Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: Wireless & Apps

Miami 2014 comms #2: VHF, AIS & the app connection 46

Wireless & Apps / Communications / AIS

Miami 2014 comms #2: VHF, AIS & the app connection

Standard_Horizon_Eclipse_DSC+.jpg

There are still an amazing number of boats that can’t use the excellent DSC Distress feature that’s been built into every fixed VHF marine radio sold in the U.S.A since 1999. Their radio either hasn’t been interfaced with a GPS or hasn’t been programmed with the owner’s MMSI number, or both. I’ve heard Coast Guard rescue center personnel report that a DSC alert can work beautifully to quickly identify and locate a boat in trouble, but that they rarely see valid DSC alerts. So before discussing advances in VHF (and AIS) let’s note how companies like Standard Horizon and Icom are helping to make working DSC a pervasive reality (finally)…

Miami 2014 comms #1: WiFi, Cellular, and V-SAT advances 20

Wireless & Apps / Communications / Entertainment / Weather

Miami 2014 comms #1: WiFi, Cellular, and V-SAT advances

Humminbird_ION_10_web_browser_cPanbo.jpg

That’s the Web browser built into the Humminbird ION10 MFD that I first saw demoed in Lauderdale (pre browser), and the test was pretty realistic for a boat show. It was easy to log the ION onto my phone’s WiFi hotspot and if you click the image bigger you’ll see how well it rendered a complex site like www.powerandmotoryacht.com. It even supports tabs for multiple sites, so if I were out fishing on, say, a sunny center consol I could have had a weather site open while still checking my gMail or moderating Panbo comments, all on a bright waterproof screen. This is a MFD first, I think — the Standard Horizon CPN1010i can access the Web, but not while in navigation mode — though the lack of ION detail on Humminbird’s site suggests that they are taking their time getting it out the door.

Miami 2014, glass bridge everywhere 11

Wireless & Apps / Navigation / Electrical & Engines

Miami 2014, glass bridge everywhere

Mercury_Simrad_glass_bridge_cPanbo.JPGThe Garmin and Volvo Penta Glass Cockpit won a lot of awards and shook up the competitors. I think it’s why Raymarine rolled out its nifty-seeming ECI-100 so quickly and I suspect it motivated Mercury Marine to put together the clean “glass dash” above. The Simrad NSO evo2 driving those two MO19-T monitors is not only doing the boat’s CZone switching — even able to activate the four outboards — but its Mercury Vessel View app seemed a terrific interface to all those engines…

Iridium’s GO! satellite WiFi and Globalstar’s mysterious SatFi 28

Wireless & Apps / Communications / Safety & SAR

Iridium’s GO! satellite WiFi and Globalstar’s mysterious SatFi

Iridium_GO_satellite_hot_spot.jpg

Wow! With a bounty of significant cruising electronics news on my desk, the new Iridium GO! may rank #1. Think of it as the Iridium Extreme — arguably the most versatile, rugged, and expensive sat phone available — with the phone interface replaced by a WiFi radio able to handle five smartphones or tablets. The GO can install semi-permanently with an external antenna, or sit on deck while you make a quiet call below, or go in your pack when you hike in Tierra del Fuego. You’ll still be able to make and take phone calls anywhere, but they will be easier, less expensive, and purportedly better sounding. Plus there’s global email, tracking, and so much more…

Victron Color Control GX, more than a power display 4

Wireless & Apps / Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Victron Color Control GX, more than a power display

Victron_color_control_GX_in_action.jpgThe photo could be sharper but I like it for two reasons. First, it’s confirmation that an ambitious product which doesn’t even have a manual yet actually works in the field. Second, it’s doing interesting work on an intriquing new vessel that has deep Panbot roots. You’ll learn much more about the boat on Febuary 4th when we celebrate Panbo’s 10th birthday, but today please say hello to the Victron Color Control GX…

