TransPac Electronics Seminar

8/8/2019 TransPac Electronics Seminar

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SSS Transpac Electronics Seminar 1/12/00Copyright 2000 GoFast Marine

GoFast [email protected]

Agenda

Absolutely required: Basic navigational

tools

GPS

EPIRB VHF

Instrumentation

Autopilot

SSB

Very nice to have Weather Fax

Radar (reflectorrequired)

Computers & S/W


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Basic Navigational Tools

Clock (need GPS or SSB to set) Digital watch with 2 time zones - set one to UTC (Zulu)

Radio capable of receiving the Time Broad Servicefrom WWV & WWVH - required for race

Compass (swing) - required for race Sextant (& reduction tables, almanac, calculator,

practice!) - required for race

Barometer

Charts & plotting paper, plotting tools- requiredfor race


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Basic Navigational Tools

NO electronic instrumentation can substitute forgood seamanship

Read Bowditch (or other good navigation book)and/or take a class!! Buy Bowditch here.

Keep good logs


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GPS

Options

Handheld

Fix-mount with NMEA I/F

Chart drive (or chart plotter) for either Great for when youre really tired and cant do basic math or

navigating in tricky situations

NMEA Interface

Interface to instrumentation for computing anddisplaying COG, SOG, waypoint range & bearing,VMC, and current set & drift

Interface to EPIRB & navigational computer


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GPS

Features:

I really like track feature - easy to see lifts and headers

Screen readability & easy keypad operation - try it out!!

Power consumption (how long batteries last)

Number of waypoints & routes

Some Options:

Handheld (& lots of batteries) ($150 - $280) Fix-mount w/chart drive & NMEA I/F ($600 - $1,400)

Handheld and fix-mount w/chart drive & NMEA I/F($750) -My choice


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GPS Manufacturers

A GPS is required for the race

If you buy more than one, stick with one manufacturer tosimplify usability

Garmin - http://www.garmin.com

Magellan -http://www.magellangps.com

Raytheon - http://www.raymarine.com

B&G - http://www.bandg.co.uk

Datamarine - http://www.sea-dmi.com Simrad - http://www.simrad.com

Furono - http://www.furuno.com

Si-Tex Marine Electronics - http://www.si-tex.com


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EPIRBs

406 Mhz EPIRB required for race

Options

Mounted or personal

Automatically or manually deployable

I/F to GPS through NMEA I/F & opto-isolator

updates position stored in EPIRB every 20 minutes

Race Preparation: Register it with NOAA

Perform self test & ensure battery is up to date

ACR Electronics - http://www.acrelectronics.com


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VHF

VHF Marine Radio Broadcasts Urgent marine navigational and weather information is

broadcast over VHF channel 22A (157.1 MHZ)

All ships in U.S. waters over 20m in length are required

to monitor VHF channel 16, and must have radioscapable of tuning to the VHF simplex channel 22A

NOAA Weather Radio The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration continually broadcasts weatherinformation on frequencies near 162 MHZ


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VHF

Get masthead antenna, its line of sightcommunication (required for race anyway)

Run marine grade large size coax, RG8 (available atWest Marine) or RG13

Have emergency antenna available in case youredismasted (required for race)

Handheld is a convenience

No longer need a radio license for recreationalmarine VHF operation, but if you have an SSB,you register your VHF, radar, etc., also


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SSS Transpac Electronics Seminar 1/12/00Copyright 2000 GoFast MarineGoFast Marine

[email protected]

VHF Radio Manufacturers Horizon - http://acs.nv.net/marine

Standard sold the Marine and Mobile products divisions toYaesu USA

Icom America - http://www.icomamerica.com


Uniden America - http://www.uniden.com

West Marine - http://www.westmarine.com

B&G - http://www.bandg.co.uk Datamarine - http://www.sea-dmi.com




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SSS Transpac Electronics Seminar 1/12/00Copyright 2000 GoFast MarineGoFast Marine

[email protected]

Instrumentation

Basic

Depth - required for race

Boat speed (fun meter!!!) - required for race

Wind direction & angle (apparent & true) Battery voltage

Analog (good for app. wind angle) - optional

Ability to display both at nav station from a singledisplay and multiple, selectable, big, easy to readdisplays on deck

Ability to set high & low alarm limits


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SSS Transpac Electronics Seminar 1/12/00Copyright 2000 GoFast Marine GoFast [email protected]

Instrumentation

My favorites:

Big: VMC (for reaching & surfing - keeps you honest),mag heading, polar angle (from polars) or wpt bearing

Small: True wind speed & direction, actual and target

boat speed (from polars - keeps you more honest)

Analog: 360 and magnified app. wind angle

Handheld GPS to see boats track


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Instrumentation Manufacturers B&G - http://www.bandg.co.uk

All components are waterproof

Ockam - http://www.ockam.com

KVH - http://www.kvh.com/products/index.html

Have heard that it can produce RF interference

Autohelm/Raytheon - http://www.autohelm.com

Datamarine - http://www.sea-dmi.com

Nexus Marine - http://www.nex-marine.com Horizon - http://acs.nv.net/marine


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Autopilots

Requires significant time to select, install andtune, dont leave this until last

Selection requires a lot of due diligence

May require professional installation Race Preparation:

Parameter tuning

Practice

Fuses

Spares!!


