Can I ‘enlarge’ my tiny VHF screen?
Q
My Standard Horizon VHF GX2200E has only a little screen. To get a larger view can I link this to my Kindle? Or to a NASA Repeater screen? If not, is there an alternative solution? I just find screens seem to be smaller than they used to be. Standard Horizon seems to insist on having orange background with black lettering, but I’d have thought a white background was better. David Bowen Crinan Canal, Scotland
ANDY HAINES REPLIES: The short answer is no, you cannot simply repeat the screen on a ‘like for like’ basis. As for screen size, it is true it is small, but I suppose we should remember that the unit is principally a VHF, and the
VHF channel numbering is a reasonable size.
The GX-2200 does have an NMEA output which can either be set to a baud rate of 4800 or 38,400 and as such the output data could be used in one of two ways.
Option 1: set the baud rate on the VHF to 4800 and use a NASA GPS repeater (as you suggest). This will repeat, Lat/ Long, SOG and COG, but that’s about all.
Option 2 (and by far the best solution): set the baud rate in the VHF to 38,400 and take the NMEA output from the VHF into a modern chartplotter (make sure the chart plotter has NMEA 0183 input and is AIS compatible). Not only will this repeat Lat/ Long, SOG and COG on the plotter, but the plotter will also now show all the AIS targets on the chart. This is obviously better than just a PPI (Position Plan Indicator) like the VHF because all the AIS targets will now be in shown as their real position on a chart.
Standard Horizon comment that all the new fixed models in their VHF range, such as the GX1400E, feature a white background with black lettering.