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I have a new, to me, sailboat that I am updating the electronics on. I bought a Raymarine Axiom 9 plotter and a Standard Horizon GX 2400 VHF with AIS. I want the AIS data to display on the plotter. Sounds simple enough. This is a whole new world to me. I'm used to just twisting wires together. Both devices have NMEA 2000 female connections. There is no network of any kind on the boat. How do I connect these devices?
You have to build a NMEA 2000 network, Harvey, even for just two devices. It has to be powered and it has to be terminated. This Ancor kit should do the job for you:
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/ancor--nmea-2000-dual-device-starter-kit--18867952?recordNum=4