Working with NMEA

[bobs]

Ok, last season my seatalk raystar 120 (crapp) broke down.
No more position and the antenne lies dead in the water.
We all know the reputation of this device , so it was a matter of time that i would run into the dead end.
So i need a new gps antenna , raystar 125 might be the sollution , but it's ever so expencive.
I was wondering if i could use an NMEA antenna , connect it to my RL80CRC unit , and have it communicate with a second unit (inside) through or by seatalk ?
Would that give any problems and do i need to change some settings in the units ?
A bit difficult to ask raymarine since the antenna i plan to use is not one of their products.

Thanks for the support and help

Greatings

[richardhula]

If the NMEA input on RL80 is free that should work fine. Going the NMEA route try the Garmin GPS17 HVS - it's a mushroom GPS engine that's fully programmable from your PC although it will work out of the box for most people. It's cheaper and IMO better than the Raystar. Had one on the back rail of the boat in the heat & damp of the Western Caribbean for fours years without problems.

[bobs]

Thanks Richard, i will take your advice to heart.