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Navigation & Communications Equipment Review Through technology advance- ments, the major manufacturers of shipboard electronics are constantly introducing innovative products in an effort to make navigation safer and more precise and communica- tions faster and easier. Newer, more powerful lorans, ra- dars, radiotelephones, weather chart recorders, navtex receivers, ARPAs, hand-held phones, etc. with state-of-the-art, cost-effective fea- tures continue to be introduced in the marine market. In an effort to sort out some of these new choices, Maritime Re- porter has asked a number of major manufacturers of shipboard naviga- tion and communications equip- ment and services to tell us about their latest products. The following review is based on information we had received at press time. FOR MORE INFORMATION To receive free literature detail- ing any of the high-tech products described in this review, circle the appropriate reader service number listed under each company's name, using the postage-paid card bound into the back of this issue. ALDEN Circle 10 on Reader Service Card Alden Electronics, Inc., West- boro, Mass., recently introduced the low-cost Alden Faxmate™ Weather Chart Recorder. According to Armand Bou- chard, Faxmate product manager, Alden is introducing the Faxmate to provide an economical means for all mariners to be able to acquire vital weather and oceanographic charts while underway. As an added bonus, the Faxmate can double as a printer for an on-board computer. Designed to operate with any HF or ham radio, the Faxmate provides mariners with surface analyses charts which show current locations of storms as well as prognoses which predict the indicated speed and di- rection of these storms. Also, satel- lite pictures are available in certain areas, showing cloud cover patterns enabling the mariner to track hurri- canes and tropical storms. Many transmit sites now broadcast sea surface temperatures, mixed layer depth and the location of warm and cold water eddies which are so help- ful in locating various species of fish. The Faxmate complements Al- den's current line of Marinefax re- corders which have won the coveted National Marine Electronics Asso- ciation Award for reliability and performance for the last eight con- secutive years. COMSAT MARITIME Circle 25 on Reader Service Card COMSAT Maritime Services, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is one of two Communications Sat- ellite Corporation rate-regulated businesses that make up the World Systems Division. COMSAT Mari- time Services provides satellite and earth station services to ships at sea and offshore oil platforms for tele- phone, telex, data, and video com- munications via the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT). COMSAT Corpora- tion currently holds approximately 28 percent ownership interest in IN- MARSAT, and COMSAT Maritime Services carries out the company's responsibilities as U.S. Signatory to this international organization. COMSAT Maritime Services pro- vides satellite communications ser- vices to ships at sea virtually any- where in the world through two U.S. coast earth stations located at Santa Paula, Calif., and Southbury, Conn. Other services recently developed and offered by COMSAT Maritime Services include daily news digests, credit card telephone calls, cash ad- vances from credit cards, live televi- sion and radio broadcasts, group calls in which the same message is sent to many ships simultaneously, and access to computer data banks on shore via packet-switched net- works. Customers include: passenger lin- ers; shipping, fishing, oil and mining interests; and pleasure-boaters. In 1987, COMSAT Maritime Ser- vices handled more than 510,000 telephone calls and 2 million telex messages to ships at sea and off- shore facilities. FURUNO Circle 11 on Reader Service Card Furuno USA, Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., recently intro- duced three marine navigation products—a GPS navigator, a dual frequency color video sounder and an ultra-compact radar. Furuno's new GP-300 navigator operates as a fully functional NAV- STAR system, yet compensates for the current limited satellite avail- ability by using a hybrid system whereby the operator can choose another navigation system, such as loran C, Transit satellites, or speed log/gyrocompass, as backup and the unit automatically updates position data as soon as the GPS data is available. The GP-300 provides digital read- outs for latitude and longitude, speed/course, range/bearing, ETA/ TTG to a waypoint, waypoint de- tails, and