Vesper XB-8000 & Halo Radar Interference

[SoonerSailor]

The XB-8000 can act as a stand alone access point to provide NMEA data to phones/tablets, or it can act as a client to a wireless router, and put that data on a larger network. It works well for me to do the former, radar transmitting or not. However in client mode it loses the connection to the router whenever the Navico HALO radar is transmitting. The radar does not seem to affect connections of other devices to the wireless router.

Anyone else with experience dealing with this issue?

[CaptTom]

I'm following this with interest. I'd like to switch over to client mode on my XB-8000 one of these days. I'd like to know what its limitations might be.

Have you tried Vesper support? They used to be pretty good, but of course now that they've moved on to greater things, they don't seem as interested in the XB-8000.

[SoonerSailor]

Have not yet heard back from Vesper. I’m really not optimistic about a solution, however.

[shimari]

My guess is that the selectivity of the WiFi chipset Vesper is using is terrible since no other clients have an issue.

Where's the XB-8000 in relation to the radar? Is it the closest client? Are you using an external WiFi antenna?

[SoonerSailor]

Originally Posted by shimari

My guess is that the selectivity of the WiFi chipset Vesper is using is terrible since no other clients have an issue.

Where's the XB-8000 in relation to the radar? Is it the closest client? Are you using an external WiFi antenna?

I agree with the chipset assessment, though it is interesting that my tablet and phones have no trouble maintaining a connection in access point mode, even 10 feet away.

The radar is a good 25 feet away from the XB-8000 and the wireless router, which are less than three feet from each other. The router is simply using it’s built-in antenna.

[SoonerSailor]

Same problem using a different router, this time a Linksys WRT-54GL.

[shimari]

If the problem is interference on the vesper, changing the router won’t help unfortunately.

Here’s what I’d try- both hail marys:

1. If you’re using an external GPS antenna, I’d disconnect it and see what happens.
2. Try building a quick and dirty faraday cage out of screen or aluminum foil and see what happens. Given how close the router is to the vesper, a cheap faraday cage should still allow the connection to the router. Hopefully, it will block enough of the interference from the radar.

[SoonerSailor]

I have come to the conclusion that it is not the RF output of the scanner that is causing problems with the XB-8000 in client mode on the boat network, rather it is the flood of UDP data that the radar puts on the network. Somehow the XB-8000 cannot handle that properly. A user of the Vesper Cortex has experienced the same thing. Vesper customer service has finally kicked this up to their engineers, but it’s been a few weeks and I’ve heard nothing back yet.

[Recy]

I changed my XB-8000 to client mode and it worked well until I started the fwd looking echo sounder then it stopped working. I tried to get around it but didn´t succeed so I changed back to access mode. It could be that some equipment uses to much data.

[SoonerSailor]

Originally Posted by Recy

I changed my XB-8000 to client mode and it worked well until I started the fwd looking echo sounder then it stopped working. I tried to get around it but didn´t succeed so I changed back to access mode. It could be that some equipment uses to much data.

I suspect it is the same issue, the flood of UDP packets on the network. Seems like it could be addressed via firmware changes, but they haven’t responded yet.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by SoonerSailor

...Seems like it could be addressed via firmware changes, but they haven’t responded yet.

It's clear by now that the XB8000 is a "legacy" product and there aren't going to be any more firmware updates. You are, of course, free to throw it away and buy a newer model. Apparently that's the expectation. It's too bad, Vesper support used to be very good. At one point they even had a technician monitoring forums like this, and answering questions.