Inexpensive way to add GPS to your DSC radio

Spector · Post by **Spector** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 3:13 pm

I was reading recently that the vast majority of DSC distress calls that the coast guard receives do not have imbeded GPS info. So it got me thinking it was time do do something about it.. I have the DSC radio and an MMSI but I'm not ready to invest in a chartplotter just yet ( things change so quickly with electronics and it might be obsolete before I need it)
So I was looking for an alternative way to get GPS data to my radio.

I found these on eBay http://www.ebay.ca/itm/GARMIN-GPS17X-GP ... 576wt_1139

Just received one and its all brand new, just waiting for the wiring harness plug for the radio side.

Thought this might be of interest to some

tlgibson97 · Post by **tlgibson97** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 3:35 pm

I'm not sure you will get anything from that without a Garmin GPS unit. Looks to me like that is just an antenna that will give you a higher accuracy than a built-in antenna.

mastreb · Post by **mastreb** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 4:10 pm

His radio doesn't have a built-in antenna.

What I'm looking for is an NMEA 2000 heading sensor/fluxgate compass that costs less than an arm and a leg. The chartplotter heading update is based on GPS comparison, and it's so latent that it's hard to keep a heading in a dense fog.

Spector · Post by **Spector** » Sat Dec 08, 2012 4:22 pm

It is a NMEA 0183 receiver/antenna, 12-channel receiver. Up to three devices can be connected and receive gps data

I believe a NMEA 2000 version is available but not positive Here is an article on wiring it to a DSC radio http://portky.com/articles/dsc2.php

Octaman · Post by **Octaman** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:29 am

A VHF antenna for the DSC radio is one thing and the GPS antenna is quite another. They look very different too.

GPS antennas come in two versions; one is just an antenna that provides a raw signal to your GPS for further treatment. The other GPS antenna has an integrated decoder of the signal (similar to a regular GPS) that is especially made to hook up to a DSC radio if you do not have a regular GPS. These two GPS antennas look very much alike.

So, your DSC radio needs to have two antennas, one for the voice and data transmission and one for receiving the GPS decoded data.
My opinion is, that even if you do have a regular GPS/plotter on board, in the name of safety and sending out reliable coordinates of your position when hitting the Distress button, it is best to have a separate dedicated GPS antenna ,as described above, just for the DSC radio. Rather than to connect the radio to the existing GPS.

Hope this clears the issue.

Happy, safe sailing,

Octaman

Nautek · Post by **Nautek** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:59 am

If the head is an active head rather than a passive head then it should work
The difference is the active head has the GPS in the head and needs power to work
These are used for interfacing with computers ets

The passive head requires no power supply and will only work with a GPS unit tha active is a stand alone GPS

this unit looks like it could be an active unit and as such should work with the radio

Allan

Sumner · Post by **Sumner** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:08 pm

Octaman wrote:....My opinion is, that even if you do have a regular GPS/plotter on board, in the name of safety and sending out reliable coordinates of your position when hitting the Distress button, it is best to have a separate dedicated GPS antenna ,as described above, just for the DSC radio. Rather than to connect the radio to the existing GPS...

In the Mac we run navigation software on the ship's computer and also have it tied to a handheld Garmin 76S in the cockpit.

The VHF radio though gets position for the DSC from...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... 20350.html

....the Cuda 350 depth-finder that also has GPS and can output that signal. It goes to the radio and works fine.

On the Endeavour we use the same ship's computer with it also tied to the Garmin in the cockpit and hopefully also a cockpit display. The VHF radio will get the GPS signal for the DSC from a separate handheld Garmin Map 76S. You can pickup these Garmin's on e-bay for $60 or less and a cable that will allow you to hook it to the radio and also a 12 volt plug (so you don't have to feed it batteries) for another $15 or so. We have at least 3 of them now and none of them seemed to of ever been used. One nice thing about using them is than you also have another chartplotter if needed.

The radio in the Endeavour also has AIS and will be connected to the ship's computer to display AIS targets on the monitor. So it will output AIS info to the computer, but get location from the handheld although it could get position from the computer if I wanted but I also like the idea of a couple things running with position,

Sum

===================================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

Octaman · Post by **Octaman** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:54 pm

Hi Sum,

Thank you for sharing all this information with us. I very much enjoyed visiting your detailed website. And I do remember reading many of your posts here on this forum over the years.

No one can argue that it is always good to have a back up – and a back up to the backup, etc especially with the type of cruising/exploring that you do. Then again in your case, I would probably also want to look at having an SSB radio on board, for those remote areas. Is it already getting ‘crowded’ down below?

If your setup works for you then that is fine.

I, for example, still use paper charts on my boat and my ancient handheld GPS that I only use as a back up to traditional navigating methods, gives only coordinates and does not have an integrated plotter with charts. It is very basic but suits me very well and it is a way for me to remain sharp and not rely on the hardware/software of modern technology.
Don’t get me wrong , I enjoy using the hi tech stuff when I am on other boats and especially when racing, the plethora of secondary information you can get off the machines really does make a difference in helping you decide the best tactics.

