PDQ OWNERS FORUM

Having recently shipped His Idea to the Pacific Northwest, where fog is more common, I decided to supplement our radar with AIS receiving capability. The unit I purchased is an ICOM MXA-5000. It provides for use of the VHF antenna for receiving AIS signals by placing the unit between the antenna and the VHF radio. I plan to connect it with our Raymarine chartplotter so the AIS icons will be displayed there.

The connections appear simple enough, however with the chartplotter mounted behind the helm - also the logical place to mount the AIS unit - and the VHF radio mounted at the ceiling, it looks like I will need to purchase two fairly lengthy (10') coaxial cables for connection to the antenna/radio.

As I am a perpetual rookie when it comes to electronics, before embarking on this project I thought I would canvas forum members to see if anyone else has already mastered a similar job - particularly if it is on a later model PDQ 34 with the VHF mounted high - and might have some useful installation advice.

Thanks.

John

i recently installed a AIS reciever although in my case I bought a Standard Horizon VHF and had to figure out how to get an older Raymarine E120 to work with just a single nema 0183 input at 38K and still get the other Raymarine transducers to work.

Of course one way for your setup to work is to route RG 58 cable. I would place the AIS unit close to the chartplotter and run the RG 58 up to the VHF or vice versa depending on which type of cable is the cheapest per foot. VHF connectors can be either soldered or solder-less.

Another thought is to buy a cheap vhf whip and run a single cable from the new antenna to the AIS reciever mounted near the chartplotter reducing the cables that have to be run through the chases. My best move was buying a good drill driver (a small sized Bosch) to make panel and trim removal/replace a whole lot easier.

Just my thoughts

Thanks for your input John.

I've purchased RG8X coaxial cable and quality (read expensive) solder-less fittings from Shakespeare. As you suggested I plan to mount the AIS unit behind the helm close to the chartplotter and power source and run the cables back up to the radio and antenna. I'll connect the cables and power myself, but have decided to leave the nema connections and system testing/adjustments to the local experts.

I'm curious about which panels and trim pieces you removed to run your cables. I've removed the horizontal panel behind my upper instruments so as to provide access to the top end of the vertical chase between the side windows (that was easy enough). Removing the upper switch panel to get access to the rear of the VHF radio also looks straightforward.

I've been reluctant to remove the ceiling panel in the starboard stateroom because it looks like a big job. I also can't tell if its removal will give me the access I think I need to get to the lower end of the vertical chase. That said, the bend into the lower helm compartment at the bottom of the chase is 90 degrees and full of other wires and cables. It looks like it will be a very difficult challenge to feed the cables around this turn, even using a fish tape, without some help from below.

Any further advice on how you tackled this job would be greatly appreciated!

John

hi john,

we've had the ceiling panels in the starboard side down a couple of times. it's straight forward. 2 people can help. same going up, one on their back holding it up and other starts screws. we have a 2003 so i'm not sure it's the same setup as your's. as i recall it doesn't provide access to wiring.

if james powers is on he may have more info.

Duetto, thanks for the tip about wiring access (or lack thereof). It will save me a lot of work for no gain, and should reduce the amount of cursing considerably.

I'm tacking the job with the help of my son tomorrow, and will post of our experiences.

We were successful in running the coaxial cables from the VHF radio down through the starboard vertical chase and into the main electrical/electronics area behind the helm.

In addition to removal of the upper switch panel and horizontal panel behind the upper instruments we had to remove the forward ceiling panel in the starboard stateroom. Under the ceiling panel is a small wooden panel (about one foot square) that must also be removed to provide access to the bottom of the vertical chase. Once this was done it was fairly easy to push a fish tape up the vertical chase to the upper opening. This facilitated pulling the cables down and then feeding them through a small opening into the main electrical area. Although a fair amount of removal and re-installation work is required (including the entry light in the starboard stateroom), the job turned out to be quite easy to accomplish with two people.

Next steps will be installation and connection of the AIS unit to the antenna, VHF radio, chartplotter and power supply.

An update - the AIS is now operational on His Idea.

Connection to the VHF radio and antenna, power supply and chartplotter appeared to be straightforward, with 2 hours of technician's time required for the latter two steps. I learned I needed a set of specific NMEA 0183 cables for the chartplotter connection. Fortunately, after digging around in the spares bin, I located what had been provided with the original system, so did not need to buy a new set.

A final step was to go into System Diagnostics (Setup Menu) to reset the system from 4800 to 38400. If this is not done the chartplotter display becomes very rudimentary.

The AIS should be a useful tool for enhanced situational awareness. During testing I was receiving data on targets over 25 miles away, much further than radar. It will also be interesting to use the system to learn more about large vessels around us.

Thanks for posting your update, John.