Category: Wireless & Apps

68

Garmin’s new ActiveCaptain Community site, what’s good and what’s not?

I am a long time fan of ActiveCaptain boating info. In fact, I’m pretty sure that my January 2007 Camden Public Landing review above was one the very first, as I was simultaneously writing about AC’s inception here. Now the AC database and user community are both huge, but many of us “captains” are struggling with Garmin’s very recent and complete rebuild of the service…

13

Uniden MHS335BT handheld: VHF, GPS, DSC and texting!

When I first read Uniden’s MHS335B handheld VHF press release, the feature that really intrigued me was “Maritime Industry-First Private Text Messaging.”  The release was a little short on details and I was left with more questions than answers. But I was glad when Uniden kindly loaned me two radios to see all their VHF, GPS, DSC, and texting features hand’s on…

18

SEAiq apps replace ActiveCaptain with Waterway Guide

Actually, as you can see above, SEAiq lets you overlay both ActiveCaptain and Waterway Guide info onto its chart display (and easily turn either or both overlays on and off). But as noted on the SEAiq website, the AC data will not be updated after May 23, though “We are considering updating SEAiq support for ActiveCaptain but do not have definite plans yet.”

3

iNavX Brings AIS Live Coverage To Mobile Devices

San Francisco, Calif.- iNavX, the benchmark mobile marine navigation application, announced today the launch of iNavX AIS Live. Available on both iOS and Android versions of iNavX, iNavX AIS Live connects a user’s mobile device to the AIS Live global network of antennas. Real-time ship movements are broadcast to the iNavX app and overlaid directly on the chart…without the need for a radar or AIS transponder…

14

Configuring a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X for WiFi and cell internet on your boat

In my feature about marine internet, I referenced a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter as the “heart of our boat network.” It manages multiple WiFi and cellular internet connections to multiple computers, tablets, etc. around the boat, and is remarkably capable for its cost, but configuration is not for the faint of the heart. So this is the step-by-step guide…

23

Marina WiFi can be weird, report from New Bern

Holy cow!  I’ve never seen WiFi download speeds over 100 Mbps on land, let alone in a marina, and nevermind a dreaded marina well populated with liveaboards and northbound snowbirds. I measured the internet connectivity above while logged into New Bern Grand Marina’s WiFi and… The amazing results were consistent… but there is much more to the story…

0

Buzz Wireless Launches Global 4G Solution

In a perfect world all countries would deploy a global standard protocol for cellular data, but in reality many have their own allocated frequency bands and system variants, nowhere is this more evident than the US and Canada, where systems are often incompatible with European and Asian counterparts. This has meant that for the shipping industry it has hitherto been difficult to come up with a global solution in one box.