Need some NEMA figurin help :)

[xymotic]

I'm trying to setup AIS inside a west marine, and I keep running into roadblocks and I'm hoping somebody can help me out.

I have lots of the latest greatest expensive hardware, but a budget of exactly zero dollars for things like a multiplexer. And specifically I want AIS on a simrad nss7 or 8 display.

Since I am indoors, the only working GPS I have is a garmin 78sc handheld So my current setup is:

78sc sending position to a garmin 740 and a Standard 2150 AIS/VHF.
The 2150 then sends AIS back to the garmin via its second 0183 port.

However the garmin 740 will not bridge AIS data from the 0183 to nema 2000.
(neither will raymarine or Simrad afaict)

The simrad only has one 0183 port, and the 2150 does not forward position info in its output, so so-far I've been unable to get it working where I want it to work.

So I tried hooking up an Em-Trak b-100 thinking I could output AIS to multiple displays via n2k, but that doesn't work because the b100 can't get a fix. (note I haven't hooked up an antenna to it because the wiring is 'hard' and I don't want to waste time doing it if it won't work. Em-trak hasn't answered my inquiries yet.

So, is there an easy way to get from a 2150 to NMEA 2000 without buying a special bridge? I can get away with putting a product "on display" if it's something we actually sell... but so far I'm at a loss as to how to achieve my goal without just doing all 0183 which will be a huge mess.

[DotDun]

Plug the GPS antenna into the Em-Trak. It might get a fix inside the store. If it does, connect the VHF antenna.

[xymotic]

Originally Posted by DotDun

Plug the GPS antenna into the Em-Trak. It might get a fix inside the store. If it does, connect the VHF antenna.

Thanks, no joy on that.

However, I was able to get ahold of Emtrak, and he answered my questions. the emtrak does not bridge between 0183 and 2000. nor will it use a position input from 0183.

When it loses GPS it stops transmitting, but continues recieving which is really what I wanted anyway. So now I have AIS on a Garmin 740 & Simrad NSS7

I ran out of T and NEMA cables though so the rest will have to wait

I'm hoping to extend AIS to a couple lowrance units and then maybe also Raymarine.