Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Communications

ACR: new PLB & Iridium partnership(s) 9

Communications / Safety & SAR

ACR: new PLB & Iridium partnership(s)

ACR_Cobham_ResQLink_hand.JPG

I think ACR has really advanced PLB technology in recent years, what with its AquaLink View and 406Link testing/messaging service.  But up until now it didn’t have a competitive response to McMurdo’s extra small and extra inexpensive Fast Find 210.  Well, hello ResQLink, which now lays claim to “world’s smallest PLB” along with a few features that may demand a response from McMurdo.  ResQLink has an antenna that the user can repack, for instance, which is one reason why it can do a full through-satellite test (with GPS) using the 406Link service.  Doug Ritter put up an early and thorough ResQLink/Fast Find comparison here — and note that the FCC disclaimer still applies, probably until late February — but do come back to hear about what ACR is up to with Iridium…

Icom M412, best DSC channel switching control? 11

Communications

Icom M412, best DSC channel switching control?

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The Icom pitch for its new IC-M412 is straight forward — “Compact, Easy to Use and a Great Value” — and probably quite true. You could argue that Standard Horizon’s new GX1600 is even more compact, and its GX1150 even a greater value, but the bigger picture is that the two big VHF manufacturers now have small Class D DSC radios at pretty reasonable prices (though — darn it — neither has yet adopted NMEA 2000 interfacing).  But there are at least two subtleties to the Icom M412 worth noting…

Garmin’s wireless VHF mic, Simrad’s too 21

Communications

Garmin’s wireless VHF mic, Simrad’s too

Garmin_GHS_20.JPG

Anyone with a Garmin 200 or 300 series VHF will likely be pleased to learn that they can now add up to three wireless mics with full controls.  Garmin announced the GHS 20 handsets along with the GWH 20 wireless hub needed to run them last week, and the product page suggests they’re nearly ready to ship.  It’s all sort of sneaky — though in a good way — as the wireless mic possibility is not even mentioned in the VHF 200 or 300 literature and manuals.  However, these handsets are not inexpensive…

BGAN on a boat? A test in Hawaii 8

Communications

BGAN on a boat? A test in Hawaii

A question I’ve never known the answer to:  Can a cruiser use Inmarsat’s BGAN service — the much less expensive “land” version of Fleet Broadband — at least when at anchor in an exotic...

Adventure Zone, & more Spot Hug details 19

Communications / Safety & SAR

Adventure Zone, & more Spot Hug details

Trackme360_Adventure_Zone_NARC_2010.JPG

Though already a fan of SPOT for reasonably easy and inexpensive boat tracking, I didn’t realize until yesterday that there is a slick way to track whole fleets of Spot-equipped vessels (or back country runners, dog sleds, whatever), even with photos and commentary on the same site.  Go to the Adventure Zone and select the NARC Rally for a current example.  I’m not sure, but the service — provided by TrackMe360, which rents Spots, among other things — may even be free.  And note how spread out and “off course” the NARC fleet (more info here) is, due to the atrocious weather that’s plagued the Northeast lately.  One thing I’m more sure of is that boats like these will find Spot services easier to use once they can install Hug systems, instead of using handhelds…

Spot news: DeLorme Communicator & HUG 3

Communications / Safety & SAR

Spot news: DeLorme Communicator & HUG

Spot_DeLorme_review_snippet_courtesy_GPSTrackLog.JPG

As best I can tell, Rich Owings at GPStracklog is the first to write up a field test of the interesting wireless pairing of a specially designed DeLorme handheld mapping GPS with a specially mated Spot Satellite Communicator, and he’s pretty excited about what he found.  Yes, you can type a 41 character message from anywhere with Spot coverage and post it to Facebook or Twitter, or send it to one of several pre-defined e-mail/text groups.  And that includes quite a lot of ocean and coast, as we saw even with the first generation Spot Messenger.  And even though DeLorme’s core clientele are terrestrial types, I notice that the PN60w/Spot system (and its PN-Series siblings) now support Navionics Gold SD chart cards (and HotMaps lakes), as well as NOAA raster downloads…

Rogue Wave WiFi, the Bullet rules 104

Wireless & Apps / Communications

Rogue Wave WiFi, the Bullet rules

Rogue_Wave_WiFi_on_Gizmo_cPanbo.JPG

Here’s a beautiful sight, and I don’t mean my float mate’s headsail furl.  Those six LEDs on the Rogue Wave WiFi transceiver are showing (from the bottom up) that it’s getting power (via the Ethernet cable), that it’s made a connection with a down below computer (or router), and finally that its connection with an onshore hotspot is good enough to light up all four signal strength indicators.  And I can attest that if the hotspot itself has a good Internet connection, this high power WiFi radio is ready to rock.  I’ve been pretty pleased this season with the performance of the Wave Comet I wrote about last March — it far outperforms the WiFi built into my PCs or phones — but the Rogue leaves the Comet in the dust…

Inmarsat Isatphone Pro, hand’s on & thumb’s up 44

Communications

Inmarsat Isatphone Pro, hand’s on & thumb’s up

Inmarsat_Isatphone_Pro_testing_cPanbo.JPGMaybe I’m missing something, but the Isatphone Pro seems every bit like the game changer Inmarsat claimed it would be.  I’ve made calls from the boat and backyard, sent myself text messages and emails, and replied to them, but have yet to detect a performance issue.  Plus I find the handset easy to use.  And, mind you, this is a sat phone that’s only been shipping for a month or two, and it’s using an Inmarsat I-4 geosynchronous satellite orbiting about 22,000 miles over the equator at 98° West.  As the phone is telling me in the photo above, it does like to have its antenna aimed vaguely at the bird, and I’d guess that would be even truer if I moved further north and/or east, thus putting more atmosphere between the phone and I-4 Americas.  But consider that I’m at about 45°N and 68°W with a lot of trees around me, even to the southwest in the background (and that DirectTV couldn’t get a decent signal here, even on a roof higher than the one you see)…and here’s how I sound: