Monthly Archive: January 2006

Run silent, run deep… for generations 0

Run silent, run deep… for generations

Above, and bigger here , is a ward room scene aboard the USS Salt Lake City last Sunday. It’s messy because the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (quite a visit in itself) had already strung work lights in preparation for shutting down...

The very unhappy customer, a phenom 9

The very unhappy customer, a phenom

Mike Slinn’s weblog sounds like a tabloid:  “The dangerous secret about Raymarine radars that the manufacturer doesn’t want you to know.” Well, I read all the correspondence Mike posted and don’t understand at all...

AIS targets on a PDA?, yes indeed! 0

AIS targets on a PDA?, yes indeed!

It makes more sense than you might think! That’s because so few plotters can yet display AIS targets, and a PC that can is often down below, too far from the helm for effective...

Ben’s big submarine adventure 2

Ben’s big submarine adventure

So I was excited just to get aboard the USS Salt Lake City; I can barely imagine what it was like for the 125 guys (+/-) who just cruised this technological marvel from San Diego, CA, to Portsmouth, NH, via the North...

COTS yes, Garmin on a Sub 4

COTS yes, Garmin on a Sub

I knew the Navy used some regular marine electronics and even has an appropriate acronym—COTS, for Commercial Off The Shelf—but I was still amazed to see a Garmin 2006 tucked amongst the massive jumble of gear in the...

FreeNavCharts.com, hype alert! 4

FreeNavCharts.com, hype alert!

Oy, while I’m sleeping, a comments war breaks out over cheap charts (here and here). The main issue seems to be whether or not Maptech and NOAA’s free download sites are offering the same sets of raster charts, and...

Clean my screen, seriously 1

Clean my screen, seriously

I don’t know anything about OptiMax, right, except that it popped up in our Google Ads when I wrote about touch screens. But I’m curious because I think screen cleaning is a serious subject! Last fall, when...

Northstar 8000i, the touch screen 4

Northstar 8000i, the touch screen

Touch screen does seem like “the natural interface” (as I just read at some promotional site), but there are two gripes about using it on the water: one, the technology can reduce precious screen brightness 10–20%, and, two,...