Furuno DRS4W wireless radar with CPN and AIS on an iPad. Possible?

[Scorpius]

Well, my 30 year old Furuno 1720 radar packed it in. Nobody around here has the test equipment or knowledge to diagnose or fix it anymore. Speculation is, based on the symptoms, that it’s the magnetron – and that’s expensive to replace. Besides, new radars have many new features and take far less power than the old girls – so time to look for one.

I’m thinking of getting a Furuno (I REALLY like the brand. Most small commercial boats around here have them) DRS4W Wireless unit that works using WiFi to connect with an iPad. As well as price, a BIG advantage as far as I’m concerned is not having to run a new cable through the deckhead and up the mast. I’m pretty sure I could open up the old 1720 cable, locate a couple of big (power) wires, and use them – rather than having to run a new one.

Otherwise I’m pretty well starting from scratch. I currently use CPN on a couple of Windows laptops and am quite happy with it. I don’t have AIS yet but would love to get it. I realize I’ll have to get a couple of iPads for the radar and I’m fine with that. Does anyone know if it’s possible to overlay a CPN chart on an iPad with a DRS4W radar image and, hopefully, an AIS display as well? If so, how would I best go about it?

I’ve found some other threads on here about the DRS4W radar, but nothing recent that provides the answers I’m looking for. If anyone can help I’d be deeply appreciative. Thank you.

[captNordy]

Did you ever give this a shot, I'm curious as well.

Thanks!

[Tillsbury]

Open cpn doesn't work on iPad, sadly. But there are some good charting systems as alternatives. I use SeaIQ because I prefer real raster charts, and prefer to pay for a professional app and install government produced charts rather than a free app and subscription vector charts. Your mileage may vary. I don't believe you can overlay the furuno wifi radar on to anything, but you can have them side by side of course.