wrote:
I have just got the program Sea Clear II. I am very new to this
subject. I am an old school navy guy.

You have my sympathy. I give them 26 years and then finally had to call
it a day. No regrets though.

All I have ever used is a hand
bearing compass and charts. I ahve downloaded NOAA charts and can
download them to the Sea Clear Program.
I need to buy a GPS Reciever for this program. Could anyone recomend a
unit to purchase.

I have and like the Holux GR-213 cabled or "mouse style" GPS receiver
with it's SiRF III chip set. It comes in two models, one with just a
USB connector, the other with a USB connector and a mid cable PS/2
connector. The PS/2 adapter lets you buy various optional adapters to
adapt the receiver to a number of PDAs and also RS-232 COM ports. Very
good sensitivity and speed and you can find them on eBay and through
Internet sellers for $50 or so.

You can use that Holux in the house and just about anywhere on a boat
without having to pay much attention to antenna placement. It will get
and keep a fix very well with a minimal clear sky view.

I have also been looking at the Garmin 440. Is this a better way to go
as opposed to my laptop??

It may be. But I would proceed carefully on the newer Garmin GPSMAP
products because Garmin is actually "dumbing down" some of their marine
newer products as far as navigation features and capabilities. A recent
thread here about one of the newer GPSMAP 4xx series units indicated
that Garmin is backing away from some of the navigation-related features
as far as your ability to do route planning at home and easily upload
and download user data to and from some of the newer units.

So if you're doing okay with the laptop, I'd use that for a while as you
get yourself settled in and decide what features you want to use and
would like to have.

I used and liked SeaClear II, it is arguably the best freeware
navigation program available. If you'd like to try another software,
check out the trial version of Coastal Explorer:

http://rosepointnav.com/CoastalExplo...al/default.htm

That trial version will only allow 15 minutes of GPS navigation in the
trial version but it is a good software and certainly worth looking at
if you are considering buying a navigation program. Coastal Explorer
will use the same NOAA raster charts that you are using with SeaClear II
and you can also use the NOAA vector charts too.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)