Boat Forum / Electronics / January 2006

Putting a "shortie" marine VHF ant on the boat. This ant is the one with a
loading/matching coil at the bottom of the whip.
The coax comes down from the center of the coil. The base of the coil has a
threaded female fitting same thread/dia as the male counterpart of the lay

I am using an old pakrat pk-232 for email via winlink.  I understand
that I can also use it for weather fax RTTY etc. At the present time I
am using SeaTTY through my soundcard for this, but I guess that the TNC
will do a better job, and anyway I don't like having to keep switching

I have a Davis wind speed and direction sensor. It would be cool to have a
NEMA wind sensor. The sensors I have found are way to expensive. Is there
away to convert my Davis sensor to NEMA? or an affordable NEMA wind sensor?
Pat Harman

Where can I find either made-up power cords, or power plugs for a couple of
old marine VHF radios?
I have a Polaris Regency and Sea Ranger I need power cords for.  The plugs
aren't readily available, but were standard ones for those vintages of VHF

 This site seems to have decent prices for refurbs
http://www.bobjohnson.com/Product_List/Used-Laptops.htm
Gordon

hello ev'body, help me pls. i've notebook :
- notebook IBM 365x type 2625 / 16 Vdc 2,2 A 35 W
- adapter A:
* input 100 - 120 Vac / 50 - 60 Hz

Can I use a pda at the helm to controll, use, interface with, whatever, a
notebook running a nav program in the cabin? For instance with bluetooth,
can the pda become the i/o device for the laptop so I have a full blown nav
program at my disposal at the helm that I can actually see ...

Can somebody tell me if I can download (assuming I have a serial cord etc)
BlueChart Americas from my computer directly to the unit without having a
data card. And will it be functional on my GPS...it is on my
computer.......Will I need an unlock code also?

Tyring to avoid the cost of buying a ready made cord. Any ideas out there
as to the various ways to construct a cable to download from the computer
to the GPS. Understand you need a serial DB9 female plug, a 12 volt power
source (I don't know amperage ) and of course the loose ...

Am now thinking about a chartplotter, got some good info from group.
Thanks.  Questions:
If I go with a Garmin (I'm thinking maybe the 376C) and wanted good
detail covering the entire East Coast and the Bahamas, including the

I wonder if anybody has any paperwork on the SX-25 VHF Marine Radio
Or where I could get any downloadable information?
Many thanks in advance

I'm starting to give some thought to my power source on the house boat I am
refitting. I am leaning towards using isolators to seperate the battery
banks. I would like some experienced feedback on what type of isolator to
use; diode, FET or solid state? All I know at this point is ...

I was going to take my old loran antenna off the mount and remove the
antenna and clean the coupler body.  Found the antenna is "frozen" in place.
Probably corrosion of one type or another.  I've been squirting WD-40 at the
antenna base, hoping it would get down into the threaded ...

After many years of cruising from Maine to Grenada with paper charts
and our trusty handheld Magellan 5000DX, it's time to enter the
electronic age.  While I do have a good nav station down below; having
access to data in cockpit, which at times can be wet, is of primary

 Why does the above draw 5 ma when turned off? Had this sucker hooked up
direct to the batt and over several months, it drained the it.
Gordon