"Flemming Torp" fletopkanelbolle2rp.danmark wrote in message
k...

"Paul" skrev i en meddelelse
...

SNIP

I am displaying the AIS targets on my PocketPC, which is usually velcro'd
to the navstation next to the chartplotter. I have a Bluetooth link from
the AIS receiver and the NMEA mux which carries the rest of the nav-data.
My Raymarine RL70 and RL80 chartplotters (now obsolete) don't support
AIS, thus the PocketPC.

The PPC, running a program I wrote, has a display (for AIS) that looks
more or less like the NASA "AIS Radar", with no chart overlay. It still
gets pretty crowded, but I can turn off ship name display and then it is
usable during crowded conditions. The PPC calculates CPA, TCPA, sounds
an alarm if appropriate, etc -- all the stuff that I expect my new
chartplotters to do well, on a much larger screen. The PPC program also
shows other nav data, using dials, numeric displays, etc. I mainly use
it as a "black box" to log filtered nav and AIS data, so I can
postprocess it later and remind myself (when I am programming) of how
much I enjoy sailing. I have some interesting (to me, at least)
Google-Earth tracks created from the PPC logfiles, posted on the VALIS
blog: http://www.sailvalis.com/wordpress_1/ . The most recent posting has
the tracks for VALIS and the AIS-equipped ships heard during the Queen
Mary 2 excursion. I use the PPC rather than a laptop for this in order
to keep the power consumption under control.

-Paul
Hi Paul,

I'm still most enthusiastic about your set up. Being an absolute
"electronic novice", unfortunately, I'll have to buy products in the
market, as I cannot programme or build the components myself. I'm not
sure, I can make myself clear in the following, but I do hope that you get
an idea of what I want (it's close to what you have implemented yourself
...), but unfortunately I need products available "from the shelf" ... as
my experience in programming is pretty "rusty" and primarily based on
Cobol, Basic and Fortran programming on an IBM 7090 ... if you get the
picture ...

I do have a PPC (Win-based), and I would like to add the functionality, as
you have described above ... As I have recently decided to install an AIS
receiver (SR161), and my chartplotter (Raymarine c530+) does not support
AIS, I would like to know whether you know of any software and hardware
products, that can be bought on the market, that will give the same
features and functionality, as you have described above.

My AIS system is not up and running yet, but I'we been adviced to connect
the AIS receiver to my notebook (WinXP) and use the SOB package on my PC
(I have downloaded and tried the SOB package on my laptop, and it runs
fine when using the USB C-Map chart reader, but I don't know yet whether
it will run the same, when the PC is connected to the chartplotter via the
hsb2 interface, i.e. when the charts are put into the slots of the
chartplotter and the PC connected to the c530+).

Is there a way to send - wireless - the content of the PC screen to the
PPC or do I need an application on the PPC as well? I suppose so ...

I understand, you have a blue tooth connection between the AIS receiver
and your PPC. As I'we never played with that, I would need a little help
he What type of equipment - at the AIS receiver and at the PPC - are
you using to make this work?

I also understand you are using your own programme. As this is completely
outside my ability my next question is: Is there a software package for
the PPC available on the market I could use? Is there any possibility to
use/transmit my C-Map charts running on the PC and/or on the chartplotter
(c530+) onto my PPC?

I do also have quite a few electronic BSB compatible charts from Maptech,
but I also understand, that the Maptech applications do not support AIS
... right? Do you know of an application that runs on the PC and the PPC,
that can use BSB compatible charts *and* use the AIS data send from the
SR161?

Sorry for all these questions, but I'm in the very early phase of my
learning curve, and I did find your approach most interesting ...

Best regards

--
Flemming Torp
Gimle/DEN-61


Flemming,

For PPC nav-software, you might look at Fugawi
(http://www.fugawi.com/web/products/f...marine_enc.htm) -- They appear to
have good AIS support, but I can't tell if the PDA version is full-featured.
They can use BSB charts. I will look through my files and links, and report
back, but I recall there being several PDA nav-programs with AIS capability.

I have played with lots of PC and PPC nav programs, but since I have my
chartplotter running 24/7 I haven't had to choose one to actually use. I do
use the RayTech navigation software for planning and weather routing, but
neither this or my older Raymarine chartplotter support AIS. My PPC program
started with my desire to have an always-on "black box" data recorder that I
could use to look at long-term performance data. I'm not a serious racer,
but this is fun stuff to play with. As the program evolved, I of course
added bells and whistles (mostly display dials and massaging data into
formats that I prefer). When AIS started to be seriously deployed I added
the AIS features to the PPC program. I would actually prefer that the AIS
capabilities be supported by the chartplotter, and eventually I will install
a new chartplotter which will speak AIS.

Bluetooth is pretty easy. My NMEA data runs through a Shipmodul
MiniPlex42BT (which includes a Bluetooth port), and the PPC has built-in BT,
so the link looks like a serial-port connection. I have an "AirCable"
BT-to-RS232 adaptor plugged into an SR161 AIS receiver, and this connects to
the second BT channel on the PPC. The newest revision of the Miniplex42BT
(which I have just ordered) will let me run everything through the mux, so I
will need to only run one BT link. Meindert has promised to update the
firmware on my old mux, so I will send it in when the new one arrives. I
have another AIS receiver at home, as part of my development / test system
(this is just a hobby), and the extra mux will go there.

I don't know if there is a good way to use the PPC as a remote screen for a
PC-based application. That would be nice, if you wanted to run the PC
full-time. I'm not sure if a BT link could handle the graphics-intensive
applications, but WiFi connection might work well.

I haven't tried to run the chartplotter Cmap charts into the PC via the HSB
connection. I didn't like the mechanics of the HSB adaptor, and I didn't
really need the full cababilities of this, so I am just using the slower
SeaTalk connection. I've got all the serial ports (Seatalk, Pactor Modem,
Iridium Satphone, MiniPlex) running through a four-port Serial-to-USB
adaptor hidden behind the navstation panel, with a single USB connector for
hooking up the laptop. As I have mentioned, the PC is only powered-up for
specific tasks, but spends most of the time shut off.

I swore I wouldn't do this, but if you would like a copy of my PPC program,
I would be happy to send it to you. You just have to promise to not whine
when it crashes, or puts the boat on the rocks, or doesn't have some silly
feature -- oh yeah, and it only speaks english. I encourage you to find an
actual, supported, product, though. I am curious -- what type of PPC do you
have, and what is the screen size (in pixels)?

Regards,
-Paul