GARMIN CHARTPLOTTER QUESTION

I am buying the garmin gpsmap 450, it has a built in antenna, is there any benefits in buying the external antenna or will the built in one be fine?

thanks

If your unit is going to be covered in any way, say inside a cuddy or whatever then opt for an external antenna. I had the 450s on my last boat and its a cracking little unit. It was mounted on the console just at the entrance to the cuddy and worked fine although if I was leaning over it it would lose the signal very occasionally. An external antenna would cure all that.

i have three units with all of them having built in antannas 2 garmin gps and a raymarine chart plotter every now and again you might lose position but its only for a few seconds.

it wiil be siiting just under the entrance of the cuddy on my strikeliner on the console?

very simular situation to myself, mine are under GRP cuddy on a predator.
i cant se you having much of a problem just mention it to the supplier before you buy it and ask there opinion.
i think it would only cause problems if you were in a much bigger boat and say below deck, or with a lot of structure around you.

I know this is an old topic but i just came across it.
I have a 450 too, I'm fitting it to my new boat {BONWITCO 400C} next weekend, when i fit my VHF radio and antenna, can I connect the 450 to that ariel or will i have to get a seperate one?
I'm placing the GPS above the wheel outside the cuddy on the terminal
thanks

I know this is an old topic but i just came across it.
I have a 450 too, I'm fitting it to my new boat {BONWITCO 400C} next weekend, when i fit my VHF radio and antenna, can I connect the 450 to that ariel or will i have to get a seperate one?
I'm placing the GPS above the wheel outside the cuddy on the terminal
thanks

Your VHF aerial will not do your GPS.
If your GPS has a good view of the sky you will have no problems.

think i should be ok so, I will be hooking it up to VHF though, I figure its needed for emergencies and if i need it, the fine for no licence will be the least of my worries!!

read the post man gps does not work through a vhf aeriel it needs a seperarate aerial or internal antenna

You can connect your GPS to your VHF (DSC) but not via the aerial! You will be conecting via NMEA in/out.

jim is correct there mate u will be joining through the nmea which is like networking them, the gps is joined to the vhf for dsc calling in a emergency you press the distress button and the gps sends out your position but u need a mmsi of your boat or its useleess so you need your boat call sign. to get one of these u need to get your vhf license and send in for it , hope this clears it for u ...

thats what I meant, networking them....

As keitzer30 said it's a pointless exercise connecting a gps to a DSC VHF without an MMSI it may not even work you will probably just recieve anoying error alarms every 30 seconds You need a license to obtain your MMSI number there is simply no way round that

On top of the fine you mentioned if you are to trigger a search & rescue operation with such a set up and it's very easily done without you even knowing you have done it they could very well chase you for the costs of it and that is a serious figure

i will just have them independent of each other so, my boat is double hulled so between the fixed VHF and the hand-held in the grab bag, it should cover me.
As I said, if its needed in an emergency, having no licence is the least of my worries. Read somewhere that only approx 10% of VHF owners have the licence anway

i will just have them independent of each other so, my boat is double hulled so between the fixed VHF and the hand-held in the grab bag, it should cover me.
As I said, if its needed in an emergency, having no licence is the least of my worries. Read somewhere that only approx 10% of VHF owners have the licence anway

While you may get away with it for now in the future plans are to scrap the monitoring of 16 so human ears at coast stations may go down the same road as the lighthouse keepers so I wouldn't put getting the very simple SRC off forever if I were you

after September, it wont really matter..... I'm off to Canada...... Hamilton, Ontario, will be living 20min drive from the lake

after September, it wont really matter..... I'm off to Canada...... Hamilton, Ontario, will be living 20min drive from the lake

Looking fwd to the reports don't forget to post some here when you go

What's the story with radio licensing and enforcement over there?? If it's anything like the FCC laws in the States you might be sorry you didn't get the SRC here before you go It's an Internationally (ITU) recognised qualification so would be accepted in Canada