Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Yearly Archive: 2013

USS Guardian aground, DNC chart error? 97

Charts / When things go wrong...

USS Guardian aground, DNC chart error?

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I’ve heard of hitting “the bricks” as in going hard aground — as well as “bricking” a computer (or other gadget), as in breaking it so badly that it’s only good for a door stop — but gCaptain surprised me with “USS Guardian is Fully Bricked Up and Getting Battered on Philippine Reef.” The situation is even worse since the minesweeper swung 90 degrees and is getting so hammered that it’s hard to imagine how it can be removed from the tiny Tubbahata Reefs National Park. Thankfully no one was hurt (to my knowledge) but I’m probably thinking about terminology because it’s horrible to contemplate what those pictures imply about the damage to ship, reputations, and — most important — precious wildlife. How could this happen?

Radar on your PC, laptop or tablet 43

PC & peripheral

Radar on your PC, laptop or tablet

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Sometimes news stays under the (ahem) radar for quite a while. Today’s story starts with the Austrian university project Roboat (for RObotic BOAT) needed a self-tuning radar scanner that could be used to avoid moving targets. In 2011 they started reverse engineering the Ethernet traffic from a BR24 radar scanner. They used the above test rig so that they could drag their development hardware out to a side arm of the Donau in Vienna.

Garmin Quatix, best ‘aquatics’ watch yet? 45

Wireless & Apps / Safety & SAR

Garmin Quatix, best ‘aquatics’ watch yet?

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Holy Batman, the just-announced Garmin Quatix watch can connect wirelessly to a Garmin autopilot and not only show you what the AP is doing but let you steer the boat from your wrist. Plus if you fall overboard the lost wireless connection will set off an MOB alarm on a Garmin MFD and the AP will try to steer back to you. I hereby rescind my recent mumbling about Garmin’s conservative approach to marine electronics!  And aside from all the connectivity — the Quatix can apparently interface with Garmin PC, Mac, and iPad apps too — it seems like a heck of a boating watch even if you aren’t running other Garmin gear…

NV-Charts on Navico displays, another ‘paper’ option! 22

Charts

NV-Charts on Navico displays, another ‘paper’ option!

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The surprising press release just came in. I didn’t even know that Navico multifunction displays could handle “raster” style digital charts — the ones that look like paper charts — let alone that NV Charts was working to make its large portfolio of handsome cartography available to the owners of Lowrance HDS, Simrad NSE/NSO/NSS, and B&G Zeus MFDs…

VHF radio recalls, not to worry? 47

Communications

VHF radio recalls, not to worry?

nearly_empty_VHF_shelves_at_West_Marine cPanbo.jpg

A Panbo reader sent this recent photo of empty VHF shelves at a West Marine in Florida along with a store manager’s report that Standard Horizon and Uniden had called in their inventory for a software upgrade needed to meet an FCC regulation. Yikes? The reader wondered if this had something to do with Class D VHF mandates and worried about same model radios that had already been bought and installed. My head hurts from the research involved but I’m pretty sure that the answer is “no worries”…

DSM150, Maretron for the masses? 31

The Trade / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

DSM150, Maretron for the masses?

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When Kees spotted Maretron’s new little display at METS, it didn’t seem like a big deal. In fact, it’s fairly homely compared to other contemporary NMEA 2000 all-in-one displays like the B&G Triton and the Raymarine i70. But now that the DSM150 is fully detailed, I think it represents a significant new opportunity for boaters who used to think that Maretron gear was out of their league…

Wilson marine cellular, the testing begins 17

Wireless & Apps / Communications

Wilson marine cellular, the testing begins

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I probably made the PR guy’s day!  He called out of the blue with two questions — did I think that many boaters care about cellular boosters and had I heard of Wilson Electronics? — and my reply was not only “heck, yes” on both counts but also a report on how pleased I already was with the Wilson amp I installed on Gizmo last September. The company may have just decided to pay attention to the boat world, but I was more than ready to test the box of Wilson gear that recently showed up at Panbo HQ…

The mighty Aiviq; more bridge details please 17

What's on board...

The mighty Aiviq; more bridge details please

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When most of us were enjoying the holiday quite the sea drama was playing out off Kodiak, Alaska. Last Friday the mighty 360-foot icebreaking anchor-handling tug supply vessel Aiviq (above) “experienced multiple engine failures” while towing the unusual conical drill ship Kulluk in 20-foot seas. Assisted by several large tugs and especially U.S. Coast Guard cutters and helicopters, the Aiviq eventually got her fuel issues solved and by Monday the Kulluk was back under tow, though without a crew and in even worse weather. And then the story turned again: The Aiviq’s tow line parted, the CG ordered the tug Alert to drop hers for the crew’s safety, and by New Year champagne time the Kulluk was hard aground being pounded by 30-foot waves…

Panbo & AIM, a good 2013 ahead! 10

The Trade

Panbo & AIM, a good 2013 ahead!

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Panbo may not make the corporate masthead any time soon, but the agreement that begins today is definitely a collaboration between this little web site and the Active Interest Media Marine Group, and I’m quite excited about it. AIM not only includes Power & Motoryacht and Sail magazines, where I wrote columns for many years, but also Soundings and PassageMaker, both of which I’ve long admired. In fact, one of my first formal acts as AIM’s Senior Electronics Editor will be delivering a seminar titled “Dedicated Navigation Systems and the Apps Revolution” at the Fort Lauderdale Trawler Fest on February 1st, a seminar I intend to write aboard my trawler-like Gizmo in South Carolina. But my main goal for 2013 is to make Panbo better than ever and AIM is going to help…