I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Standard Horizon 2410 fixed mount radio. I've been dragging my feet for several years as the existing radio was working fine. I discovered a few weeks ago that the LCD display had gone mostly black. Still functional but try to change channels.... I've been interested in 2410 as it has modern DSC, internal GPS, AIS reciever, and NMEA200 connectivity plus the old NMEA [0183] protocol.
I look forward forward to hooking it up in a static way to test functions before going out on the Gulf of Whatever. (My grandson still calls it the Gulf of Forty Mexicans). The offer still stands to JimH to do some testing before I install it.
Standard Horizon 2410 radio
Re: Standard Horizon 2410 radio
Hi Frank.
For "static" testing (which I assume means ashore) you're going to need a good 12-Volt DC power source, and a VHF Marine Band antenna. To receive any AIS signals you will need to be close enough to some water that has commercial shipping or a lot of larger recreational boats. To test the NMEA-2000 you need to build a little network. And to see the output of the radio for DSC or AIS, you'll need a chart plotter.
I have a "shore" station set up at the cabin up north. I use OpenCPN as the chart plotter, and I have a USB-to-serial convertor to get the NMEA-0183 data from the radio. And a good antenna up in the attic. And a Standard-Horizon radio with integral AIS receiver. The longest unobstructed path is at a very narrow arc from North to the Northeast, where I can receive AIS signals from about 28-miles away. To the West I am completely shaded by much higher terrain, and to the East there is 14-miles of water, but not that many boats with AIS passing by.
This Summer I noticed that more recreational boats of about 30-feet or larger now will have CLASS-B AIS devices. I think the highest number of AIS targets received at once was about nine vessels. There are two boats in the local marina that leave their AIS running even with their boat moored and unattended. They are my "radio check" signals for AIS.
But we've moved back to "winter" quarters now, and we're too far from the Detroit River or other big water to reliably receive AIS, no antenna here, and now no 12-Volt power supply here. I moved all that gear up to the cabin.
I won't get back up north until June 2027.
For "static" testing (which I assume means ashore) you're going to need a good 12-Volt DC power source, and a VHF Marine Band antenna. To receive any AIS signals you will need to be close enough to some water that has commercial shipping or a lot of larger recreational boats. To test the NMEA-2000 you need to build a little network. And to see the output of the radio for DSC or AIS, you'll need a chart plotter.
I have a "shore" station set up at the cabin up north. I use OpenCPN as the chart plotter, and I have a USB-to-serial convertor to get the NMEA-0183 data from the radio. And a good antenna up in the attic. And a Standard-Horizon radio with integral AIS receiver. The longest unobstructed path is at a very narrow arc from North to the Northeast, where I can receive AIS signals from about 28-miles away. To the West I am completely shaded by much higher terrain, and to the East there is 14-miles of water, but not that many boats with AIS passing by.
This Summer I noticed that more recreational boats of about 30-feet or larger now will have CLASS-B AIS devices. I think the highest number of AIS targets received at once was about nine vessels. There are two boats in the local marina that leave their AIS running even with their boat moored and unattended. They are my "radio check" signals for AIS.
But we've moved back to "winter" quarters now, and we're too far from the Detroit River or other big water to reliably receive AIS, no antenna here, and now no 12-Volt power supply here. I moved all that gear up to the cabin.
I won't get back up north until June 2027.