Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Yearly Archive: 2012

Victron Multi in, Onan genset out…a greener Gizmo? 31

Electrical & Engines / Green Boating / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Victron Multi in, Onan genset out…a greener Gizmo?

Victron_MultiPlus_on_Gizmo_cPanbo.jpg

This is not the scene most boaters want to see in the middle of their salon going into Memorial Day Weekend, but at least I can look forward to checking out how well that Victron MultiPlus 12/2000/80 charges and inverts. It may seem crazy to replace the perfectly functional Xantrex Freedom 25 that used to occupy this spot, but it’s part of an aggressive “re-power” plan that’s had me busy recently. Besides the Xantrex has already replaced the broken one on my in-law’s M/V Brilliant — which partially subsidized this upgrade — and I’m nearly as happy pulling cables as I would be lounging on the fine settee that will eventually go back here…

Nortek Doppler Velocity Log, measuring Puma’s leeway across the pond 3

Gadgets

Nortek Doppler Velocity Log, measuring Puma’s leeway across the pond

Nortek_Doppler_Velocity_Log_on_Puma.JPG

I learned that the Volvo Ocean Racer Puma had a very special speedo when the race started off around the planet last Fall, but was hoping that I or a Panbo guest blogger would get to see the other end of the system when the fleet visited Miami. Well, right now Puma is leaving Bermuda to starboard as it zips across the Atlantic toward Lisbon, and while Panbot Jeffrey Schwartz witnessed her Florida first place and did get some time with major VOR supporter Inmarsat, he was not able to wrangle his way into any racer’s nav station. But let me tell you what I do know about the Nortek Doppler Velocity Log…

DeLorme inReach 1.5, groovy with an iPad 34

Wireless & Apps / Safety & SAR

DeLorme inReach 1.5, groovy with an iPad

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DeLorme just started shipping a new 1.5 version of the inReach satellite messenger, tracker, and distress device that works with an Apple iOS version of the Earthmate app as well as an improved Android version. I again participated in the Beta testing and, though almost all of that was ashore, I’m even more convinced that inReach is going to become a constant cruising companion on Gizmo and many other boats. It’s hard to say whether some improvements are due to the new hardware or the new apps versions or the platforms I’m using them on, but for boat use the combination of inReach 1.5 and even an iPad 1 is totally sweeeeet…

Inside Eric’s Umpire PWC, and ACWS in Venice 7

What's on board...

Inside Eric’s Umpire PWC, and ACWS in Venice

Eric_Steinberg_at_ACWS_San_Diego.jpg

I’ve corresponded with Eric Steinberg for years — and wrote about some of his offshore racing electronics ideas in 2010 — but what a pleasure it was to meet him in San Diego. Aside from overseeing Farallon Electronics and IstarGPS, he is now Director of Electronics Systems for the Americas Cup Race Management and hence responsible for all the high tech gear on some 29 support vessels. Yet it was Eric who took the time to patiently explain the many-layered systems that I tried to lay outexplain in Yachting. He was especially proud of what they managed to squeeze into the “personal watercraft” (PWC) that some of the umpires use to chase the AC45 catamarans (pictured here)…

RayControl & RayRemote, the future is here? 7

Wireless & Apps / Navigation / The Trade

RayControl & RayRemote, the future is here?

RayControl on iPad1 busy cPanbo.jpg

Above is Raymarine’s new RayControl app running on my iPad1 and the screen is purposely busy because I was trying to stress it.  While a NMEA 2000 data simulator tells the test e7 MFD it’s going 40 knots up the Bay with one chart window Head Up in 3D and the other North Up, I could still sit in my office — 40 feet and a “deck” away — and select/display a tide station with my finger without a noticeable lag. I did manage to crash the app’s WiFi connection to the e7 once, but Ray actually recommends an iPad2 or better for best performance and get this: RayControl will give you touchscreen control of the new value-priced c-Series MFDs that don’t even have a touchscreen themselves!  In short, Ray has done more than make good on its promise of a two-way app…

AIShub, how you too can put AIS targets online 25

AIS

AIShub, how you too can put AIS targets online

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At the end of Wednesday’s discussion about cell-based mAIS — which only works via the Internet instead of direct VHF radio transmissions — I mentioned how I’d set up a real AIS receiver in my lab to forward real AIS target info to those same Internet services. In fact most all the actual AIS targets shown in those screen shots came through my basement. The set up turned out to be very easy and cost nothing as I already had an AIS receiver, a computer, and an Internet connection. The key is the free program AISdispatcher seen in the foreground above, which is offered by AIS Hub data sharing center. That’s their Web site in the background, showing the data I’m contributing along with that of other volunteer stations. But there are lots of holes in the coverage and I’m hoping that more coastal residents and particularly marine businesses will volunteer, and I think that the new mAIS concept could make the effort especially worthwhile… 

Boat Beacon & MarineTraffic mAIS, yipee or yike? 27

Wireless & Apps / AIS

Boat Beacon & MarineTraffic mAIS, yipee or yike?

Boat_Beacon_app_test_cPanbo.jpg

At first Boat Beacon may look like yet another iPad or iPhone app for viewing online AIS tracking services like ShipFinder, but in fact it’s a very new and slightly disconcerting form of AIS transponder. In other words that “Panbo BoatBeaconTest” target seen above is not the test transponder I sometimes run in the lab but simply my iPad running Boat Beacon and using its online connection to send my position, MMSI, and “boat” data to a central server where it’s also getting the regular AIS data for those various vessels in the Bay. The concept doesn’t really have a name yet — except maybe for mobile AIS or mAIS, as I’ll get to — but I think it’s going be huge, and also confusing… 

SPOT Connect, works fine & deserves attention 30

Wireless & Apps / Safety & SAR

SPOT Connect, works fine & deserves attention

Aegean_SPOT_Connect_track_w_messages_cPanbo.jpg

If it’s heartbreaking to see a cheerful-looking Aegean crew underway in fine weather less than 24 hours before they perished — as we discussed earlier this week — isn’t it even worse to know that they sent a fart joke to friends and family by satellite messenger just a few hours before everything went wrong on North Coronado Island?  Getting access (via Sailing Anarchy) to Aegean’s Spot Share Page is also how I surmised that they were using a Spot Connect rather than the familiar stand-alone orange model, which is why they could send short custom messages typed on an iPhone, iPad, or Android device. There’s more I learned…

The Aegean loss, would AIS have helped? 23

AIS

The Aegean loss, would AIS have helped?

Aegean_4-27_courtesy_Newport_Beach_Patch_Susan_Hoffman.jpg

It is quite chilling to see this photo of the Hunter 376 Aegean taken at the Friday start of the Newport to Ensenada Race with the knowledge that the boat was “smashed to bits” that night and that all four crew were apparently lost. We may never know exactly what happened, but the folks who found what was left seem convinced that Aegean was run over by a much larger vessel and some of the reports claim that she was in or near a shipping lane (though I don’t see it marked on any chart I have). While I certainly don’t want to question the wisdom of a skipper/owner who was reportedly militant about safety issues or a race committee that hasn’t had a prior fatality in the 65 year history of this event, don’t we have to wonder if AIS could have helped?…