bluetooth – Navigation Mac

GNS 3000 Bluetooth GPS receiver for mobiles [Update]

Posted on15 May 20245 th 20246 comments

On September GNS 3000 to Global Navigation Systems has been available since November 2022 (¹). It replaces the GNS 2000 Plus. Now equipped with a Bluetooth transmitter 5.0, it has an SD Card connector to record position data continuously.

Compatible with Apple products, it is mainly aimed at devices not equipped with GPS : iPod Touch and iPad WiFi all models. It can also be used with all PDAs, Bluetooth-enabled laptops and tablets. It has a Li-Ion battery offering a battery life of 10 hours continuously.

[Update 15 May 2024] Warning : from iOS/iPadOS 17.x, a update of the device is essential. But it can only be done from an Android device.

Connecting USB/Bluetooth GPS with Mac M1 [Update-2]

Posted on9 May 202317 May 20238 comments

The arrival of Macs with Apple M1 processors and macOS systems 11 “Big Sur” and macOS 12 “Monterey” caused disappointment among GPS users connected via USB and/or Bluetooth for their navigation applications.

In USB, latest driver Prolific V.2.2.2 is now universal for GPS BU-353xx from GlobalSat. As for the GNS3000 (¹) in Bluetooth it always suffers from an instability of the interface for the connection of multiple devices, instability that unfortunately does not yet seem to be fully fixed. Read more …

Navigate with mobile Hi-Fi music

Posted on26 th 201828 February 20237 comments

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.

Calypso Ultrasonic : the latest generation wireless wind sensor

Posted on31 October 20176 th 20242 comments

Ultrasonic anemometers-weathervanes for yachting came up just over 15 years old. Among the best known we can cite those of the American Airmar and French LCJ Sensors. Equipped with sophisticated electronics, these sensors without moving mechanical parts have the double advantage of being much more robust than traditional sensors, and provide much more precise data. They can also integrate other sensors as a barometer, gyroscope, electronic compass and sometimes even GPS.

The first ultrasonic sensors were equipped with a cable for power and data transfer. The manufacturer LCJ Sensors, building on the success of its CV3F sensor marketed since 2001, designed the CV7SF range, wireless models whose data is transmitted over a radio frequency to a receiver which converts it to NMEA (0183 or 2000). Power is supplied by solar cells on the sensor cap, and different output connection interfaces are offered depending on the models.

A new actor, Spanish Calypso Instruments, has just designed a completely new concept wireless sensor, the Calypso Ultrasonic Portable, whose characteristic is to be featured with a Bluetooth Low Energy Transmission Protocol (Bluetooth 4.1), which offers many advantages.

DataLinker and Sail Racer come to us from Lithuania

Posted on26 February 20166 th 20244 comments

SailRacer UAB is a small Lithuanian company founded in 2013 by a team of experienced developers and regatta passionate . They design solutions for the sailors and clubs, both software and devices, focusing on developing applications and essential accessories to the processing of navigation data for mobile devices and their operation through the Cloud. They provide an application specifically dedicated to the regatta, Sail Racer, and the first Bluetooth NMEA gateway in the market, DataLinker.

DataLinker, a Bluetooth NMEA gateway

On September DataLinker allows to receive data from the instruments on a smartphone, a tablet or other compatible mobile device, thanks to the Bluetooth Smart technology (¹). Wind data can be used, compass, speedometer, sounder and GPS with a dedicated application while remaining connected to the internet via Wi-Fi and thus share this data via the Cloud.