Hi Larry,

I agree about your comments regarding price, $800 puts it out of the
price range of your average budget cruiser. I would love to see more
people (like you've done) coming out posting HOWTO's on how to create
an inexpensive wireless navigation solution on-board.

We can't compete (nor are we trying to) with hobbyists or highly
technical folks rolling their own using commodity components. For
example our cost on the 200mW 802.11 transmitter and high gain antenna
we include in the unit (which is one of the best out there but only a
small portion of the total unit) costs more than the entire Netgear
wireless access point you make reference to.

Our objective was to create a very high quality single 12-24V unit that
connects to the multiplexer and makes the NMEA data available to
multiple laptops running at the same time. Due to the size of the
market and our costs (including customer support) $800 makes it a break
even proposition for us at the moment. I wish we had the budget and
potential market size of a Netgear or Linksys, in which case we could
offer it for $100.

For folks who want to use Bluetooth or who are on a budget, you can't
go wrong to checkout Shipmodul's Bluetooth multiplexer, it's very cool.
Either way, I'm excited by products of the likes of TackTick and
Shipmodul that are making out of the box wireless navigation a reality
today!

Best,
Todd

--
Marine Wireless
http://www.marinewireless.us


Larry W4CSC wrote:
"thuss" wrote in
oups.com:

http://www.marinewireless.us/

Wow! $800 is kinda PRICEY! PAY, BOATERS, PAY!

I've had a wireless LAN on board Lionheart, an Amel Sharki 41' ketch,
for
some time. A Compaq Latitude notebook runs The Cap'n nav software.
The
router is a Netgear 802.11b WEP-protected wireless unit. The serial
to
Ethernet interface is plugged directly into it. It's a WebFoot WF-1
serial
to Ethernet interface with full DHCP-enabled automatic IP assignment
from
the Netgear router's DHCP server to all its LAN devices. Here's the
little
device:
http://www.stayonline.com/serial_to_ethernet/3311.asp
I see it's price here is about $60 more than I paid for ours. The
serial
port is hooked to the boat's NMEA multiplexer serial port. Webfoot
includes a "virtual serial port" program that runs on the notebook
through
the network. NMEA-enabled programs merely connect to this
faux-serial-port
dll spoofing them as COM3 on Windoze 2000. The Cap'n comes online
thinking
the virtual serial port is connected directly to the multiplexer. No

interface setup is necessary.

It's a LOT less than $800!!

WebFoot - $110
Netgear Wireless Router - $90
Software virtual serial port - free

We also use a network-shared little HP printer plugged into the same
router's 4-port Ethernet hub. If you're laying on a beanbag in the
bow (on
lookout, of course) steering the boat by LAN to the B&G autopilot
with The
Cap'n.....you can printout the chart by remote control via the
network
router for the person at our nav table....who's plotting on paper
chart
with the B&G Yeoman electronic plotting board I stuck to the plotting

table's lift top. I can send that Yeoman waypoints from the wireless
notebook as we toodle along, too....(c;