Nauticast B, the testing begins
As hoped for, waiting in Bermuda was an ACR Nauticast B Class B AIS and, happy day, I got it installed and working without a problem. In fact, I’m really impressed with the detailing—packaging, cabling, instructions, etc.—and also the variety of ways you can set it up. I’ll discuss all, not to mention how it works underway, when I have more time. Right now, I’m just going to use my last high speed connection for a while to put up some pictures. The hardware one above is bigger here
, and the software that comes with, below, is bigger here. I do have the Iridium/Xgate email working (nice!) but xWeb still eludes me, and so may not post again until we reach Rockland.
Well, I told my Port Supply rep that I wanted the first Nauticast they could ship, and it reached me last week.
Installation is a snap except:
The GPS antenna is poor quality — with one of those plastic mounts that I don’t see how we’ll keep the water out of. But the big deal is the 15-foot (!) cables! What boat big enuf to want an AIS transmitter can get away with 15-foot cables? I ask you?? I know — Gizmo can, but that is a special case.
Otherwise, it is a piece of cake. I installed the unit and its antennas and it was working as soon as I turned it on. My chartplotter is a PC running Fugawi on a _bright_ LCD screen, and ships started showing up as soon as I told Fugawi where to find the unit.