Vhf Gps

Hi there i need help with boat electronics such as GPS VHF AIS etc?

Hi all
Im new to boating and was wondering whether someone could tell me a break down of every item you need in order for your VHF GPS AIS to work in the UK. For e.g ive heard about ais engine recievers and things like this but i am unsure as to what is needed for the items to run correctly

depends
in simple terms for what you want you need
a GPS receiver,
a VHF transceiver,
an AIS decoder (or engine),
an aerial splitter (to allow the VHF & AIS can share the same antenna, or have separate antenna’s)
a means of displaying the AIS information, that probably means a chart plotter.
you may also want to include repeater displays if the steering position is away from the the chartplotter, or if you have multiple steering postiions
you don’t say if you are sailing or motor boating, for sailing personally I’d suggest a depth + wind, although to be honest you don’t “need” any of these

none of these are mandatory, although some form of nav is mandatory (that used to be charts + GPS + chart plotter, some places are happy with GPS + chart plotter these days.

If it were me I wouldn’t leave dock without a VHF + GPS, If I could afford it I’d add a chartplotter, and if cash was no object and I was going into waters where I need to know who is out there I’d install an AIS transponder (not just an AIS receiver). there is something reassuring when going through fog or a busy channel to be able to establish what ship is out there..On the VHF its no longer big ship to my right its MV dasdamnbigtanker what are your intentions?

most marine electronics use a communtication protocol called NMEA (theres two variants 0183 & 2000, 2000 is the more recent and is backwards compatable with 0183. some such as Raymarine alos use a propriatory communication (and wiring setup) protocol. NMEA 0183 requires a minimum of 2 wires (one transmit, one receive), others may require 4 or more wires.

all fixed installation VHF’s these days are DSC enabled, meaning they need a feed from your GPS. to make that DSC radio work to the best of its capabilities that will need to be connected to the feed/transmit from the gps

depending on the type of chart plotter you buy you may also need a multiplexer to merge the nmea feeds from the GPS and the AIS. AIS runs a a much faster speed than GPS (around 4 times faster). you cannot merge the transmit from from multiple NMEA sources, however you can split the signal from one NMEA 0183 talker to send to multiple NMEA0183 receivers. Ive not come accross NMEA 2000 devices, these may well be able to support multiple talkers/listeners.

check the chart plotter can support AIS
if you buy a chart plotter rememeber to budget for charts, as these dont’ come with the chart plotter

to make life simple I’d suggest you buy all the components from the same source

if you are buying an AIS system consider buying a transponder (one that can (if you wish) also broadcast your boats details to others). I guess in a few years this will gradually become mandatory, and depending on the type and size of your ship it is mandatory for commercial vessels over a certain LOA and or tonnage

electronics can be useful but I’d strongly suggest they don’t replace the need to keep a good look out, keep a backup plot on a paper chart. although modern marine electronics are pretty good they can and do go wrong… you can loose power, you can have your gps aerial damaged. to make sense of the electronic charts you really need to know your paper charts (on which the electronic ones are based).

ZIONSVILLE COMMAND RADIO CB TRANSCEIVER DS350 SCANNER GPS VHF/FM MARINE PUBLIC $150.00

Standard Horizon GX1700W-Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF - $242.07

Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld VHF/GPS – Submersible $212.00

Nautilus Lifeline GPS-VHF Submersible RADIO FOR DIVERS Dive Alert Scuba w/Pouch $319.00

Icom M92D VHF Handheld w/DSC & GPS $343.84

2 x Kantronics TALON UDC VHF Data radios with free GPS $157.32

STANDARD EXPLORER GPS WHITE CLASS D 25 WATT VHF $229.99

STANDARD HX851L 6W FLOATING HAND HELD VHF W/GPS $269.99

STANDARD EXPLORER GPS BLACK CLASS D 25 WATT VHF $229.99

Standard Horizon HX850S 6W VHF Radio/GPS Floating $52.00

Nautilus Lifeline GPS-VHF Radio For Divers $299.00

Icom M92D VHF Handheld w/DSC & GPS Model# M92D 01 $349.88

Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld VHF/GPS $251.55

Lowrance LHR-80 VHF/GPS Handheld Marine Radio $199.00

Standard Horizon GX1700 Explorer GPS VHF -White $214.00

Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld VHF/GPS Model# MHS135DSC $224.88

Standard Horizon HX851 Hanheld VHF-Floating & Submersible w/GPS,DSC+NOAA Weather $231.49

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF – White $229.99

Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld VHF/GPS $223.62

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700B GPS Fixed Mount VHF – Black Model# GX1700B $229.88

LHR-80 VHF/GPS Handheld Marine Radio-22-17 $238.90

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700B GPS Fixed Mount VHF – BLACK WORLDWIDE SHIPPING $229.95

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF – White WORLDWIDE SHIPPING $229.95

Uniden Polaris VHF GPS Fish Depth Finder Plastic Mount and Knobs $45.00

Standard Horizon Matrix GX2100w Combo AIS GPS & VHF Marine Radio, White $254.50

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700B GPS Fixed Mount VHF – Black $249.00