local or GMT date and time. Up to 10 Event marks and 20 waypoints may be entered, and au- dible alarms are provided for cross- track error, arrival border approach, and anchor watch. The FCV-261 is a dual frequency, 1,000-watt, eight-color machine with six basic ranges factory set to 1,000 feet, but customizable to 3,000 feet by the user. Phasing is in 1- or 10-foot steps depending on range scale in use. A high resolution 10- inch CRT shows any of six presenta- tion modes that permit the user to see various combinations of high, low, or mixed frequencies, and six bottom lock ranges appear on the lower third of the screen. The FCV-261 also has built-in memory capable of holding a full page of data, fish and bottom alarms, and choice of 6 different combinations of frequencies from 28 to 200 kHz. Furuno's new FCV-261 is a tre- mendous step forward in fishing da- tabase management, permitting enormous amounts of critical infor- mation to be displayed on a con- venient single CRT screen. Furuno's new Model 1720 ultra- compact full featured radar pro- vides a steady, daylight-bright pic- ture on a 7-inch-high resolution CRT, offers the company's no-com- promise multilevel quantization, has built-in EBL, VRM and Elec- tronic Guard Zone, is fully splash protected, and has Furuno's super- sensitive custom microwave IC re- ceiver. It also has a unique feature— today's marine electronics industry; a compact, rugged radome antenna weighing less than 10 pounds. The Model 1720 has Furuno's tra- ditional commercial quality and performance features in a package that will truly fit any size vessel. HARRIS Circle 21 on Reader Service Card One of the latest products from the Harris Long Range Radio Divi- sion is the RF-3200, a new genera- tion HF-SSB radio that incorpo- rates many technical innovations. According to the firm, the out- standing difference between the RF-3200 and other HF-SSB radios is the operating simplicity of the Harris unit. A single convenient knob tunes all frequencies and channels. Pushbutton entries are kept to a minimum. It has nine dif- ferent programmable scan groups, with no practical limit on the num- ber of channels in each group. All data is protected in non-volatile memory so it is not necessary to reprogram or re-enter data every time power is disconnected. Another important technical ad- vance is the use of a single multi- plexed coaxial cable to the antenna coupler, which eliminates the re- quirement for the usual multi-con- ductor control cable. This coax sup- plies electrical power to the coupler and also provides two-way digital communication between the coupler and transceiver. This saves time and money in installation and, more im- portantly, improves performance in the field. The RF-3200 operates in the 1.6 to 30 MHz range. It can also be tuned to receive down to 500 KHz for monitoring Navtex broadcasts. Standard output is 125 watts. With the addition of an optional solid- state linear power amplifier, the unit can provide 1-kw power out- put. HENSCHEL Circle 12 on Reader Service Card Henschel Corporation, Newbury- port, Mass., a unit of General Sig- nal, is a leader in designing, devel- oping and manufacturing ship con- trol and monitoring systems for both Navy and commercial vessels. For more than 60 years, Henschel has supplied reliable equipment to meet the unique demands of the marine evnironment. One recently developed product from Henschel is a new announcing system designed for medium and smaller military vessels. The system features a combined 200-watt audio power amplifier and system control unit, using modular construction designed for a larger system now in use on aircraft carriers. The system also incorporates voice processing, new design microphone control sta- tions, and both high power and me- dium-power loudspeakers. The sys- tem can be reconfigured to suit any type of vessel. Some of Henschel's other prod- ucts include engine order tele- graphs, wheelhouse consoles, sound- powered telephone systems, ship control and monitoring systems (for both surface and submarine ves- sels), ship's course indicators, bell loggers, whistle timers, throttle con- trol levers, engineer's alarm panels, shaft speed indicator system naviga- tion light panels, fire alarm systems, audible signals, digital master clock systems, synchro-signal amplifiers and rudder angle systems. HULL ELECTRONICS Circle 14 on Reader Service Card Hull Electronics Company, San Diego, Calif., recently introduced the model 230 SSB Radiotelephone which offers complete frequency coverage from 1.6 to 30 MHz with 48 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
