Garmin announces Signal VHF radios, Vesper’s DNA lives on

I’ve been waiting for this announcement for a long time. Ordinarily, VHF announcements from major marine manufacturers aren’t that exciting. Manufacturers often rely on third parties to design and build their radios. Those radios frequently just complete the line and ensure a brand matching helm. But, Garmin bought Vesper, an AIS specialist, in January of 2022. My piece covering that acquisition asked if Vesper’s innovation would continue. We’ve had to wait more than four years, but the pictures of the Signal series radios look promising.

I ran Garmin’s press release announcing Signal earlier today, but as I was putting that up I was also busy firing off emails to learn a bit more about Signal. My first question was about Signal’s relationship to the intellectual property Garmin purchased when they bought Vesper. My own path following Cortex ended with the loss of Have Another Day back in September of 2022. The eval Cortex unit I had was on board and although Garmin offered me another one, I didn’t feel there was enough gained to take them up on their generosity. So, my familiarity with Cortex is based on my experiences prior to losing my unit.

Garmin responded to my inquiries about Signal with the following information, “The Signal VHF series is really the best of both worlds — it has a strong Vesper DNA found in the cutting-edge features and functionality which is held within the robust engineering processes from Garmin which bring reliability and ease-of-use into the product.” Additionally, Garmin confirmed that Signal is built entirely in house leveraging their design, integration, and manufacturing capabilities.

The Signal line-up, as announced today, includes The Signal VHF 220 and 400 VHF radios. It appears the radios are identical except that the 400 incorporates VHF transceiver functionality compared to the 220’s receive only. Additionally, the Signal lineup includes the RM 100 remote station. Visually, the RM 100 is identical to the two radios and serves as a complete remote station to either radio. The VHF 220 and 400 each support up to five RM 100s. The VHF 220 carries an MRP of $999, the 400 sells for $1,499, and RM 100s are $699.

Cortex shines through

Perhaps I should have looked at the product pages more carefully before bothering Garmin with my questions. Scrolling down a little further in the product pages shows clear Cortex features and capabilities. The available integrated AIS transceiver, automated squelch and full channel scanning all demonstrate the Cortex roots. At the risk of speculating badly, I’m pretty sure Signal radios use the software defined radio (SDR) from Cortex to deliver the integrated AIS and VHF voice functions. That means that there is truly only one VHF radio in the unit doing double duty as both the VHF voice radio and AIS transceiver. The SDR gave Vesper (and now Garmin) the ability to monitor and analyze all VHF channels simultaneously and perform many of the other advanced tricks unique to Cortex.

I am anxious to see what of those advanced capabilities continue in Signal. Cortex was a hugely ambitious project undertaken by an AIS specialty company. In my observations, Garmin prioritizes features that reach the largest possible number of boaters. So, some of the unique capabilities that made Vesper Vesper might be hard to justify across Garmin’s customer base. But, I see real reason for optimism. Buried in the materials I received is a mention that Signal is compatible with the Navionics Boating app. That caught my eye, so I read further. I’m happy to see that Garmin reports Signal will relay AIS, GPS, and heading data via WiFi. That’s a long standing Vesper feature carried forward.

Time will tell if Vesper’s superior anchor alarm and AIS collision avoidance features also make an appearance in Signal. The early screenshots I see give me reason for optimism. Even the simple screenshot above is far more information than nearly any other radio provides. It is apparent Garmin has left behind the monitoring capabilities Cortex offered. Based on where a VHF radio is typically installed, I always felt monitoring was the hardest aspect of Cortex to harness. So, the decision to jettison that functionality doesn’t trouble me.

Wireless fist mic

Cortex generated a lot of feedback from early adopters. Much of that feedback centered on the decision to use a phone style integrated display and mic. The Signal radios adopt a more traditional radio and fist mic. However, it turns out the fist mic’s relationship to the radio is very similar to the Cortex handset’s relationship to the hub. The connection between the mic and radio is wireless and the mic only requires power. I found the snippet above from the RM 100’s installation manual which is the only Signal series manual published at this time.

The fist mic specs also list the speaker in the mic at 5-watts and don’t discuss any speaker in the radio itself. Those specs combined with the photos suggest there isn’t a speaker in the radio. I look forward to getting my hands on a radio and investigating both the sound quality and connection reliability of that arrangement.

Connections

The Signal VHF 220 and 400 both have the exact same connections. The single antenna connection provides a further indication that a single radio is employed for both AIS and voice. Both radios have a built-in GPS receiver and support an external antenna if the mounting location compromises reception. NMEA 2000 connectivity allows sharing of AIS, DSC, and Navigation data. The BlueNet network port enables connectivity between RM 100s and Signal Radios. Each RM 100 has just two connections: one for power and a BlueNet network connection.

Notably absent from that list of connections is a fist mic connection. As we’ve discussed, that connection occurs over RF, though I don’t know anything about the technology used for the connection.

Looking forward

At $1,500, the Garmin Signal VHF 400 is a premium radio. But, when you look at everything included, I think it represents a great value. Those features include:

• Built-in AIS
• 3.5-inch color touchscreen
• Adaptive noise cancellation
• VHF audio playback of up to 3 minutes on any channel
• Advanced watch modes scanning all channels
• Hailer with listen back
• Intercom between units

The $999 Signal 220 includes all those features minus the AIS transmit capabilities.

I mentioned at the top that I’ve been looking forward to Garmin’s next VHF announcement for a long time. If I’m honest, I’ve also been nervous about the announcement. Cortex was an ambitious quantum leap forward. It showed what could be achieved, but the rollout was messy. There was so much technology bundled into it and Vesper was a small company with limited development resources. Garmin has the resources to pour on a project like Cortex but I questioned if they would see the value. Signal indicates to me that they do see the value and they’ve invested mightily. This is an exciting product and I’m genuinely excited to get my hands on one and enjoy the fruit of years of work.