzel down every few hours to tune the solar array while laying in some tropical anchorage, but I don't think there's any denying that solar amps are directly related to angle of sunlight (15 degrees in any direction is the key fall-off point, according to the Stik guy). But would a power tower like this make sense on an amp-thirsty cruiser like Gizmo?
For those of us who need to be reminded that touch screen isn't everything, don't those big dedicated knobs and backlit buttons do the job? It's Furuno's recently introduced FM4000 VHF, which benefits from a good video guide here. I quip about "somewhat new" in the headline because there are numerous clues -- like optional RAM+ mics and Bluetooth headset capabilities -- which suggest that the FM4000 is a kissing cousin of Standard Horizon's GX5500. There's nothing wrong with shared expertise, in my view, and knowing it gives a consumer a better idea of what they're getting into. Which is a seriously good and easy-to-use radio, I'm pretty sure.
It's easy to surmise from the appearance of a wind indicator on top, that the Shakespeare YHK antenna was optimized for sailboats. Beyond the wind indicator (which is optional), this antenna features (i) an all round lightweight design, (ii) low windage, (iii) a flat masthead mounting bracket, and (iv) an unusual connector fitting at the antenna end of the coax cable, all of which are ideal features for a sailboat. While saving weight on a sailboat is always a good thing, the lightweight design of the antenna and cable reduces weight in the most critical area of a sailboat, the mast, where any extra weight aloft comes with a strong performance penalty. Plus, the flat mounting bracket is useful for positioning the antenna above the masthead, something that isn't possible with a side antenna mount. With a side mount, anywhere from 5% to 15% of the length of a standard 36" high sailboat antenna is blocked by the mast for almost half the radius, reducing the ability of the antenna to perform well when transmitting or receiving in that direction...
While exciting things are happening on the frontiers of AIS, there's still some tragic ignorance about what the technology can do right now for marine safety, even from folks who should know better. But let's start with the good stuff, right? After a recent entry about using compact AIS SARTS as crew overboard devices, USCG analyst Jorge Arroyo bombed me with documents about this and other AIS developments. I was aware that AIS SARTS have done well in testing with ships, planes, and helicopters, and I also knew that certain satellites were able to receive AIS signals, but -- Holy Sardine, Batman! -- who knew that there were "microsatellites" that can pick up a 1 Watt SART attached to a floating life vest from 1,100 miles away?...
It's a lousy photo, for sure, but Jeppesen C-Map has not yet announced its iPad charting app, let alone released screen shots, though I found it one of the nicest surprises of the Miami show. It seems that C-Map not only intends to match Navionics' much appreciated efforts to offer inexpensive but detailed marine cartography on multiple apps platforms, but to do it even better. Note, for instance, the "CWeather" button on the menu bar above, and that C-Map has been working to overlay weather data on plotters since at least 2004 (though the then available mechanisms -- a complicated cellular connection, or a data card transfer -- were awkward). I'm not sure what CWeather offers today (the Jeppesen site says only European data), but we do know that a connected tablet or phone can make the download process very easy.
Here's a clever idea. PYI worked with FLIR to create an accessory podlet for several of its Seaview MFD pods that serves as an integral casing for a relatively inexpensive ("just over $2,500") thermal camera core (info here). The core's output goes to the video input of whatever MFD is mounted on the working side of the pod so the user then has a simple forward-looking thermal view that can even be aimed using the pan and tilt abilities of the pod. There's a major limitation to this idea -- the fact that thermal can't see through glass or plastic -- but I can think of situations where it might make a lot of sense...
New in Miami were both the Kannad brand and its interesting AIS-based SafeLink R10 "survivor recovery system." And more sorting out was in order when your realized that McMurdo was showing the very similar SmartFind S10 in the very same booth. Note too how the Kannad SafeLink PLB in the background looks a heck of lot like the popular McMurdo FastFind. What's going on is that Kannad, a longtime French distress beacon company, became a sibling to McMurdo when Orolia bought both of them, and now they're working as partners in a somewhat overlapped fashion...
I sense that PC-based navigation is about to enjoy a renaissance after a long period during which rapidly-advancing MFDs stole its thunder. I can think of several reasons (and you may have more): Decent performance PCs have gotten less expensive and tougher; NMEA 2000 can feed them more data, more easily (thanks in large part to Actisense); the various mobile platforms so many of us want to fool with on board usually relate well to the less mobile platforms that can also work well on many boats; and, finally, MaxSea and Furuno are showing everyone how powerfully a PC can fit into high-end marine electronics systems. One company that will participate in this renaissance, I'm pretty sure, is Fugawi...
I was glad to see the Solar Stik back at the Miami Show. I'd been impressed with the engineering -- especially that sweet taper -- when it was first introduced years ago, and it was nice to learn how many markets the company has found since. I also got a demo (that's why the photo shows one of the two panels is completely removed, which took seconds), and thus I'm pretty sure that it would be easy to do the turning and tilting required to get the maximum power out the normal panel pair. I may romanticize the notion of putting one's rum swizzel down every few hours to tune the solar array while laying in some tropical anchorage, but I don't think there's any denying that solar amps are directly related to angle of sunlight (15 degrees in any direction is the key fall-off point, according to the Stik guy). But would a power tower like this make sense on an amp-thirsty cruiser like Gizmo?
