Maxsea 10.1.3.2 'no Pos'

[huntjody]

hi,

I am completely new here, so be gentle with me

We have recently bought a shiny new Windows 7 laptop and installed Maxsea 10.1.3.2.
We also have a small USB GPS attached.

I have a good signal from the sats, i can read it in the GPS program.
Also when i click into "utilities" and "check data" tab, i can see that the data is flowing into maxsea.....
however.....

i have this evil "no pos" displayed in the main page of maxsea!!

has anyone had a similar problem or able to offer some advice on why they are not talking correctly.

i am operating on 4800 baud and have tried various differnt COM ports.

sorry to ask on my first login but im a little frustrated!!

[ActiveCaptain]

I'm quite familiar with MaxSea Time Zero but not the original MaxSea. So although I can't really help, the main question I'd have is, have you contacted MaxSea technical support? They are typically pretty good about helping.

[W32PAMELA]

Have you set MaxSea to read the sentence that your GPS is outputting. If maxsea loads up with GLL as the default position sentence but your hockey puck GPS ouputs GCA for position you won't get a position even though "check data" shows information flowing.

[bewitched]

What W32PAMELA said,


It's in the Utilities menu and then 'advanced settings'

mine uses RMC instead of the default for example

[Nonick]

I have the same problem. I has connected a multiplexor with conversion from Seatalk to NMEA. It was OK, but when I pluged in the AIS receiver (two virtual COM with USB) I can read all sentences from COM 3 and COM 4, but the boat is in 0ºL 0ºl and I can't see any boat with AIS.

[bewitched]

Nonlick,

Maxsea 10 requires that the AIS and instruments use separate ports. So you can't feed the AIS to the multiplexer and then to a single com port for both.

What you have to do is use (say) COM1 for you instruments and then (say) COM2 as a direct feed for your AIS. The AIS needs to be added to the "Radar" tab in Utilities and needs to run at 38,400 baud (typically)

[Nonick]

Bewitched, thanks for your answer. I'm agree with you. In fact my multiplexor (NMEA Multiplexer with AIS support) support AIS and the output is USB but I discovered that I must connect it no throw the multiplexor by the reason what you said.
So, I have a lot of dates (wind, deep. speed) by Seatalk and GPS (NMEA) through the Multiplexor and the AIS dates directly from the AIS receiver through and RS-232.
All connections are correct: I did exactly the same that explain the document which is in “downloads” http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/gps-ais-input-to-maxsea-v-10-a-39131.html#post456866 (I would wish to know it before, I could win some hours of my life) and I can read all the AIS sentences and NMEA sentences using telnet and in the screen that maxsea has to do that (AIS sentences in COM 3, NMEA sentences in COM 4)
BUT, and it’s my problem, the Maxsea don’t show the data in the principal screen and don’t work with them.
Could be a problem with the USC-RS 232 converter? http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/gps-ais-input-to-maxsea-v-10-a-39131.html#post436235 I used the same a lot of times with a GPS Garmin and Ozi and I never had a problem.
I think thar “Aura” has the same problem http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f121/problem-using-ais-with-maxsea-26124.html

[barnakiel]

Or the GPS not sending the right sentence or the interface not waiting for the sentence.

Set up SeaClear, check out if it connets. Check which sentence it uses. Then use the same in MaxSea.

We had:
position as GLL, SOG and COG as VTG, and it worked fine.

Other setups will work too - depending on what your GPS delivers, MaxSea is pretty flexible.

b.

[bewitched]

Not sure what the problem is.

First take a look at the NMEA data from your instruments. All data should begin with a "$" and all AIS data should begin with a "!" if not it is corrupted information. Usually setting the Baud rate will fix this.

If that's OK, check:-
The baud rate is correct for the AIS (usually 38,400)
The GPS signal is correct (I think the standard configuration is GLL, you might need that to change that to RMC or something - try all options).

If you are getting information there, your just a setting away from getting it to work.

That's all I can think of really - I'm not an expert - just someone who also had a problems getting Maxsea to work at first

[Nonick]

The data are correct, they start with $ or ! and have "good looking". In fact, I worked in the system still I obtained that. I saw that in telnet and in the "test of data" in Maxsea. Another important detail: when Maxsea start don't say "COM port not found".

I dind´t anything more. Next time I'll start with the kind of sentences (GLL, DLL, THV, etc) or other setting. I'm not sure what is RMC, but I'll look for that.
Bewitched, I think that sometimes know more about a program the person who resolve the problems to work at fist than some experts.

[barnakiel]

A funny idea (no MaxSea here anymore) but are you set up for "dead reckoning" perhaps?

Or is the GPS unit sending the decimals in a manner unreadable to the MS?

Just lose thoughts.

Try other sentences as suggested by bewitched above - I believe if you are asking the wrong sentences then you can see the data flowing throu the monitor but not on the screen (and you do not get the boat icon either).

I could set up our old MS here and see how it connects (sentences etc) if this helps.

b.

[Nonick]

Well... I've a little solution. The problem abour the GPS, wind and deep data were the sentences. Now I remember that in th begining of Maxsea I must configurated all of them.

But... I have problems still. If I plug the multiplexor in COM 3, there are a lot of nice sentences and I can see in the "test data" and in the prioncipal screen.

If I plug the AIS receiver in COM4, I have nice sentences, I can see in the "test data" and I can see the kind of vessel al the other data from AIS in the "income data" screen (I don´t know the name in English versión) I can´t see in the prncipal screen (may be because I don't have GPS?, see next paragraph)

In I plug both COM (3 and 4) the second one stops the first one. There is no conflicts in the COMS, I saw.

I try to change the number to the COm ports (3 y 5; 3 y 8) but the problem was the same.

May be a problem with the USB-COM converter?

I'll try to connect the AIS throw multiplexor and other GPS with the same converter.

I'll try to have another "AIS reader" like Aisdecoder.

Any suggestion will be welcome, of course!!!

[Talbot]

our problem is quite common with Maxsea users, and is caused by the flexibility of the software! Without looking it all up, when you are setting Maxsea to read the GPS signal, you first have to tell Maxsea what commport it is coming in on I found Franson GPSGate forced my system to always use the same port number thus simplifying this part of it.

Having MAXSEA then seeing the data, allows you to read the sentences that are being input from your GPS. You then need to tell Maxsea what sentences are being used for the different information. If I recall correctly, it defaults to GLL but most GPSs use RMC. doesnt really make a lot of diffferences, which is available as they carry similar info, you just need to know which one and then tell Maxsea to read that one.

[Nonick]

Thanks for your answer, but I'm not sure about you say. The problem is not a change of name of ports by themsleves. I test it in "System information/Hradware" if Windows.
The problem is that a COM stops the other one, I think

[Talbot]

Some of the early serial to USB converters did cause problems.

However, if another programme can see the GPS signal, then the converter is OK.

Is another programme linking to the GPS signal before Maxsea. If so then this will block maxsea from linking. The only way to get a GPS feed to more than one programme is to use Franson GPSGate and create virtual comm ports.