help: ICOM M802, NMEA, PC connection?

[SuzieWong]

living and boating in Hong Kong, what an experience...
Shopping till you drop, but only newest mobile phones, TVs, cameras.

If you need boating supply, better try internet shops round the world.
Similar difficult to get professional advice. As my trip to philippines is due to start next month, advice is quiet urgent and I really hope to get it here. The local dealers are pretty useless, I'm chasing them for more than half year without success.

The Icom M802 does not show any position of the wired GPS on it's screen. As the boat with all equipment was bought used I wouldn't mind spending few more bugs for a backup GPS, but is must have compabitilty with the ICOM M802. Here's the tricky part: All GPS I know support NMEA0182 ver2.0, the ICOM manual specifies NMEA0182 ver3.01 for position reporting support. Who has a GPS hooked up to his ICOM M802 and can explain the mystery to me?

Furthermore I want to receive Wx fax through the ICOM M802 onto my laptop. Is it possible to hook up the PC through a cable (eg: serial 9pin port of ICOM M802 to USB port of PC)? Can I even buy a USB mouse with built in GPS, get the position through computer to the radio?
Who is running the ICOM M802 with or without pactor modem to give me advice?

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by SuzieWong

Furthermore I want to receive Wx fax through the ICOM M802 onto my laptop. Is it possible to hook up the PC through a cable (eg: serial 9pin port of ICOM M802 to USB port of PC)? Can I even buy a USB mouse with built in GPS, get the position through computer to the radio?
Who is running the ICOM M802 with or without pactor modem to give me advice?

I don't feel comfortable answering all of your questions, though I do have ideas about some of them, because you sound like you want concrete answers that you can count on not theories.

Can you hook the radio to your PC with a serial cable ? Yes. If you have a USB/serial converter you can hook it to the USB port too, it'll show up as a serial port on the computer. Whether your software lets you select that port or not, I don't know, but it should.

Can you buy a USB GPS device ? Yes, but I don't know if it will support the version you are looking for, and I don't even know if it matters. You can also get regular serial port GPS devices and again use a serial/USB converter to convert them over to USB, that is what I do with my garmin 17. The various bluetooth devices show up as serial ports on your laptop, but again it depends on whether your software will let you select it from a menu or something, but it should allow that.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[sailingdog]

Suzie-

The NMEA 0182 standard is obsolete...The two current standards are NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 IIRC.

Most newer GPS units should work just fine with the M802 for DSC position reporting, provided they have a serial NMEA 0183 output. Many small handheld GPS units do not.

As for the WX Fax, I'm not sure but I believe you can use a USB-to-RS-232-Serial adapter to connect a computer to the modem port. What weather fax software are you using.

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by SuzieWong

The Icom M802 does not show any position of the wired GPS on it's screen. As the boat with all equipment was bought used I wouldn't mind spending few more bugs for a backup GPS, but is must have compabitilty with the ICOM M802. Here's the tricky part: All GPS I know support NMEA0182 ver2.0, the ICOM manual specifies NMEA0182 ver3.01 for position reporting support. Who has a GPS hooked up to his ICOM M802 and can explain the mystery to me?

Version 3.01 is merely the latest update of the 0183 protocol and all Icom is saying is that the input is compatible with the latest NEMA 0183 version. You can plug an older version NMEA device (GPS) in and it will display on the screen and also feed your DSC/Distress function. If you already have a NEMA output from an existing GPS somewhere on the boat...any marine electrician can take the existing data and plug it into your M802. If not...just buy a GPS and run the data cable to the back of the ICOM.

Furthermore I want to receive Wx fax through the ICOM M802 onto my laptop. Is it possible to hook up the PC through a cable (eg: serial 9pin port of ICOM M802 to USB port of PC)?
The serial to USB port option is typically used when you have made the $1000+ decision to add a pactor modem for weather fax and e-mail.
If all you need is weather fax and maybe Navtex...the easiest way to get it is to use the audio output of the M802 wired to your mic input on your laptop and use WeFax software. You can do this for less than$50 bucks vs. $1000 + for a pactor solution. If you need Pactor for other reasons...then it makes sense...but for weather alone...go with the software solution:
http://www.dxsoft.com/en/products/seatty/



Can I even buy a USB mouse with built in GPS, get the position through computer to the radio?
Don't know...sorry.
Who is running the ICOM M802 with or without pactor modem to give me advice?
I have both the M802 and Pactor...would not get a pactor again given the widespread availability of internet cafe's and wifi for interment needs. $1000+ and $250 a year for limited plain text e-mail is a lot...but it work fine in remote places if that is what you need.,

Good luck on your trip!