On 2006-05-16 11:36:48 +1000, "Pascal" said:

Returning to my old subject, this weekend my friend had made the
software update for his C80 wich now is AIS Ready and we two now have
our respective SR161 AIS receivers working and running with the several
PC software (SeaClear, ShipPlotter, OziExplorer and SOB).

The problem which arises now is related to the availability of only one
NMEA port on the Raymarine C80 chart-plotter. I have not seen it (the
physical installation) but appears that this port already have one
connection that I think, it is the VHF/DSC connection, which is NMEA
IN for VHF and NMEA Out for C80.

The questions a

1) Supposing that the connection from the Gyro (which comes with the AP
Smart Pilot S1G) is made by Seatalk and not on the NMEA port, the NMEA
Out of C80 should be 4800 bps (GPS Out to VHF In) or must be 9600? I
heard anywhere some time ago that DSC mandates 9600... It is true?

The gyro is a board level option on the S1. If it came from the factory
as an S1G there is no external gyro. If it was added later it could be
external or it could be a board level upgrade. You will need to eyeball
it to see if this is so.


2) Since the NMEA IN on the C80 (NMEA Out on the SR161) is 38400 bps,
this NMEA port on the C80 could work using NMEA IN at 38400 bps from
AIS and NMEA Out to VHF at 4800/9600 bps?

AFAIK the baud rade is for both in and out. The C and E series do not
support split baud rates. I may be mistaken on this but I doubt it.


3) The boat has an AP Smart Pilot S1G, which is connected by Sea Talk
with the plotter C80. I do not know if the AP Gyro is connected
directly to C80 by NMEA. I hope that this is not our case. But, if this
would be our situation, it would be possible to disconnect the NMEA
link, so that this NMEA port would be free to connect the AIS receiver?

The AP has NMEA in/out so the current NMEA out to position info to the
VHF radio could be shifted to the AP thus freeing up the C80 NMEA port.



4)In this hypothesis, the output of the AP/Gyro would be routed
automatically via S1G to the C80/Radar /Plotter by SeaTalk? Could be
that this link is already working, since the AP is actually linked to
C80 by Seatalk?

Yes.

--
Regards,
John D Proctor