Forums, Electrical Systems, Navigation and Safety equipment, Radar and AIS

Nick Howes at 23/04/2013 23:20:50
Does anyone have any reccomendations as to which Radar and AIS are best suited to the Contessa 32 ? Thanks, Nick

Richard Ritchie at 24/04/2013 09:10:19
I found that AIS integrated with theRADIO very effective: removes needs for splitters etc and no second aerial, so saves complexity and money.
Can display on any other device. I use Chartplpotter and have no radar.
I refer to the Standard Horizon 2100e. Great piece of kit.

waratah912 at 26/04/2013 21:13:15
I replaced all the instruments about 3 years ago and went all Raymarine, based around a C80 plotter with radar. Seems to work well, with AIS overlay on both radar and charts and radar overlay on the chart too, if desired. Makes everything much easier to understand. One limitation of the C series is a single NMEA or Navtex input, so if you want to have AIS and a fast heading sensor for radar and a backup GPS (mine’s from the hand held VHF via it’s charging cradle) you need a multiplexer too.
Market has changed dramatically since then – first question is digital or analogue radar? Second question then is how easy it is to use – or are you forever diving into multi branched menus?
I suspect Garmin’s experience with InCar systems may mean their operating system is more intuitive, but have not made any comparison myself

St Paddy at 30/04/2013 15:18:24
I like the Digital Yacht, Ais is displayed on my NotePad or Laptop along with the Chart sofwear. Note pad free with my new phone. Open CPN free from the internet, and its soon will be able to display radar as well.
You will need a splitter. I have used low loss cable to the mast but then I do everything over the top. all under 700 I think

Nick Howes at 04/05/2013 12:23:04
Thanks for the info-that’s interesting.

Nick Howes at 04/05/2013 12:25:35
Thanks for all the info—with the technology changing so quickly its hard to keep up with the latest developments !-Nick