Francis – Page 22 – Navigation Mac & Co

Nomad test – stand-alone AIS transceiver by Digital Yacht

Posted on8 October 201719 January 2024

I introduced last May The Nomad, a portable AIS transceiver designed by Digital Yacht. I had to wait until the end of the summer to have the opportunity to test in real situation this device that had been entrusted to me by the manufacturer. I can already say that I was conquered.

I conducted the test in two phases. The first in my home port of St-Vaast-La-Hougue in my own boat, to the pontoon, and at low tide, the port doors closed - the context is important - for the commissioning of the reception only. The second at sea, in Roussillon, with setting the transmission service. Read more …

iOS 11 and navigation apps

Posted on3 October 201719 June 20219 comments

Among the many new features brought by iOS 11, I particularly appreciated the improvement in the multitasking functions. The addition of a retractable "Dock" in the MacOS way, the "SlideOver" function combined with the "SplitView" function already present in iOS 10. This will greatly improve the use of navigation apps. Read more …

Apple finally brings GALILEO on board [Update]

Posted on25 th 20176 th 20242 comments

Good news, a year after its appearance on the first smartphones (¹), Apple finally integrates a GNSS receiver chipset compatible GALILEO. The iPhone 8/8+ and soon iPhone X are now equipped with the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem MDM9655 from Qualcomm, which includes a multi-GNSS receiver : GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia), GALILEO (Europe) and QZSS (Japan) (²).

[Update 15/12/2017] The iPhone 6S and 7 are now compatible with Galileo signals.

Hurricane Harvey, What impact of climate change ?

Posted on29 August 20176 th 2024One comment

In full political news on global climate change, the terrible Hurricane Harvey questioned some scientists about the link between warming due to human activities and intense weather events increasing in recent years.

Source : National Weather Service

Michael E. Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center and author of three books, including The Hockey Stick and The Climate Wars, Dire Predictions, and The Madhouse Effect, develops a long commentary in theguardian.com (¹) about it, freely translated by myself.

Digital nautical charts : purchase or subscription [Update] ?

Posted on17 July 20175 August 2021One comment

[Update 3 th 2019]

With the multiple charts disappearances during the successive updates of iNavX, I received a number of requests for assistance in the recovery of the said charts.

Regardless of the fact that I am not supporting NavX Studios LLC (iNavX) (¹), a focus is needed on the method of charts provision by distributors for our mobile applications.

Weather4D 2.0.20 The unlimited charting

Posted on12 June 20174 August 202023 comments

We had been hoping for it for months, were expected, We waited - or we grew impatient, it depends – well, There she is : the latest update of Weather4D 2.0.20 is finally available ! On the menu, a major improvement : Assisted charting download and unlimited storage size. To which is added a small number of highly requested features and some bug fixed…

Iridium Mail & Web app : GRIB weather files on iPhone and iPad in open sea [Update-2]

Posted on2 June 201711 th 202415 comments

[Update 15 February 2019] The recent update of the application Iridium Mail & Web app gives me the opportunity to refresh this post originally written in December 2011.

The Wi-Fi Gateway Optimizer from RedPort allows owners of a mobile satellite phone to make requests and receive GRIB weather files from an iPad or iPhone on the high seas, into the wild, anywhere on the world.

After implementing and testing this solution On a long journey, It proved to be perfectly operational. However, it is limited to the receipt of the forecasts of the GFS weather model worldwide, and the wave pattern WW3, obtained by the American server's autoresponder Saildocs.

Miniplex-3Wi-N2K Firmware Update 2.0

Posted on29 May 201715 August 20244 comments

ShipModul has just made a major update V.2.0.6 of MiniPlex-3 firmware. Once installed in the MiniPlex-3-N2K, it becomes a certified product NMEA2000®. To perform this update, It is imperative to download and install the new version of the utility MPX-Config3 V.2.4.1 (¹). the firmware update is integrated into the utility package. Read more …

Update iNavX 5.0.7 [Update-2]

Posted on16 May 20176 th 202424 comments

[Update] Following the update 5.0.6 the charts were again no more reachable. A release 5.0.7 delivered in the night of May 15 until 16 has solved the problem. But alas, the Fugawi/Chart website was made unavailable for a few hours, and therefore no more access to accounts to retrieve charts. Definitely, fate persists !

You can now resume the procedure :

Select the “Maps” page > “My cards” tab
Select each chart folder you have purchased
Type “Update Map List”
Activate and download the folder again

To make it work, may be you need to logout/login to your Fugawi account. You will notice however that the French translation has been completed, at least one positive thing !

[Update-2]

To restore your cards in the “My cards” page, you have to pull the page down by sliding it with your finger, your purchases need to be refreshed.

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Nomad, an AIS Classe B mobile transponder

Posted on10 May 201721 January 20225 comments

The company Digital Yacht propose Nomad, the first AIS transponder class B mobile with Wi-Fi interface.

The Nomad is supplied with a portable VHF antenna of 25 cm equipped with a sucker and a 4 metres cable, and with a built-in GPS antenna. USB and Wi-Fi interfaces will allow the use of the device with many navigation and charting application for iOS devices, Android, PC and Mac.