DSC help

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WJM

O.K. I've had the Garmin GPS and the Standard Horizon Intrepid for a couple seasons now, so I guess it's time to hook the two together. Does anyone know which wires go were? Is a black box needed? Is it pretty dumby proof, or should it be left to the pros? Smooth Sailing!
 
Dec 2, 2003
4,245
- - Seabeck WA
DSC, is that 'differential'?

Can't recall. The term is fading away. Back when Bill was President, I sent an email to him complaining about the Coast Guard spending millions of our dollars to correct what the DOD was doing. (Diddling our GPS) All DOD had to do was flip a toggle switch and our GPS receivers would be accurate to within 3 feet instead of 300. Well Bill said he'd get right on it. The waste would be stopped and it was. (Actually, an Admiral wrote back) :)
 
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Steve S

Digital Selective Calling (DSC)...

Chances are are with different manufacturers units, you should be using the NEMA I/O to communicate between the units. That will basically be two goes-into and two goes-outa's on each unit. The two goes-into's from one go into the two goes-outa's of the other, and visa versa. Keep the positive to positive and negative to negative on both sides. Different manufacturers may use different wire colors, so do a little research to make sure which is which on each unit. Don't forget to register your unit so the number can be used for more than a position for your MOB button...see link to BoatUS site for more info. Steve
 
Dec 3, 2003
544
None None Rochester, NY
No mystery

My guess is that if you go to the web sites of both manufacturers, you will find detailed pin-out instructions for your interface cable. (Did you buy the interface cable for your Garmin?) I plan on doing the same task with my old Magellan XL and new Uniden Polaris radio with optional wireless WHAM remote microphone. My problem now is that Magellan no longer sells the data cable, so I will have to improvise on the connector. (Anybody out there have one?) :{ Ken Palmer, S/V Water Colors 1990 H33.5
 
Dec 2, 2003
4,245
- - Seabeck WA
Thanks men,

now I got it. Brain *art. Didn't Cruising World slam DSC in an article on the state of electronics? Something about it being poorly thought out and implemented. I think the system as proposed, was by the same people who first came up with the specs for High Definition TV. Fortunately, Bill Gates was given a copy and immediately got on the phone and went public. The rest is history. Now HD works with all of our other stuff too. Anyway, the gist of the story was, it sucks. Anybody getting it to work?
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,187
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
DSC Fred...

...I purchased a JRC with DSC on E-bay for the cabin VHF. It hooked up and works well. The YC is now adding DSC codes to the directory of members. Having said that, I have not found it to be useful. In fact, it gets annoying to have it buzz a call. Really, even when you're cruising with 25 boats, people typically select a channel for communications and you just set up a dual or tri watch. So, except for the ability to automatically send a distress with location, it lacks utility (in my experience anyway). Rick D.
 
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Paul Bednarzyk

Hookup

WJM, this is an easy one. I just did this to my Intrepid radio. First you need a power/data cable from Garmin that fits your GPS. The NMEA out(+) on the power data cable goes to the NMEA in(+) on the radio. The NMEA (-) goes to a common ground. By the way, if you have an autopilot, by making your connections with a terminal block, you can easily interface with your GPS.
 
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