Today’s the 4th of July here in the States, and I’m off to watch lobster boat races and fireworks. Loud and louder! Panbo posting will be very light around this holiday, but it does seem like the right time to honor the guys who build large (+/- five foot) radio control models of WWII naval ships and then stage battles in which they sink each other! Yes, those are CO2 powered “Big Guns” shooting large shot through balsa “plating”. You can imagine that the electonics to control all this (see below) are pretty complex. A good place to explore the technology is in the “Naval War College” section of the The Big Gun Web Portal, but do not miss the photo section of The Australian Battle Group. You may not be surprised to see that this is a nearly 100% male activity. Here’s wishing everyone an explosively happy holiday.
OK, I admit that at least half of the hideous mess above is the fault of yours truly, being sloppy with a temporary install, in this case interfacing a DSC VHF, a GPS, and an AIS receiver all to a Garmin 3210 (possible because it has two 0183 ports, plus a special Garmin GPS port). But I also blame the standard itself, or non standard really, since there is no common plug, let alone standard wire colors (so you’re delighted to come across nice labelling like Northstar’s at right), or even a uniform nomenclature. Plus the typical bare wires are fine gauge, making them hard to handle and hard to secure strongly. Finally, the variable way the negative side of an 0183 data IN or OUT wire pair works—sometimes wired to its negative OUT/IN opposite, sometimes wired to ground, sometimes not wired to anything—further confuses things, and often means that there’s a partial crossover between the power connection strip (upper left) and the data strip. The photo below, and bigger here, shows how this can all be neatly done, in this case by pros, but it’s still a bit fragile, I think, and it’s going cost you time or money. The chaos and complications of NMEA 0183 wiring make the rugged NMEA 2000 combined data/power cable scheme look very, very good.
Well, I’m beginning to understand why the Nasa AIS receiver is so much less expensive than most others on the market (besides the single frequency business). For one thing, the wire connections to the “not waterproof” box are funky compared to most marine electronics. Above you can see how an install might look if you use its ability to blend a GPS into its data stream. Note how the red power wire uses a pin connector with no lock (if your boat is rattlely, you might want to duct tape it). The illustration, by the way, is from an installation pdf that Digiboat put together, which is way better than what came with the unit.
Then there’s the fact that once you’ve wired the receiver to antenna, PC, and power, you have no way to know if it works. No LEDs, no NMEA strings unless it’s actually receiving targets. Without a real manual, I had no way of knowing what was going on so I e-mailed customer support at Digiboat, who seem to know this hardware, and got a prompt response that confirmed my fears, “the NASA AIS Receiver gives NO INDICATION whether it's working, or not - quite frustrating really. Unless, of course, you're surrounded by transmitting targets.”
In fact, Simon Blundell from Digiboat has figured out a way to solder 4 useful status LEDs into the Nasa receiver, and has posted a thorough Web page about the project (check it out…this is DIY pioneering!). He also pointed out that I could check the install by doing the GPS bypass above. Nah…I will be in hotel right on the Mediterranean coast near Marseille, France, later this week, so hope to test with real targets. Blundell suggests that once I see how well the Nasa box works for the money, the negatives will fade. We’ll see.
This weekend’s mail included Simrad’s “Navigation Tutorial” DVD, which is pretty darn impressive. Of course there is some ‘sell’ to it, but there’s also some sharp footage of boats and extensive, well done explanations of just how Simrad’s multifunction Navigators work. (That’s the narrator’s hand in the picture, not mine, explaining dual radar ranges). This DVD is excellent for anyone who owns a Simrad, or is interested in one, and it’s absolutely free, including shipping. The order form is on the Simrad USA home page.
Isn’t it neat that a lot of boaters gleefully invent stuff to improve their vessels? A fairly extreme example is one Roger Jones who put together his own elaborate boat monitoring system, wrote the necessary software too, and then created a site where anyone can download this software for free and read Roger’s well written instructions about how to assemble the hardware from off-the-shelf parts. Roger’s screen shots indicate that Version 2, currently in “beta”, can not only mind batteries, AC power, pumps, lights, and NMEA 0183 nav data, but can also display weather buoy data (from where I don’t know) and video. Nice work, Roger! (By the way, I learned about this because Roger posted a message on our Electronics Forum at PMY).