Anyway . . .

AIS reception is also very handy to have especially when in areas of ship traffic. As long as you don’t forget that the AIS transmission is not compulsory for all boats which means that if you don’t see ‘him’ on your screen it doesn’t mean ‘he’ isn’t out there and possibly heading towards you.
So AIS should always function in tandem with a sharp lookout in my opinion. I have seen people that tend to forget this especially during overnight passages.

Going back to the subject of this thread, I think you will see on the bigger, modern sailing boats that the DSC VHF in most cases has its own dedicated ‘active’ antenna, as Allan describes it, as standard.

And remember, that you may have all the right stuff set up and never use it as you say – and I hope it stays that way – but if you do, it may only be once, and that one time may save your life and the lives of those around you.

Happy sailing

Sumner · Post by **Sumner** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 4:38 pm

Octaman wrote:...Going back to the subject of this thread, I think you will see on the bigger, modern sailing boats that the DSC VHF in most cases has its own dedicated ‘active’ antenna, as Allan describes it, as standard...

As cheap as GPS is now I don't see why they don't put it in all of the DSC radios, but the ones we bought don't have it as a feature. One of the radios was about $120 and the one with DSC and AIS was $240 so these aren't the real high end radios. For now there isn't really in our case a difference in using another Garmin GPS as the antenna vs. a standalone GPS antenna. I'll bet that soon all of the radios do have internal GPS though.

On lakes and in the west navigating by sight or charts is not a big deal, but I'll really admire someone that can do it down in parts of Florida where all land looks the same and you can't get in very close often due to the skinny water. If I didn't have a GPS coordinate at least I would have a hard time telling exactly where we were since there are no landmarks to triangulate off of. I do usually know close enough that we could go north or south along the coast and find the next town and then the markers going in and the chart would then be handy. We do carry full size charts for all of Florida and the Keys.

You are right that it would not be too smart to rely on AIS and not use your eyes also. I don't see it doing us much good on the west coast down there. If we go up the east coast to possibly Long Island Sound then I think we will appreciate it on board. The smaller boats without it usually (except for power boats) don't run that fast, but I've heard that some of the ocean going freighters can close on you very quickly and then the AIS might be a big help determining if you are on a collision course with them. It also gives there name and other info that would help contact them via radio to give them info about you.

Have a good Holidays,

Sum

===================================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

kadet · Post by **kadet** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:35 am

spector,

I have just done all this re-wiring my boat to a NEMA 2000/Seatalk NG network for the new auto-pilot old system was NEMA 0183 to the VHF and Wind Instrument (and still is

) did not upgrade the VHF.

That particular Garmin GPS is designed to run off an RS-232 serial port and is designed to connect to a Garmin GPS or other NEMA 0183 complaint device. I suspect your VHF will be the same as mine with a TX+- and RX+- NEMA 0183 ports in which case you will also have to provide 8-33Volt power to the unit separately

Good find and a nice inexpensive way to get GPS on your network, think I might try and get one for my laptop and OpenCPN, easier than blue toothing the GPS on my smart phone to it as a my backup chartplotter

.

Sumner · Post by **Sumner** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:39 am

kadet wrote:. a nice inexpensive way to get GPS on your network, think I might try and get one for my laptop and OpenCPN, easier than blue toothing the GPS on my smart phone to it as a my backup chartplotter .

If you are trying to get GPS to a computer/laptop this....

... is an easy, inexpensive way to do it....

http://www.amazon.com/GlobalSat-BU-353- ... 687&sr=1-1

... and is what we use and lots of other people use. Just connect it to a USB port and you have GPS location if the program you are running on the computer needs it ( OpenCPN/SeaClearII in our case). No need for a power wire either. NOTE: This will not work for GPS with a radio that needs it.

As I've mentioned we use the computer ....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... index.html

...as our chartpoltter and it gets GPS position from that puck and also from the Garmin Handheld if it is also connected to it which it usually is, so there are two sources of location to the computer/chartplotter in our case,

Sum

===================================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

kadet · Post by **kadet** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:59 pm

Yep have had those USB GPS units before on my Android Tablet, not the best things but did work most of the time but not inside a car, had to stick it on the roof

. Would probably work inside a fibreglass MAC but I was thinking ahead to my next boat which will be a steel bluewater yacht so need an outside GPS receiver, laptop will be the inside navigation system and backup with the regular marine electronics at the helm.

Currently OpenCPN and laptop live on the kitchen bench so phone GPS is fine to experiment (dream) with

Spector · Post by **Spector** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 7:55 pm

Had a chance to temporarily hook up the GPS receiver on the desk. Here's a shot of the radio displaying the GPS coordinates. Just need the water to go liquid again! minus 23C outside tonight.

Merry Christmas all!

Phil M · Post by **Phil M** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 8:08 am

Ha! It's -26C here (-15F)
Merry Christmas all!

yukonbob · Post by **yukonbob** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:33 pm

Ha ha! Only -21 here!

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Inexpensive way to add GPS to your DSC radio

Inexpensive way to add GPS to your DSC radio

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