VHF tones

[Brian D]

Then might I suggest you get a radio that does not have any DSC or GPS interfacing. The reason for the alarm is so that if you lose a GPS fix, you will not send the wrong location during a distress call. The alarms, regardless of how annoying, are there for a reason and that reason is your safety.

I have an old SH radio if you want to trade.

 

[Head Sail]

then this goes into the category of really stupid....

I think Forest Gump would have phrased it otherwise...

 

[Mark Maulden]

Brian, my point being that if it is a true alarm, sound it when the fix is lost. Not 2 or however many hrs later. And..however many hrs later again after being silenced. Sound it immediately so I know fix is lost when it is lost and give me the option to silence it forever or a "sleep mode"...

 

[Meriachee]

Mark, while that is an approach, the ColRegs suggest that you update your position regularly. The radio is simply telling you that it doesn't have a position for the DSC, to send in the (hopefully never) event that something goes wrong, and that it should be updated. It's not really an alarm, more like a gentle reminder. The onus is on you to do the record keeping.
The latest crop of these devices have gps built in and the issue is moot. My 2200 is exactly the same in that when the network is off, the radio has no gps feed and it gets crabby. If we're just out tootling around, the network is on, and if we're parked someplace, we have the auxiliary (handheld) on so the SH doesn't complain.

 

[Brian D]

Mark, if I misunderstood, my apologies. I went to the boat today and brought back my system. I will run some tests here at the house with and without GPS. But if your equipment is on and working and you are still getting the "gentle reminder ( )" then maybe there is something else going on. Possibly faulty connections, wiring, intermittent connections, your GPS is losing signal i.e. weak signal. I will try to emulate poor GPS reception to see what will happen.

 

[Ron20324]

How about a second GPS antenna wired to the radio. OR, can you rewire the GPS power so it does not shut off when the other devices are? I think my Raymarine can do that?

 

[Meriachee]

The 1600 has a GPS option that can be wired right to the radio. Trouble is, by the time you're done farting around with it all, you could have just bought a 1700 which has all that junk built in, turn it on and go.

 

[Head Sail]

Th

The 1600 has a GPS option that can be wired right to the radio. Trouble is, by the time you're done farting around with it all, you could have just bought a 1700 which has all that junk built in, turn it on and go.

That's what I like about this forum. You learn from others mistakes.

 

[Brian D]

I ran my simple test this morning. Results were as I expected. At 10 minutes past the time the GX1600 lost POS updates, the alarm sounded with 1 sec on and 1 sec off. This occurred twice, once when I turned on the GX1600 without a GPS lock, and when I turned off the GPS while still having the radio on. Even though I have a Lat/Long, there was no update causing the radio to go into alarm.

 

[Mark Maulden]

Ok we're back within wifi range..i did some testing the last few days and its definately loss of GPS signal. The "gentle reminder" sure takes its time though...

 

[Brian D]

Does the connected GPS source have a graphic display of signal strength? I would monitor that and see what is happening to your GPS signal. 10 minutes without signal and your "gentle reminder" wakes up. However, once update is received, the "gentle reminder" goes away instantly.

 

[Mark Maulden]

GPS Source is an E7 plotter. I could go through a few menu options and see signal strength. But the tones sound when the plotter is off only. (Last few days of testing). And it takes hours for the tones to sound once plotter is off. Does not make sense to me.....Sitting at an anchorage, i typically don't leave the plotter on.

 

[Brian D]

You may have mentioned this before, but when you turn off the plotter we must assume that the GPS is also off. To verify, turn off the radio and then turn it back on. If the GPS, for some reason, is still on you will see the Lat/Long appear along with the little SAT icon in the upper right of the radio's display.

As I mentioned before, once I remove the GPS from my setup, after 10 minutes the alarm sounds.

 

[Mark Maulden]

Brian, that is correct. Plotter off=GPS off. But i dont get tones in ten minutes. More like hours....if this is truly an alarm, it should be near instantaneous....so I now know what the tones are. The fact that it takes hrs to sound (and hrs to resound) is why it took awhile to ascertain.

 

[Meriachee]

We were out yesterday and left the network off. The radio started complaining in about 15 minutes.

Next time there won't be any more of this bleeding edge stuff, and we'll wait for the .50 version that has all the built in junk.

 

[Brian D]

OK... but I still don't feel right about that. It is like you are not turning off the plotter, but merely putting it in standby. Then a shut-off timer or inactivity timer activates and the plotter is really off.

 

[Mark Maulden]

When the plotter is off it is off. Circuit Breaker is OFF.....i usually dont power the plotter from the plotter. Usually at the breaker. That way it comes back on when the breaker is turned on it initializes at that time...

 

[Alan Johnson]

DSC Tone
I have a SH 2150 with built in DSC and I spoke to the factory about a way of eliminating the warning. I was told that it was a govnt. required warning and nothing could be done to eliminate it. you will find in the set up menu a section called DSC SETUP select that and you get options, select AUTO POS INTERVAL and I selected 40 min. It is the longest time interval built into the radio. I get MUCH fewer alarms now, but still find it annoying.
Alan J S/V Skol C400