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I just got my MacEnc to work with B & G network and GPS. It works great. I like it so much that I want to add an AIS and a multiplexer.

What AIS do you folks recommend?

What Ship Module do recommend BT or USB?

thanks

Steve

Using the iPad wifi version with a Verizon MyFi (wireless wifi router) on the northern Chesapeake this weekend, I could not get a gps position. The iPhone gave me position with the wifi, but seemed better with the edge or 3G connection.
Oddly, location services came back on the iPad for a while when I was tied up in Rock Hall, then disappeared again, both while using the myFi.
Checking online I found references to a service called skyhook that registers the ip address as mobile or something, but the references were from some time ago.
And the fact that the blue bubble on the iPad can follow me all over the place in my car but not in my boat is confusing.
I tried it with innavx, charts and tides, and google maps and the inboard map app. None of home like being on the water as far as I can tell.
What am I doing wrong?

I am finding the iPad 3G GPS receiver much more sensitive than iPhone 3G or 3Gs. Not sure if its a software improvement (OS 3.2 versus 3.1) or better hardware.

Quote:GPS
The GPS results surprised us in a different way. We compared the iPad 3G to an iPhone 3GS via Google Maps, for the most fair possible comparison. First, standing outside, and then racing downtown in a cab at 30MPH.

While the iPad was much slower to pull a final GPS lock than the 3GS running iPhone OS 4.0 Beta 1—20 seconds to around 5—the relative turtle wins the more important race in the end. During our 15 minute drive, the iPad's GPS was more accurate and consistent, tracking our progress totally smoothly and nearly instantaneously, while the iPhone occasionally fell behind, and jumped forward to catch up (not to mention losing a lock entirely a couple times). The conclusion we came to is that the iPad is slower to lock, but the lock is stronger. And when the iPad gets its own firmware update this fall, the GPS enhancement featured in the latest OS will hopefully benefit this as well.

It's not a totally indicative test of the iPad's GPS in some ways, because when it comes to navigation the iPad will obviously be used in completely different contexts than an phone—and because we don't have our hands on a true navigator app for the iPad yet—but it's interesting to note nonetheless. Still, this big tablet is as roadworthy as it needs to be, good news for when iPad car mounts go mainstream.

NV-Verlag continues to add to the X-Traverse chart library. There are now new North Sea and Netherlands. I expect Norway charts very soon. These raster charts can be used in GPSNavX, MacENC and iNavX.

http://www.inavx.com/xtraverse.html#NVVERLAG

Panbo's found a really cool piece of "wire"...

http://www.panbo.com/archives/2010/04/dy...handy.html

Navionics released an update of their iPhone app that now optionally rotates the chart as you're turning. This is a big step and a nice feature addition.

Personally, I think that chart rotation is a must-have feature for any navigation product.

Navionics also removed their satellite overlay mode for land areas. I was wondering how they were getting licensing on that. I guess they weren't.

Tides and currents are integrated and it looks like the latest data is included.

It's no wonder why Practical Sailor recommended the Navionics product over Memory-Map and iNavx. And that was even before this new release.

What is the best and least-expensive source/way to obtain NORTHERN Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake-Huron North Channel maps for my MacENC chart library?

-- Dixon in Michigan

I have a new ipad and a new old sailboat (1991 Catalina 28). It certainly will be cool and cheaper to use what I already have for navigation, I'm just not sure it will work and seek the advice of all who have gone the path before me.
My plan is to sail the northern Chesapeake, but in Rock Hall on Saturday my verizon mifi could not get a signal, so the ipad had no connectivity.
I spent money on the Charts and Tides app which just doesn't seem all that impressive, but I'm hesitant to buy anything else knowing something better will come out weeks later.
I have a hackintosh I can dedicate to the boat, does it make sense to get a gps usb antenna and use that, maybe networked to the ipad.
Also, is there a way to output the mac gps signal to my VHF radio?

Hello:

I recently installed a Simrad NX40 and would like to exchange data wirelessly between it and my Mac using MacENC and/or possibly my iPhone. I've seen NMEA Bluetooth multiplexers but I wonder if this could be done cheaply using a simple RS-232 connection and an adapter such as this. I know MacENC supports connections through serial port as wells as Bluetooth enabled GPS; however, I don't know if these adapters show up as a simple com port on the Mac and, if not, if MacENC will connect to these. Has anybody tried this? Any input would be highly appreciated.

Later,
Camuyano

Hi Folks,
I am new to Mac and to Mr Tides. I like the simplicity and clarity of the interface. However I do have a couple of questions about its use.
1, How do I get Mr Tides to display Tidal Stream Information? I cannot get Mr Tides to display Tidal Stream info' for the UK.

2, How can I get more "Map" information it would be useful to be able to zoom in on the local area rather than having the whole of the UK on screen?

3, Anchor Aid and calculations therein?
It seems to me that Anchor Aid could be a useful facility, however it does seem to lack some functionality. Is it possible to change some of the values used in the "Anchor Aid" facility?
In particular I would like to be able to change the Ratio of anchor rode (it is set to 3:1 for chain) I would also like to change the (or be informed of) the "clearance" under the keel at Low Water? I see this as being a variable dependent upon Size of vessel, nature of the sea bed, weather,
streams etc'.

It is possible that these features are already there it is just that I cannot find them.
Any and all help really Appreciated,

Simes