Maretron N2KView: prices slashed, architecture improved, and BNWAS 16

Wireless & Apps / Safety & SAR / Electrical & Engines / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Maretron N2KView: prices slashed, architecture improved, and BNWAS

FPB-78_w_N2KView_courtesy_Dashew_Offshore.jpgI find Steve Dashew’s latest FPB 78 long-range powerboat design so intriguing that I won’t link to it until the end of this entry for fear of losing you!  The relevant detail in the rendering above is Steve’s plan to occasionally use that giant 65-inch 4K resolution TV monitor so he can still see his radar and Maretron N2KView monitoring info as he moves about the vessel’s giant main cabin while underway. I got to spend time with the Dashews on their original FPB Windhorse, and it’s one heck of an equipment endorsement to be chosen for the next one. I also know that Steve’s expert evaluation of Maretron’s hardware and software systems came before the major and excellent-sounding N2KView product changes I’m about to outline…

BoatLogger, well worth serious beta testing 28

Wireless & Apps

BoatLogger, well worth serious beta testing

BoatLogger_beta_test_Home_page_cPanbo.jpgIt’s good to start the year with a project and I’ve got one to share. I’m convinced that a new boating service called BoatLogger has a terrific concept for collecting log data, cruise photos, equipment manuals, and much more to a personal boat website they’ve made very easy to set up. But what the developers need right now is a hardy band of beta testers to create their own sites, try every feature possible, and report problems. That’s how I spent much of 1/1/2014 as you can see at www.boatlogger/gizmo. I’ll explain what I’ve learned after the break, and also detail an incentive available to the first 50 beta testers… 

SeaNav app, now with AR, GoFree, and Pebble! 15

Wireless & Apps

SeaNav app, now with AR, GoFree, and Pebble!

SeaNav_GoFree_wind_on_Pebble_watch_cPanbo.jpgGetting True Wind to my wrist was actually easy and inexpensive, especially considering the complex path it traveled. The raw Apparent Wind readings originated in a Maretron WSO100 on Gizmo’s masthead and then went to a Simrad NSS8 MFD via NMEA 2000, where it was combined with other N2K data like COG, SOG, Heading and/or STW (depending on which True Wind ;-). The NSS8 then sent the data out using the NMEA 0183 tier of GoFree over WiFi, where it was captured by the SeaNav 2.0 charting app running on an iPad, which then passed it along to my Pebble watch over Bluetooth! It sounds crazy but when everything is working right, it’s as simple as turning on the boat system and opening SeaNav, which has many other features to appreciate…

Argonaut’s giant A615 Android tablet, and a Panbo reader survey 20

Wireless & Apps / Navigation

Argonaut’s giant A615 Android tablet, and a Panbo reader survey

Argonaut_A615_Android_15-inch_marine_display_.jpgThis is different! While the new Argonaut A615 Smart Monitor has several of the marine display features the company is known for, it can also serve as a large Android tablet. So with its 360° waterproof enclosure, bonded Tflex transflective LED-backlit LCD, and Quad Core ARM processor you can have fast standalone chart plotting on a 15-inch screen in your cockpit or on your flying bridge using only 20 Watts of 12 or 24 volt DC power. And of course that’s not all…

Simrad NSS evo2, multi-touch 7-inch to 16-inch and beyond 48

Wireless & Apps / Navigation / The Trade

Simrad NSS evo2, multi-touch 7-inch to 16-inch and beyond

Simrad_NSS9_evo2_new_11-13.jpgAt METS this morning,  Simrad announced an evo2 update to the NSS Series and quite an update it is. The new multi-touch wide screen models will come in 7-, 9-, 12- and 16-inch sizes and since they are close family in every way to the recently discussed NSO evo2, a boater will be able to mix and match bright, glass-bridge-style displays from 7 to 24-inches. And while NSS evo2 can network with Simrad’s radars, sonars, SonicHub audio, WiFi 1 etc., all four sizes come with “embedded CHIRP enabled Broadband sounder and StructureScan” (which can probably network out to the whole family)…