Vesper Marine AIS

[Cowpoos]

Galileo gps ready.

[Ben S]

Originally Posted by Cowpoos

A heading sensor would be an awesome addition. It would help with accurate tracking and over NMEA it would benefit other electronics like Radar object tracking, etc.

Yes, i would buy one if it had a heading sensor

[rgleason]

@NahanniV Now that Jeff and Vesper has sold to Garmin, what are your thoughts and what VHF/AIS equipment (for simplicity and effectiveness) would you suggest using now, based on your experience with your Vesper?

[K1MGY]

Just bumping in here as an uninvited reader...

I have the latest Vesper Cortex box with AIS, Anchor Alarm, and a great comms package.

Unfortunately I'm discovering that my Icom M424 VHF, attached to the Vesper box (it allows use of a separate VHF along with the internal one), has subjectively better sensitivity than the built-in Vesper VHF radio. Subjective, as the squelch is barely broken in the Vesper, whereas the M424 signal is strong and noise-free when hearing distant stations. I haven't tested it with a service monitor (yet) to quantify this, but the difference is quite stark.

I talked to Garmin, and they agree that this should not be the case, so presently I can swap out my Cortex for another one to see if the problem goes away.

It's sometimes tricky to share a single antenna (in this case) without some loss, however in my experience such loss is shared between the two front ends. Not sure what's happening in my case.

Just mentioning as this may be something to consider...

[CarlF]

Interestingly, I have better range and sensitivity with the Cortex than the Raymarine VHF that came with the boat and is attached to the Cortex.

Do you have the latest updates to the Cortex? Much has changed in the last 6 months. I would also try turning off the auto squelch and hand adjust it as with other radios. Squelch can be set individually for each channel.

[K1MGY]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Interestingly, I have better range and sensitivity with the Cortex than the Raymarine VHF that came with the boat and is attached to the Cortex.

Do you have the latest updates to the Cortex? Much has changed in the last 6 months. I would also try turning off the auto squelch and hand adjust it as with other radios. Squelch can be set individually for each channel.

I do have latest updates.

In my mentioned case, squelch is broken barely in the Cortex as the signal strength is weak, with lots of noise, all the while my Icom is very clear.

Thanks for sharing your experience, which tends to confirm my belief that there's an electrical issue (RF) in the Cortex.

I will be doing some objective testing and post results here.

[K1MGY]

Originally Posted by K1MGY

I do have latest updates.

In my mentioned case, squelch is broken barely in the Cortex as the signal strength is weak, with lots of noise, all the while my Icom is very clear.

Thanks for sharing your experience, which tends to confirm my belief that there's an electrical issue (RF) in the Cortex.

I will be doing some objective testing and post results here.

Update: Garmin is sending along a replacement unit as what I described to them indicates something buggered. I'll post the results once the replacement is installed.

[alctel]

I would ABSOLUTLY never buy anything from these guys. I heard they were good before they were bought by Garmin but I've had terrible issues.

I got an XB-8000 around 9? months ago, mainly because of the multiplexor functionality and I wanted to copy my instruments to wifi.

First one needed to be RMA'ed instantly as it wasn't transmitting, no real problem, stuff happens. I get the second one all set up and it's not passing through the heading to wifi!

I contact Garmin, and after a while they get back to me and say they've managed to replicate it, it's a software bug but they don't think they will fix it as the unit is being retired but they will get back to me.

That was 7 months ago, I keep nagging them and they keep saying they will get back to me - meanwhile I have a new unit that cost almost a grand but doesn't do the thing I bought it to do!

Just absolutely terrible customer support all round, and it's completely put me off any vesper products and I would REALLY recommend thinking twice before buying something of theirs.

[Kerry1]

I bought a Vesper Cortex while it was still an independent company. I had some issues, mostly with installation and my ineptitude, but they worked with me through them promptly and I was more than happy when I got my first AIS reports on OpenCPN from more than 30 miles away.

As an aside, I used to leave the unit on while the boat was unattended on a swing mooring for monitoring purposes which is another benefit of the Cortex system. At around 2 O'clock in the morning I got a call from the local police asking me details of my boat, where the emergency was, what vessel was in trouble, how many people were involved and who it was that was needing help. In my stupor I couldn't make sense of it until the fog cleared and I realized my Cortex had received a digital distress call and relayed it through the VHF. This activated the remote speaker hooked up to my steering pedestal and thus several hundred yards away people heard details of a distress call issuing from my little speaker with the volume up because of the normal need to hear it over the engine. It was later established as a false alarm, but as a matter of interest I copied down the co-ordinates of the distressed vessel and traced it to a landlocked boat which after driving around revealed a boat that hadn't seen the water for some time. Something triggered it to send that call out, probable a VHF with DSC.

You have to laugh, but it does show the system works. Though it may be inconvenient at times.