We've been talking about it since 2020 in the Facebook group of Weather4D users, the messaging app Weather4D Routage & Navigation (¹) now works on Mac with ARM processors : Mac M1 and later, from the system macOS 11.x (“Big Sur” et seq.). Simply connect the Mac to a GPS receiver or NMEA gateway via Wi-Fi to receive the position and navigation data of the instruments. Read more …
Category : Material
MacENC is back
MacENCx64 is now the name of the MacENC application which has just been published by its new developer NavStation.
MacENC has been completely adapted and recompiled into 64 bits for recent MacOS systems and new processors, which explains the new name. I continue to ensure the French translation. But be careful : to date Navionics cartography is no longer available. So there is no charting yet for the coasts of Europe, except ENC S-57 and S-63 available from Chartworld (see the page Digital charting). Read more …
Simultaneous Wi-Fi and cellular connection [Update]
In coastal navigation, so often within range of a cellular network, you can download GRIB files, weather maps, or simply communicate with friends. But what if your smartphone or tablet is already connected to a multiplexer via Wi-Fi, or an NMEA gateway, without cutting off the data that powers our favorite navigation app ?
This is the tip of the summer…
[Update 25/09/2020] The trick in question depends on the iOS version used. Details in the article.
GPS accuracy [summer brief]
I'm always being asked - and have been for ages - how much confidence we can put in the GPS on our tablets and smartphones. Probably at the risk of repeating myself, I persist in asserting that our mobile devices are provided with the most accurate GPS receivers that can be found in civilian use, especially for recreational boating. Read more …
Integrate tablets with onboard instruments : Wi-Fi gateways
For several years it is possible to integrate iPads and other mobile devices using Wi-Fi to onboard instruments. This allows navigation apps to, not only to receive all the data from the sensors : speedometer, anemometer, sounder, AIS, etc,, but also to send their own navigation data to the instruments, as, in example, to control an autopilot.
This integration takes place through devices called "gateways" or "routers" that connect to the instruments' networks, receive the data circulating through these networks, and transceive in Wi-Fi to tablets and smartphones. Some navigation applications are being developed to process this data and transform mobile devices into real navigation centers. Read more …
Heat wave ? How to refrigerate your iPad
My friends Christiane and Jochen Lührs are the proud owners of a superb classic ketch German building, Socorro, with which they regularly cross the west European coasts. Fully built of solid woodin 1951, they maintain her with meticulous care, after many navigations from Norway to Scotland, and from Europe to the Antilles.
In stopover a few days ago in Vannes, I had the great pleasure to visit them. I knew Jochen when he was the German translator of iNavX, now a fan of Weather4D. I was finally able to visit their magnificent boat, which attracted more than one glance along the quay, with its perfect varnishes, its gleaming stainless steel, its masts Spruce, and impressive wheelhouse. I also discovered an amazing invention there… Read more …
Weather4D and SailGrib improve the AIS network
Numerous AIS tracking networks broadcast over the internet are available. Among the best known : Marine Traffic, Vessel Finder, SiiTech, LocateEverything, and many others. One of these networks particularly stands out, AISHub, an AIS NMEA data sharing center, which offers developers an API allowing the integration of its network into applications, and therefore display of AIS targets received over the Internet directly into the application. Featured from the beginning in Weather4D Routing & Navigation, this system has made it possible to envisage new and particularly innovative services. Read more …
The new AIS class B+ transponders explained
The new AIS AIT5000 transponder (from Digital Yacht) increases transmission rate depending on ship speed.
A new generation of transponder (¹) AIS Class B+ claims to make pleasure boats more visible. Here's how… Read more …
AIS transponder, dedicated antenna or antenna splitter ? [Update]
I relay here an article published in 2014 on the blog of Digital Yacht which provides an excellent discussion on choosing which antenna to install for an AIS transceiver. Below you will find a transcription freely adapted by me..
One of the most common questions asked by boaters who want to purchase a Class B AIS transponder is : which VHF antenna to use ? Read more …
Navigate with mobile Hi-Fi music
If you navigate with an iPad and enjoy mobile navigation, and if you like listening to music for dancing on the waves, you may be interested in mobile Hi-Fi.
The well-known manufacturer Bose has designed small Bluetooth speakers, the SoundLink MicroBT, compact and completely waterproof, perfectly suited to nomadic use, and so to the boat. I tested and adopted.