NMEA to Raymarine Seatalk

[Regbook]

Can I use cat 5 cable to connect my GPS to my Raymarine computer?

[Wireless1]

Good question. At first I'd say not a good idea. I recall that Raymarine uses a twisted pair inside a shielded cable for their SeaTalk buss. Stock Cat 5 cable is twisted pairs but NOT shielded. Although you can get shielded Cat 5. But if you're going to that much trouble just get the twisted pair/shield cable in the first place. I think they are both 22 gauge if my memory serves me (but that's not guaranteed!). Anyway, I'd go with the shielded cable on a boat because I'm pretty sure your Raymarine ins and outs will call for a +signal, a -signal, and a shield. Good luck. BTW, I'm about to interface my Raymarine SPX-5 autopilot with my Garmin 546 GPS and also all my "wireless" TackTick sailing instruments. I think I'M the one going to need the luck!

[hpeer]

Just been doing this sort of thing. My experience is almost anything will work. No magic.