Category: Communications

M-Tec marine cellular, a new player 0

M-Tec marine cellular, a new player

The full name is Marine Technologies and they’re coming to market with a large portfolio of marine cellular gear. At the top of the line (nearly $1,000) are wireless amps like the above, which claim to provide a...

Uniden ES VHF series, late but great 4

Uniden ES VHF series, late but great

Uniden announced the ES VHF series over a year ago, but the UM525 and UM625c above (bigger here) didn’t materialize until fairly recently, and the UM825 is still missing. It bothers me to have written about gear that wasn’t...

More mega, the phone thing 0

More mega, the phone thing

  My question, having seen the vast communications closet, was, “Is there a system for least cost routing the yacht’s phone calls?” And the answer was that you just go left to right on the line...

Northstar VHF, new and for real 12

Northstar VHF, new and for real

Northstar has just announced two new black box VHF radios—its first communications products ever, I think— and, by gosh, the things actually exist already. The single station NS100 is illustrated above, and there’s also a...

Boat US MMSI, just do it! 2

Boat US MMSI, just do it!

I was pleased to get an automated e-mail from Boat U.S. last week reminding me to update the registration info associated with the MMSI number I got through its Web site a couple of years back. It’s really important to...

Inmarsat 4, solar sailor 0

Inmarsat 4, solar sailor

This babe, the first of Inmarsat’s 4th generation satellite fleet, was launched in March and recently went into service over the Indian Ocean. That dish antenna is 9 meters across, the array of solar panels...

Race transponders, a new wrinkle 0

Race transponders, a new wrinkle

Some 75 boats in tomorrow’s 97th running of the Mackinac race will be using a new FlagShip transponder supposedly built to very high standards. It’s quite compact (empty Bass Ale bottle for size reference only), operates on...

SSB backstay antenna, a new way 11

SSB backstay antenna, a new way

I’ve never much liked the practice of inserting insulators in a sailboat’s backstay to create an SSB antenna; I want my backstays in one piece, thank you. Thus the Gam/McKim Split Lead Single Side Band Antenna looks like a...