dummies help with radar

[jharding]

Hello I have a panasonic tough book running windows 10, and open cpn 5.6.2 with the radar plugin 5.3.4. I have a garmin GMR 18XHD radar hooked up with a Amphenol MRJ-5780-01 wired into the 5 pin with a on off switch, that's all pretty simple. where I get hung up is with Ip address and net mask, com port, etc. I realize I'm old and really don't know beans about computers while trying to get this part, I don't even know where to look to set this up, some on CPN some on windows I'm lost, hope someone can help, I know it won't take only a few minutes if I knew where to go and what to answer.
Jeff

[jharding]

also I have been looking through here for hours to find what I need, if it is already here and some one can point me to the thread that would be great.

[markrsimon]

Page 5 and 6
https://opencpn.org/OpenCPN/doc/GRadarDoc.pdf

If you are using wireless on the laptop, then setting the physical ethernet adapter on the laptop to 172.16.1.1 should be relatively easy and wont break anything.

https://kb.netgear.com/27476/How-do-...ess-in-Windows

Just set that IP and use a netmask of 255.255.240.0 - do not enter anything for a gateway. COM ports are not used in this configuration.

Are you attempting to plug the radar cable directly into the laptop, or are you using a switch? I would suggest starting with a cheap 5 port switch. I dont believe the garmin does auto-mdix (which allows two devices to be directly connected without the use of an x-over cable).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethe...rossover_cable

Also - depending on the plug-in, if it doesnt work using the specified garmin radar model, try the other garmin model (HD vs xHD). I cant explain it - but it worked for me.

[jharding]

Thanks for your help, I am plugging the radar cable into my laptop. I have the 5 pin switched. I think I have the ethernet adapter set properly, although the instructions say to set it to 172.16.1.1/24 and I am not able to do the slash 24.
I'm not sure what I have to do under open cpn options connections, seems like I should do something there, but I don't find anything in the manual for this. I'm stuck
Jeff

[markrsimon]

If you are plugging the Radar unit directly into your laptop, you may need to utilize a crossover ethernet cable. Most network devices are not meant to be directly connected – they expect to be connected to a hub/switch/router. To connected two ‘end devices’ together, you can connect them with a crossover cable – whereby you flip the TX/RX on one end of the cable. This is depicted on the bottom of Page 1 of this document (look at Pins 2, 3, 6, & 7)
http://static.garmin.com/pumac/Marine_Ethernet.pdf

(Option 1) If you have the tools/connectors, you can change 1 end of an existing cable. (Option 2) If not – you can by a cross over cable off amazon (or perhaps your local computer store). (Option 3) If you have a home router that has 2 ports free, you can also connect your laptop & radar to those two ports for testing.

Once you believe you have things wired properly, and switched Pin 5 to ground – after about a minute (maybe 2-3), you should have a ‘link light’ on/flashing – on your laptop network jack, and if your using a hub/switch/router, the network jack where the radar connects to.

An IP Address is composed of two parts. The 172.16.1.1 is the actual ‘ADDRESS’ while the other part, displayed as either ‘/24’ or ‘255.255.255.0’ is the NETMASK also called the SUBNET MASK.

It appears that different snippets of OpenCPN documentation reference different setting – even within the same document. For sake of brevity (given how networking functions), use 255.255.240.0 for the time being.

As for where you enter the 255.255.240.0, re-read the netgear link I posted above – Step 8 is where you would enter 255.255.240.0. See reference image/link below. Note: You do NOT need to enter a Gateway, nor do you enter DNS settings. Only enter the IP Address and Subnet Mask.
https://www.layerstack.com/img/docs/...windowsip1.png

As for OpenCPN Configuration - have you reviewed this page, and the linked pages? Aside from the hardware, it covers installing the plugin and usage. Look for the new radar icon in the OpenCPN toolbar – which will bring up the Radar control panel. This is where you may need to switch between HD and xHD if it doesn’t find your radar.
https://opencpn-manuals.github.io/ma...0.1/index.html

[jharding]

Thanks for the info, I'm getting ready to go on the hard to get rid of my forward sonar, it will be a few days before I can work on the radar again. I'll let you know what I find then
Thanks