On Jun 4, 4:02 am, Geoff Schultz wrote:
... How do others have their displays configured? How does the CG have their's
configured? What's the purpose of N-up vs heading-up?
....
Just to add a confused point of view, I keep my radar in course up
mode and my electronic charts in N up mode. My radar can do N up but
it uses a non-gyro compass for this and I find it adds errors to have
it hunting around. When I look at the PPI I can guess when we on
heading and take my bearings as we swing past. Course up also makes
plotting on the screen possible. Transfer plotting is better but with
only two folks on board it's rare that we have the time. Box boats
these days are running in excess of 20 knots at sea... Time
flies...

The electronic charts I use are on a computer that I keep at the nav
station. There all the charts, paper and "e" are north up and there
is no confusion. On the e-charts the computer plots my boat, draws an
arrow to along my future course and leaves "bread crumbs" along my
wake... I've never found orientation to be a problem. Though, lots
of places we've been the electronic charts are in excess of a mile out
of WGS and in many locals are not correctable. So, we're not in the
habit of piloting by e-chart alone.

I'm not sure how much cred I'd give some hear-say about how The Coast
Guard does something. There's lots of misinformation out there.
There is the possibility that the CG is using different (and typically
outdated) technology. There's the possibility that only some of them
do it a certain way. And, of course, doing it their way w/o their
training is silly. If the crew can't make it work it's the wrong
system.

-- Tom.