Standard Horizon GX1700 Explorer GPS VHF – Black $214.00

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700B GPS Fixed Mount VHF – Black $224.96

LOWRANCE LHR-80 VHF/GPS Handheld Marine Radio ` WORLDWIDE SHIPPING! $209.95

Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld VHF/GPS $223.82

Standard Horizon HX851 6W Floating HH VHF Glows Built-in 12 Channel GPS New $259.95

HYTERA PD702G VHF DIGITAL WITH GPS ** Plus Cable & Software HYT $805.00

STANDARD HX851L 6W FLOATING HAND HELD VHF W/GPS $449.98

STANDARD EXPLORER GPS WHITE CLASS D 25 WATT VHF $383.31

STANDARD EXPLORER GPS BLACK CLASS D 25 WATT VHF $383.31

Uniden Mhs135dsc Hh Vhf/gps MHS135DSC $223.82

Lowrance Lhr-80 Vhf/gps Hh Marine Radio Jan 09 22-17 $198.99

Uniden MHS135DSC Handheld VHF/GPS Waterproof Built in GPS with DSC FLOATS NEW $249.99

Nautilus Lifeline GPS-VHF Submersible RADIO FOR DIVERS Dive Alert Scuba Swimmer $299.00

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700B GPS Fixed Mount VHF – Black $229.99

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF – White $229.99

Standard Horizon GX1700W-Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF - $224.14

Cobra 25-Watt VHF Marine Class D DSC Mount Radio 10-Weather Channels GPS Cpbl $119.77

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF – White $222.95

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700B GPS Fixed Mount VHF – Black $222.95

Standard Horizon Explorer GX1700W GPS Fixed Mount VHF – White $224.96

Lowrance LHR-80 VHF/GPS Handheld Marine Radio Track-Your-Buddy Feature NEW $213.95

Motorola DP3401 Digital Radio with GPS – VHF / UHF $628.76

Standard Horizon HX851 FLOATING HANDHELD MARINE VHF RADIO WITH GPS Glow in Dark $269.99

MOTOROLA APX7000 VHF (136-174), UHF (380-520), GPS ANTENNA $48.00

The GPS satellite system for navigation was designed in the 1970s by the Department of Defense. It began as a global navigation system for land-based army and air vehicles, with some limited use for civilians. But today, things have changed – there are more GPS receivers used by civilians that the military!

Back in the 70s, the military employed a variety of navigation systems such as LORAN (acronym for Long Range Radio Navigation), VOR (short for VHF Omni-directional Radio) and Omega, and felt the need for a navigational aid more precise, which could be functional throughout the day, all year and everywhere on earth, regardless of day or night or weather conditions. Needs of the military were to navigate their planes, tanks personal and reliably. At that time, the U.S. Navy and Air Force were in pursuit of development of systems to meet those needs with programs such as The Transit satellite system, satellite system and Project Timation 621B. The Defense Department finally formed a Joint Program Office (JPO), which consolidate gains so far in what is now known as the Global Positioning System (GPS).

The first GPS satellite was launched in 1974, and the constellation GPS satellite was declared fully operational in 1994. The satellites were / are designed and built by Rockwell International, Boeing and Lockheed-Martin.

Although GPS was designed by the Department of Defense to the military, including some capabilities that may be useful in the civilian community. The GPS satellites transmit coded signals that only the military has access. The satellites also transmit non-encrypted signals, which can be detected in both military and civilian GPS receivers. The civil signal known as the C / A code signal (bulk purchases).

A key parameter that describes the ability of GPS is the accuracy positioning, which in a nutshell, is the accuracy of the user's position in the GPS receiver calculates GPS receiver. GPS system developers initially did not expect the civil signal to provide position accuracy comparable with those from military signals. However, the designers realized that the receptors Civilian GPS could use several new algorithms that could improve the accuracy of their position in the civilian GPS receivers dramatically. To limit the accuracy positional civilian GPS receivers were implemented the demotions of civil GPS signal before being transmitted by GPS satellites. The degradation capacity known as selective availability (SA). SA limited position accuracy in GPS receivers to ~ 50 meters. However, in late 1990, President Clinton had conducted for the benefit of GPS to the civilian community, ordered the degradation of SA to be deleted. With the removal of SA, the doors opened for civilian users to use GPS to track the car for driving assistance, fleet management, … ….

For a more comprehensive knowledge of GPS today, refer to these websites and www.gadgetknowledge.com/gps1.html

About the Author:

Steve Kinder is a GPS industry veteran with extensive experience in the GPS receiver design and manufacturing. His latest hobby is to spread the knowledge of GPS to everybody through tutorials and websites (www.gadgetknowledge.com/gps1.html).

Not very often does a single system have such a large impact on the way we live. The Internet was revolutionary, so is GPS. Get to know GPS today and keep up with it before it permeates all over your lifestyle!

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – GPS History in Brief