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Autopilots

If you cant do it, they cant do it An autopilot can only steer a boat downwind if a

human can

Boat must be driveable and in good trim

If you want to carry a kite The pilot must be able to drive

You trim

Pretty much true even if you fly a jib

Want an autopilot that can compensate for theeffects of surfing down waves Need to be able to compensate for change in AWA

Needs to know to drive down, but not jibe


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Autopilots

Small cockpit mounted pilots Relatively inexpensive, not especially waterproof

Low response time - on most boats, have real difficultysteering in rough weather or fast boat speeds

Ideal for occasional use in light to moderate conditions Not intended or recommended for the oceangoing boat

Under deck pilots - recommended More expensive than smaller cockpit-mounted pilots

Much more heavy duty, faster response time

Often need professional installation

Failure is most often caused by overstressing orgetting a unit too small for the boat


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Autopilots

Considerations:

Response speed/rate of turn

SC 70* 6 - 7 deg/sec

SC 50 8 - 9 deg/sec

Cal 40* 10 deg/sec

Moore 24* 20 deg/sec

See a trend here?

Extrapolate for your boat

* Stan Honeys favorite boats because they are the easy to steer downwind


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Autopilots

Considerations

Ability to steer to polars

B&G

Alpha Marine or W-H with Stan Honeys S/W

Ability to I/F to rate gyro

If you already have an autopilot, you may be able to add a gyro

KVH makes a good one


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Autopilots

Considerations:

Steering force

Depends on rudder size, boat speed and speed of turn

Measure on your boat using a scale (or, yuck, do the math)

Power consumption

Dependant on how pilot operates, not size of pilot!

I/F capability with instrumentation & computer

Make sure youre happy with user I/F, engage,disengage & dodge functions (not all physicallydisengage & can add friction when not in use)

Remote control


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Autopilots - Below Deck Drives

Mechanical/linear

OK if boat can be easily steered with a tiller

Translates rotary motion into highly geared linear motion inthe arm, essentially a much more powerful version of thecockpit tiller autopilot

Hydraulic/linear

A hydraulic pump drives the push rod

Constant running or reversing pump

Mechanical/rotary

Chains & gears

Dedicated Hydraulic

Linked into hydraulic steering systems


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Autopilots

Power Consumption

Based on:

Brand

Vessel size

Steering arrangement

Speed and frequency of corrections

Sea state

Should have the ability to chose the rate of responsebased on conditions

An autopilot can draw between 2 and 10 Amps perhour, so 24 hour use can add considerably to the totalonboard power consumption

Check power consumption on hydraulic pumps


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Autopilot Manufacturers

Course Master - http://www.coursemaster.com Used by all Australian finishers in the BOC Challenge since

1982

W-H Autopilots - http://www.whautopilots.com

B&G - http://www.bandg.co.uk

Alpha Marine - Phone: 206 275 1200

Simrad/Robertson/Navico - http://www.simrad.com

Autohelm/Raytheon - http://www.autohelm.com Use plastic gears?

Nexus Marine - http://www.nex-marine.com


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SSB

Emergency communication

Race position reporting

Accurate time signal

Ship to ship

Text messages - Email, SITOR, NAVTEX


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SSS Transpac Electronics Seminar 1/12/00

Copyright 2000 GoFast Marine

GoFast Marine

[email protected]

SSB

Ship to shore

Marine radio telephone

AT&T pulled the plug

WLO is the only operational radio telephone service inthe U.S.

You mustmake advance arrangements

They can not make collect calls into California

You must pre-register with a credit card


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

SSB vs HAM

Requires only a radiolicense easily obtainablefrom the FCC

Duplex or Simplexoperation

Can not transmit on HAMbands, except inemergency Can listen

Legal to discuss business Ordering parts, arranging atow or other privatebusiness

Requires a General ClassLicense All require knowledge of

Morse code & written test

Simplex operation

More bands on which totransmit, can talk withother HAM operators Can participate on Marine

Nets

Illegal to discuss business


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GoFast Marine

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SSB

Dont forget you need an FFC radio license!

