December 2008
Icom’s noise-cancelling VHF
Humminbird update budget fishfinder range
Two into one: Lowrance combine GPS and VHF in one hand-held unit
Lowrance HDS plotter/sounders
Advansea
Garmin re-enter VHF market
November 2008
Radar -- but not as we know it
Portable Navtex
Icom’s noise-cancelling VHF
The latest addition to Icom’s line-up of hand-held VHF radios is the IC-M35 – a waterproof, floating hand-held with a couple of extra features that are intended specifically to minimise the effect of background noise.
One is a noise-cancelling system, based on the same principles as the noise-reducing headphones you get in aircraft. A second microphone, on the back of the radio, picks up background noise. Clever signal processing then turns the sound wave upside down (so that “peaks” become ”troughs” and “troughs” become “peaks”) before combining it with the signal from the normal microphone. When the two are added together, the noise and the inverted noise cancel each other out, leaving just the voice signal to pass on through to the transmitter.
The other, that Icom are choosing to call “Clear Audio Boost”, is really two features rolled into one. It’s based on the technology that is built into many upmarket car radios, which constantly monitors the level of background noise, and automatically increase the audio volume if the ambient noise increases. In the IC-M35, it does the same – but it also increases the volume of the transmitted audio signal, as well as the received signal.
List price is £194.95, including a battery charger and a lightweight Lithium Ion battery pack, good for eight hours use at the usual 90% stand-by, 5% receive 5% transmit test cycle.
www.icomuk.co.uk
Humminbird update budget fishfinder range
Humminbird has announced four new fishfinders in the budget-priced "PiranhaMAX" series, with prices starting at £85.49 (complete with transducer).
Details are still scanty but it looks as though the new units – called the 160, 170, 180, and 190 – are updates of the existing range, mostly retaining the three-button control panels and 4-inch monochrome displays of the existing PiranhaMax 220 and 240. The 190 is a significant step up market, with a 3.5-inch colour screen, and improved resolution.
Variations on the four basic models include portable versions of the 160 and 190, and a choice of dual beam or tri-beam transducers.
www.johnsonoutdoors.co.uk
Two into one: Lowrance combine GPS and VHF in one hand-held unit
Lowrance’s new LHR-80 hand-held radio combines all the usual functions of a hand-held VHF with those of a basic GPS, including a simple track-plotter and a 500-waypoint memory. It’s waterproof, it floats, and as far as I know, it is the only handheld VHF (at least on this side of the Atlantic) that is capable of making a DSC automated distress call.
UK rrp is £196.
www.lowrance.com/en/Products/Marine/DSC-VHF-Marine-Radios/LHR-80
Lowrance HDS plotter/sounders
For most of its fifty year history, Lowrance has concentrated on selling fishfinders to american freshwater fishing fans. It’s a market which seems to expect a complete new range of products every year, even if it’s just a cosmetic change and a set of new names or numbers.
But this year’s new crop of plotters – rejoicing in the name HDS (High Definition System) -- seems to be more than that. Available in four sizes, from five inches to ten inches, and with list prices ranging from £489.95 (for a 5” plotter) to £2059.95 (for a 10” combined unit), the new units combine the impressive broadband sounder technology that Lowrance introduced last year with improved displays, soft-key menus, and Navionics Platinum Plus 3-D charting.
The new units will handle radar from Navico’s new FMCW radars, will talk to eachother through an ethernet link, and accept data from pretty well any other instrument you care to name through an NMEA 2000 interface.
www.lowrance.com
Advansea
Advansea
One of the companies that seemed almost certain to lose out from the amalgamation of the Northstar and Navman brands and the subsequent disappearance of the Navman brand was Navimo – the french chandlery wholesaler who had been responsible for distributing Navman products throughout most of Europe. Without Navman as a separate brand, Navimo’s shelves were in danger of looking a little bare.
But the writing has been on the wall for Navman for over a year, so Navimo have had time to develop their own range of plotters and basic instruments, designed in-house, but built on their behalf by specialist electronics companies in Europe and the far East.
