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First Crew.org Electronics and social evening.!


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Thanks guys! :-)

 

I'm interested in opinions from those who attended, so I can make the next one better.

So if it was too long/short/technical/not technical enough, too much video, too much talking  by me etc I''m keen to know what you thought. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

 

I've been asked by a few to do another, so I probably will. I also thought about doing one that is a "hands on" session in which people get an opportunity to do the physical connections for NMEA 0183 to a PC, and learn how to test any NMEA0183 output to see what is being produced/sent, so you can connect instruments to share data, regardless of brand. Any interest in that one? More a workshop than a presentation....  

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That was well worth it ,thanks Matt.

On one hand I was pleased I knew a bit more than I thought , on the other ... I know nussink.

 

Good strategic overview of options, I thought.

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Thanks Matt, an informative evening. Good use of the short videos that provided concise info (without the inevitably glitches that hinder live demos). This really is a fast moving and rapidly changing field  - you'll have to run a seminar yearly so we can keep up to date.

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Great work thanks Matt.

 

Our Machine is not blue water but something there for everyone.

 

 

Overall I thought the balance was great using different media and live and static displays plus time for Q&A.

 

Absolutely understand the need for screen video and taken those learnings for my own line of work.

 

Initially I though saving questions to the end might have been a disadvantage but could see the conversation could easily have got way off track so keep doing that too.

 

I will be following up with some enquiries and I'm sure you'll get others doing the same.  

 

Mike

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Just to clarify for a few - yes I can help with your boat, from electronics concept, selection, install and troubleshooting.  Mostly I do Auckland wide, other centres negotiable, especially Wellington, as I am there quite a bit!  Time and materials will be chargeable, and my rates are very reasonable. If you can sort your own stuff with a bit of the info from the night, best of luck to you :-)

 

Here is the Opencpn video I showed;

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdTg6T_aLRk

 

Cheers

Matt

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Thanks Matt. The end result was very informative and to the point. You clearly spent a lot of time and effort getting the presentation right. I really liked the way you presented different options.

The whole thing made a lot of sense. Thanks

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Chic014, have a look at the VDR (Voyage Data recorder) plugin for OCPN. Data from that  is what was used to make the video. If makes a pretty basic NMEA txt file. You should be able to make a CSV into the same format, then play it back....

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Can you not export it as an ascii file and manipulate that? How did you get the CSV? Want to give me a sample?

 

It is pretty easy to wrap the position, for example, in an NMEA sentence..

 

Here is a bit from VDR file for exapmple 

 

$ECRMB,A,0.001,R,001,002,3637.295,S,17448.681,E,6.421,318.451,7.150,V*10

$ECRMC,030046,A,3642.097,S,17453.987,E,7.150,316.600,110115,19.000,E*48

$ECAPB,A,A,0.001,R,N,V,V,318.317,T,002,318.451,T,318.451,T*21

$ECXTE,A,A,0.001,R,N*50

$IIMTW,35.5,C*10

$IIMWV,245.5,T,11.3,N,A*0E

$IIMWV,278.0,R,9.6,N,A*3F

$GPGLL,3642.0960,S,17453.9854,E,030035,A

 

Granted, it takes some time if you are not familiar with the NMEA sentences to use... 

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Yep, but an interesting test (in the link above)- confirms some of my thoughts - B&G are still leading the way.

 

Also shows that if your gear is NMEA2000 certified (or at least compliant) it can work pretty well together. :-)

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Hey Island Time,

 

You seem to be a fan of B&G, At some point in the next year we'll be doing a small refit - B&G are looking interesting but there was some talk over on CF about B&G not playing nicely with non-B&G kit and the marketing material not lining up with reality, I think it was DSC calling from AIS or something.

 

Whats been your experience with inter-op and overall support?

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1st, to be clear,  I'm a B&G dealer. I often quote this stuff in examples on crew, as it is what I'm most familiar with.

 

B&G, Yes, there have been some software issues, but you will find them in all manufacturers products. MOST of the software problems are now sorted. A few remain, but they are unusual and you are unlikely to see them. As they are discovered and fixed, the upgrades are free and easy to do.

 

The issue you mention above is that the "call" function for DSC from the Zeus 11 MFD's only works with the B&G radios. This is being worked on. The problem stems from the fact that there is currently no "standard" for the instructions to create a VHF call from DSC, so it is pretty brand dependent, and therefore difficult to cover a broad range of gear. Unfortunately some users were not given the correct info by some dealers, and this has caused some issues ... 

 

Currently it is my opinion that B&G provide some of the best electronic gear available for yachts. I have direct contact with Navico support, and the designers of some of the gear, so I get great support here in NZ.

 

I'm happy to help sort out any issues with Navico (B&G, Simrad,Lowrance) gear, if anyone needs help - especially if they buy the stuff from me!! :-)

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