vhf radio recomendations

[ShinyShoe]

which Garmin?

[ShinyShoe]

Oh and what wiring is there? Not uncommon for people to report not needing an earth when they install but if whatever dubious route it was earthing becomes more dubious that would be an issue...

[Johnscubanut]

It's the 550S

[Johnscubanut]

It has earth wire & the 3 coloured ones that go to the radio. Has worked previously. But stopped on the latest trip out!

[ShinyShoe]

OK So on the Home Screen -> Configuration -> Communications -> Serial 1

Set the NMEA Standard not Garmin or High Speed.

**AND**

Home Screen -> Configure -> Communications -> NMEA Setup

3 coloured wires + 1 earth doesn't stack up right...unless you are including the 12V red in that mix. It should be 4 wires for 2 way traffic, but actually one of them is a joint earth so 3 would work.

Wiring: Looks like the ground uses the common ground. So red to +12V, Black to 0V on power. Blue OUT from GPS , BROWN IN to GPS. So you don't need brown to get a signal on the radio but it should take a DSC pos from the radio (e.g a distress alert) and plot it. You could try sticking a voltmeter across Black and Blue and see if it shows any sign of life... Ignore grey and voilet.

Not sure what SH DSC set you have but could be that you connect:

Black on Garmin to: Green on Radio
Blue on Garmin to: Blue of Radio
and for two directional traffic:
Grey on Garmin to Grey on Radio
Black on Garmin to Brown on Radio

You could in theory drop the Brown Radio and Green Radio off to any 0V/GND/Negative connection thats handy and it be picked up by the Black at the other end. As things are playing up I'd run a specific wire while testing.

Your radio colours may vary. The SH radio may also need told to listen (need model to know).

There isn't anything simple like an order of trunring things on that has differed? i.e. plotter before radio or vice versa?

[Johnscubanut]

Thanks for all that info. I have printed it off & will looking at the connections shortly. The radio a SH Quest X 1500e
Cheers-John

[Capt.Magnus]

Originally Posted by Poly

What he said - but others will say the same about Icom. Outside these two main manufacturers people are generally less enthusiastic about use on open, wet, ribs.

Hello

I have just crossed the North sea three times and use my RIB all year long in Norway even vintertime in 15celcius below. I have now a Standard Horizon nr 3 they have all broken down. So I gonna change to the same brand as my GPS and radar, Simrad that is really good stuff on a RIB, not the cheapest but qualitity all the way!

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Capt.Magnus

Hello

I have just crossed the North sea three times and use my RIB all year long in Norway even vintertime in 15celcius below. I have now a Standard Horizon nr 3 they have all broken down. So I gonna change to the same brand as my GPS and radar, Simrad that is really good stuff on a RIB, not the cheapest but qualitity all the way!

Yes I should probably have said that other big names in the marine electronics world including Raymarine, Navico/Simrad/Lowrance, Garmin, etc have all produced credible offerings for the leisure market and there can be advantages to having all your electronics from one brand.

Out of interest what was the "failure mode" on the SH units? Was it obvious before you needed it?

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Poly

Yes I should probably have said that other big names in the marine electronics world including Raymarine, Navico/Simrad/Lowrance, Garmin, etc have all produced credible offerings for the leisure market and there can be advantages to having all your electronics from one brand.

Out of interest what was the "failure mode" on the SH units? Was it obvious before you needed it?

I had 3 Raymarine Ray55 vhf's fail on me, I gave up in the end & went back to Icom.

[Johnscubanut]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

OK So on the Home Screen -> Configuration -> Communications -> Serial 1

Set the NMEA Standard not Garmin or High Speed.

**AND**

Home Screen -> Configure -> Communications -> NMEA Setup

3 coloured wires + 1 earth doesn't stack up right...unless you are including the 12V red in that mix. It should be 4 wires for 2 way traffic, but actually one of them is a joint earth so 3 would work.

Wiring: Looks like the ground uses the common ground. So red to +12V, Black to 0V on power. Blue OUT from GPS , BROWN IN to GPS. So you don't need brown to get a signal on the radio but it should take a DSC pos from the radio (e.g a distress alert) and plot it. You could try sticking a voltmeter across Black and Blue and see if it shows any sign of life... Ignore grey and voilet.

Not sure what SH DSC set you have but could be that you connect:

Black on Garmin to: Green on Radio
Blue on Garmin to: Blue of Radio
and for two directional traffic:
Grey on Garmin to Grey on Radio
Black on Garmin to Brown on Radio

You could in theory drop the Brown Radio and Green Radio off to any 0V/GND/Negative connection thats handy and it be picked up by the Black at the other end. As things are playing up I'd run a specific wire while testing.

Your radio colours may vary. The SH radio may also need told to listen (need model to know).

There isn't anything simple like an order of trunring things on that has differed? i.e. plotter before radio or vice versa?

All sorted now, there was just a bad earth wire. Got the GPS positions up on the radio now. Thanks .Shinyshoe for your advice!