"Most GPS units have I/O terminals and a cable for connecting to other devices. To transmit information from the GPS to the computer, connect the GPS signal ground wire (SG) to the serial port ground wire (NMEA B line). Next connect the GPS transmit data (TXD) to the serial port receive wire (NMEA A line). If you intend to upload data, such as waypoints and routes, from the navigation software to the GPS, you will need to connect the GPS receive data (RXD) wire to the serial transmit wire. Not all navigation programs or GPS units allow data uploading. These wires are identified by color code in the user's guide."
A problem with many of today's (marine) electronics is that they can do so much. And many are simply to proud to read a manual or watch an instructual video. But if they do...
"I recently upgraded the electronics on my 20-foot Bayshore skiff with a Lowrance LCX-15MT combination GPS/chartplotter/sonar unit. The compact combo fit nicely into the helm pod and utilized the pre-installed transducer. The only trouble was that it required a new electronic chart and had more features than my old unit. Both dilemmas were quickly solved with a Classic chart from Navionics and an instructional video from Bennett Marine Video."
Blue Water Sailing Magazine has some safety tips for boats that are going offshore regularly. They talk about, a.o., VHF radios and passive radar reflectors.
"A relatively easy upgrade to any boat's VHF radio involves the coaxial cable that carries the signal to the masthead. It is not uncommon to find the cable is of the smallest size that will get the signal to the masthead, as that is the least expensive. There are four sizes of cable that are of interest to us for this application, RG-58U, RG-8X, RG-8U and Belden 9913 in order of ascending efficiency in signal transmission, and the cost per foot increases by nearly a factor of three from the least to the most efficient. Interestingly, that is about the same factor of signal strength increase that the best coax cable offers."
Sometimes you only realize how valuable something is unless it is no more... An electric anchor windlass can be such a thing. An introduction...
"Typical working current loadings are in the range of 55 amps at no load, 110 amps at half load, and 180 amps full rated load. Many windlasses have converted DC starter motors, and some use permanent magnet motors, typically in the range 600-1000 watts which simplifies construction and reduces weight and size. I am frequently asked about the practice of installing a separate battery forward adjacent to the windlass, and I do not recommend it. While this is one more battery to maintain and also weight forward where you don�t want it, it also still requires charging."
Subscribe to DIY Boat Owner's newlsetter in order to know when to turn off the boat's main AC breaker before plugging in.
"There are two reasons for turning off the boat's main breaker before plugging or unplugging the shorepower cord. The process of plugging in or unplugging the shorepower cord can cause spiking noise, harmful to sensitive electronics. More importantly, you can confirm AC polarity before connecting to shorepower. An AC polarity indicator, which all boats equipped with AC power should have, ensures that the hot and ground wires aren't switched."
special Garmin GPS port). But I also blame the standard itself, or non standard really, since there is no common plug, let alone standard wire colors (so you’re delighted to come across nice labelling like Northstar’s at right), or even a uniform nomenclature. Plus the typical bare wires are fine gauge, making them hard to handle and hard to secure strongly. Finally, the variable way the negative side of an 0183 data IN or OUT wire pair works—sometimes wired to its negative OUT/IN opposite, sometimes wired to ground, sometimes not wired to anything—further confuses things, and often means that there’s a partial crossover between the power connection strip (upper left) and the data strip. The photo below, and 
Isn’t it neat that a lot of boaters gleefully invent stuff to improve their vessels? A fairly extreme example is one Roger Jones who put together his own elaborate boat monitoring system, wrote the necessary software too, and then created a 
A 
A problem with many of today's (marine) electronics is that they can do so much. And many are simply to proud to read a manual or watch an instructual video. But if they 
"A relatively easy upgrade to any boat's VHF radio involves the coaxial cable that carries the signal to the masthead. It is not uncommon to find the cable is of the smallest size that will get the signal to the masthead, as that is the least expensive. There are four sizes of cable that are of interest to us for this application, RG-58U, RG-8X, RG-8U and Belden 9913 in order of ascending efficiency in signal transmission, and the cost per foot increases by nearly a factor of three from the least to the most efficient. Interestingly, that is about the same factor of signal strength increase that the best coax cable offers."
Sometimes you only realize how valuable something is unless it is no more... An electric anchor windlass can be such a thing. An 
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