Yearly Archive: 2009

More Garmin N2K, analog adaptors 5

More Garmin N2K, analog adaptors

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I just recently realized that Garmin has developed five analog-to-NMEA2000 adapters — the GRA 10 Rudder Angle Adapter, the GST 10 Water Speed and Temperature Adapter, the GFL 10 Fluid Level Adapter, the GET 10 Engine Tilt Adapter, and the GBT 10 Bennett Trim Tab Adapter. They each cost $199, which seems a little stiff, but then again they seem quite able at getting sensor systems you may already have onto an N2K backbone for display, or use in calculations…

Shakespeare sailboat VHF antennas, clever 18

Shakespeare sailboat VHF antennas, clever

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These 3-foot, 3dB VHF whips look very smart for sailboat mast head installs, especially the Windex-style apparent wind direction indicator built into the $190 Galaxy 5440 model.  Both it and the $160 5445 model come with 65 feet of RG-58 coax cable and an “exclusive solderless connector system” that enables easy removal of the whip, and also looks easier to fish up a mast than the standard PL-259 connector at the other end.  Press release here.

Standard Horizon again, handheld improvements 11

Standard Horizon again, handheld improvements

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Following last week’s introduction of the very interesting GX2100 & 2000 VHF/rxAIS fixed units, Standard Horizon is today announcing significant updates to its high end handhelds.  I was already a big fan of the HX850S with its built-in GPS and full DSC features, but now the new HX851 takes care of main original complaint — lack of navigation features for small boat and back up use — and adds a couple cool twists…

TerreStar AT&T Genus, sorry sailors? 11

TerreStar AT&T Genus, sorry sailors?

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Damn!  An AT&T 3G smart phone that can use the world’s largest commercial satellite for voice and data if you roam beyond cell range, no oddball second phone number, no dorky antenna?  The big bird is up, the Genus phone is at the FCC, and the whole deal seems on track to be real in early 2010.  But will it be a big deal for boaters?  That may depend on what system developer TerreStar means by “offshore coastal waters”…

Navslide, a great idea…if 9

Navslide, a great idea…if

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An MFD ought to be mounted where you can see it well, and reach it easily, and on many boats that may mean a flexible mount that can move with you, or with the sun.  Like that new Navslide rig above, which looks like it will give great access to either the helmsman, or a navigator seated forward of him, irregardless of which side of the cockpit they’re most comfortable in. It’s a slick idea, and wait til you see the hardware quality…

Lenny’s interface testing, flawed? 14

Lenny’s interface testing, flawed?

How does the old expression go…”He who giveth can also be an annoying butt?”  Here’s my problem:  Last week Lenny Rudow wrote one of the most imaginative electronics pieces I’ve seen since, well, Lenny...

Ship Finder 1.7, 50 freebies 11

Ship Finder 1.7, 50 freebies

I’ve enjoyed the Ship Finder AIS viewing app as it’s gained features and available feeds, and particularly like how the latest 1.7 version draws targets with their reported heading (and course predictor lines if...

Giving Thanks, a holiday break 6

Giving Thanks, a holiday break

There’s a fair bit of hokum wrapped around the Thanksgiving holiday we’re about to celebrate here in the states, which I’m particularly aware of as I just finished Nathanial Philbrick’s excellent Mayflower: A Story...