The advance guard of the Advansea range consists of a range of speed, depth, multi, and wind instruments and a choice of three small plotters with screens measuring between 5 and 5.6 inches across their diagonals. The plotters all have internal GPS aerials and receivers, but have the option of plugging in an external antenna if necessary , and all use C-Map cartography on SD cards.
List prices have been pitched at much the same level as the Navman products that they replace, ranging from single-function speed and depth instruments at £214.99 each (complete with their transducers) to £599.99 for the 5.6-inch plotter-fishfinder combo. S treet prices will probably be in the order of £150 for a single-function instrument to about £500 for the plotter.
www.plastimo.com
Garmin re-enter VHF market
GPS specialists
Garmin have come back into the VHF
market with two new fixed-mount radios -- the VHF 100i and VHF 200i. Garmin describe the VHF 100i as their "entry-level" radio: it offers the usual 25 watts of transmitter power and Class D Digital Selective Calling (DSC). As well as dedicated controls for the main functions, it features three "soft keys" to simplify the more complex contro procedures.
The VHF 200i adds a number of more up-market features, including NMEA 2000 compatibility for easy installation and integration with NMEA 2000 enabled multifunction displays, and two microphones -- one of which is a full-function remote control microphone.
Recommended retail prices are £199.99 and £299.99 respectively -- but bear in mind that Garmin's price structure usually leaves retailers plenty of scope to bring them down into head-on competition with the mainstream.
Radar -- but not as we know it
Navico --
the parent company of Brookes and Gatehouse, Eagle, Lowrance, Northstar
and Simrad -- chose the European Marine Trade Show in Amsterdam to
launch a revolutionary new "broadband"radar.Using a technology known as FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) allows Navico to claim 24 mile range from a transmitter output of just one tenth of a watt -- compared with a couple of thousand watts or more of a conventional "pulsed" radar.
The benefits of this include lower power consumption, the virtual elimination of health risks, no "warm up" time, easier operation, and a much clearer picture. It is inherently less prone to clutter, yet gives better target definition, particularly at short ranges.
The
screen shots show one of Navico's FMCW radars (top) alongside a
conventional pulsed radar (bottom) view of the same area. What stands
out particularly clearly is how the rows of piles that show up as a row
of bright blobs on the FMCW display are much more smudgy and indistinct
on the pulsed radar, with several of them missing
altogether -- probably because they are closer than the pulsed radar's
minimum range.I'll be putting a more detailed explanation of the technology on my BRIEFING page very soon, and the real thing should be on sale in the first half of 2009. There's no firm news yet on prices, but it's likely to be around the £1000-£1200 mark for the scanner and cable, plus whichever display you want from the various options available from Lowrance, Northstar, and Simrad.
Portable
Navtex
Marine
Electronic Services Ltd has introduced the new WIB2D portable
Navtex. Smaller than a pack of cigarettes, it incorporates a dual
channel Navtex receiver and built-in LCD display to show weather and
navigation information that is available free of charge through the
international Navtex system. There is no need for an external
antenna and its built-in rechargeable battery can last up to three
days. It can also be connected to a PC, and the data viewed on
screen or printed out onto hard copy.
Both the 490KHz and the 518KHz frequencies are monitored simultaneously so you will never miss a message. Its portable format is ideal for charterers or for grabbing the latest weather and nav information whilst at home or in the office prior to setting sail. It is priced at £399 including VAT.
Contact: www.mesltd.co.uk
Marine
Electronic Services Ltd has introduced the new WIB2D portable
Navtex. Smaller than a pack of cigarettes, it incorporates a dual
channel Navtex receiver and built-in LCD display to show weather and
navigation information that is available free of charge through the
international Navtex system. There is no need for an external
antenna and its built-in rechargeable battery can last up to three
days. It can also be connected to a PC, and the data viewed on
screen or printed out onto hard copy.Both the 490KHz and the 518KHz frequencies are monitored simultaneously so you will never miss a message. Its portable format is ideal for charterers or for grabbing the latest weather and nav information whilst at home or in the office prior to setting sail. It is priced at £399 including VAT.
Contact: www.mesltd.co.uk