The problem is that my VHF has stopped getting GPS data from my Plotter. I have pretty much all Raymarine equipment, auto pilot, GPS plotter, speed, depth and wind instruments, all on Seatalk or Seatalkng (gps ant) My VHF radio however is a 20 yr old Standard Horizon that works just fine and displays my GPS position and will broadcast an automatic mayday with my Lat/Lon if I activate the emergency switch. I believe the problem lies with my Raymarine Seatalk to NMEA interface. Using my multimeter I get no voltage variation at the NMEA out terminals which I'm told indicates no data being sent.
But I get a strong voltage variation when I put the probes on the Seatalk In terminals.. So I believe the interface has failed and they are not made anymore except by some European outfit that wants more than I can justify. So my question is does anyone know of any reasonable price alternative to convert my Seatalk gps data to NMEA? Or have an old, working Raymarine E85001 they will sell me?
Thanks
Sam
Capt. Sam Murphy
1994 Catalina 36, Hull 1327
Shoal draft, two cabin model.
Panama City, Florida
Cap. Sam - I am not sure what problem you are describing. You can check if there is any meaningful data being transmitted by connecting a serial cable from a laptop 9-pin serial port to the data wires and view the incoming data using Windows Hyper terminal and setting it to 4800 or 9600 baud rate. Use pins 2 and 3 transmit and receive and 5 ground. If you are not getting any data then reverse pin 2 and 3. You can disconnect this connection from the back of your radio and connect it to your laptop serial port. The text will indicate the GPS co-ordinates and many other information and is clear to understand.
Let us know the result of your test.
Sail La Vie 1999 Catalina 36 MKII, M35B-17031, Coyote Point, San Mateo, CA
About Sail La Vie
The Standard horizon uses NMEA 0183 to get its position data. Depending on your configuration either the GPS or chart plotter’s TX connection are probably feeding that data to the SH. You need to trace the wires to see which one the SH is connected to make sure all wires are making good connection. Finally make sure that the SH is matching the speed of the sending unit. I think the Ray gps is only low speed if talking 0183 or seatalk-1 and the plotter can be either low or high speed 0183. If that doesn’t do it and you are connected to the thechart plotter TXline there is aconfig page which has a bunch of check boxes on what data to put on the 0183 transmit (TX) line make sure everything related to position is checked. Note the gps could be the talker and be connected to both the plotters and the SH RX Line so that is why you need to make sure which connection o the plotter if any is connected to theplotter
i doubt any SeatalkNG or Seatalk is the issue here.
Les & Trish Troyer
Mahalo
Everett, WA
1983 C-36 Hull #0094
C-36 MK 1 Technical Editor.
Commodore
Alternatively, you can add another GPS that is exclusive to the VHF.
Larry Brandt
S/V High Flight #2109
Pacific Northwest, PDX-based
2002 C-36 mkII SR/FK M35B