I recently bought and installed a Lowrance Elite 4-M GPS. It
works great and I'm pleased with it.

Just last week my old VHF sorta crapped out so I bought a new
Lowrance Link-5 VHF. Now, the Link-5 can display GPS location,
time, cog, sog and local time but it needs to be connected to
a GPS via its own NMEA cable that came with the VHF.

Well, I ordered the optional NMEA cable for my Elite 4-M GPS
so I could connect the two. First off, there were NO instructions
as to how to connect the colored wires of each cable. I had to
look up any and all information I could find on the Internet.

The NMEA cable from the VHF was labeled with little tags that
identified the data in (+) and the data in (-) wires. The data
in positive is yellow and the data in negative is green.

I found out on the Internet that the data out (+) wire on the
NMEA cable from the GPS is yellow while the data out (-) is
green. So I connected them properly and the VHF displayed
*no GPS information*. Huh? I couldn't figure out what was
going on as it should have worked.I even checked the data
out wires using a volt meter and noted a pulsed signal about
once every two seconds that was around 3.5 volts so I knew
the GPS NMEA was working. I noticed a bulge in the GPS NMEA
cable so I stripped off the insulation and, lo and behold,
there were a couple of diodes hidden in there, I suppose
to keep damage from being done should some dumbass hook
the wires up backwards. The diode on the yellow wire was
soldered in backwards so I bypassed it by soldering the
yellow wire from the VHF on the other side of the diode
and the two units linked right up and the VHF now displays
the Lat/Lon, etc. This is good for any potential distress
call as it will include my position whereas prior to the
connection I would have had to manually input the lat/lon
prior to making a distress call. I haven't activated the
DSC side of the VHF because I'd have to get some dumb
MMSI number from the government first and it looks like
a bunch of stupid forms to fill out and I'd have to
buy an operators license because I go out of the country
from time to time. **** that!

So, what should have been a twenty minute connection took
all afternoon. Now, I know why Capt. Skippy never goes
sailing anymore. With all the crap he has on his boat it
must be a full-time job keeping them operating.

--
Sir Gregory