Application forms in PDF are on the web,http://www.fcc.gov/formpage.html, you need form 506

Transmitting on frequencies other than permitted by

your license is illegal

Good antenna (incl. Spare if you lose your rig),good power, good ground are critical

Race preparation: fuses, configure frequencies, get transmission schedules

See booklet on propagation, antennas, power &grounding, and frequencies


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

SSB Manufacturers

Icom America - http://www.icomamerica.com

Kenwood Communications Corp. -http://www.kenwood.net

Furono - http://www.furuno.com Raytheon Marine - http://www.raymarine.com


Si-Tex Marine Electronics - http://www.si-

tex.com


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Weather Fax

Equipment

Can use computer & S/W with demodulator ordedicated equipment

Dont want to have to baby-sit & worry about being in

front of the radio at the scheduled broadcast time

Images, Schedules & Users Guide

http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/ptreyes.shtml

SSB frequencies are assigned frequencies. To convertto carrier frequencies, subtract 1.9 khz from theassigned frequencies.

To learn more: http://www.hffax.de


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Weather Fax

Products SURFACE CHARTS

Analysis 115W-175W Northern Hemisphere (Part 1)

00Z Surface Chart, 06Z Surface Chart, 12Z Surface Chart, 18ZSurface Chart,

Forecast 115W-135E Northern Hemisphere

24HR, 48HR & 96HR Surface Charts

UPPER AIR CHARTS (For Advanced Users)

500 MB Chart Analysis 115W-135E Northern Hemisphere

00Z, 12Z 500MB Chart Forecast 115W-135E Northern Hemisphere

48HR & 96HR

The further out the prediction, the less accuracy


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Weather Fax Manufacturers

S/W

Cortex

SSC (Software Systems Consulting) HF Fax 6, 7 or 8

JVcomm32 (http://www.jvcomm.de) and Mscan Meteo(http://www.mscan.com)

wxfax.exe

It is still a work in progress, so only attempt using it if you areinterested in helping Jim Corenman debug it.

It's (substantial) advantage is that it can remote control yourradio according to a schedule of preprogrammed times andfrequencies (assuming you have a radio with a supportedinterface e.g. Icom 710).


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Weather Fax Manufacturers

Dedicated, stand-alone

Furuno - http://www.furuno.com

Will both control radio power (off/on) and tune radio


Requires separate printer (but that also means that it usesnormal paper

SSB Integrated


Has PC data port on their SSB


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Radars & Deflectors

Selecting A Radar System

Buy the biggest radar your budget and boat can support

Output power, beam width and display size all improve as yougo up in size

More features (such as two EBLs instead of one) and improvedplotting functions are usually included with larger units

While all sailors abhor weight and windage aloft, resistthe temptation to go for the smallest antenna you canfind

Larger scanners have a narrower horizontal beam width

See notes on selecting a display


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GoFast Marine

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Radars & Deflectors

Can see storms as well as traffic (wind hits first)

Alarm and adjustable guard zones

NMEA I/F

Race Preparation:

Be sure its well tuned

Fuses


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GoFast Marine

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Radars & Deflectors

A Radar reflector is required for the race

For radar to work effectively, a strong, repeatableradar return is required

Small vessels, especially those with non-metallic hulls,

often go UNDETECTED on radar because of the weakradar returns they produce

A cheap one is $20, a good one is $60, this is NOTthe place to save $40!! Your life could depend on

it. Mount it properly at least 6 high and rigidly in the

catch rain position - it makes a difference!


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GoFast Marine

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Radars & Deflectors

Radars



Si-Tex Marine Electronics - http://www.si-tex.com Simrad/Robertson/Navico - http://www.simrad.com

Reflectors

Davis - http://www.davisnet.com


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Computers & S/W (& I/F to

Instrumentation) Navigation tools

Instrumentation display, graphing & calibration

Weather fax

Radar plot

Celestial sight reduction

Davis PC Astro Navigator -

http://www.davisnet.com/marine/products/marine_product.asp?pnum=030B

Internet & email


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GoFast Marine

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Dedicated Computers

Ockam makes a small, hand-held weatherproofcomputer (Ockam ESP) that runs a specialversion of their software to be used on deck.

Ocean PC makes dedicated laptops, PCs anddisplays - http://www.oceanpc.com


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GoFast Marine

[email protected]

Mfgrs:

Tatician

SailMath

Deckman - diverse yacht services

Ockam - http://www.ockam.com

Download a demo of OckamSoft3 fromhttp://www.ockam.com/ocksoft.htm

KiwiTech - http://www.kiwitech.com

CompuSail - [email protected]

RayTech Navigator - http://www.raymarine.com

Nobeltec - http://www.nobeltec.com

The Captain - http://www.thecapn.com

TransPac Electronics Seminar

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