Raymarine UPDATE

RayControl turning a tablet into a multifunction display

Raymarine announced that it is offering its RayControl and RayRemote apps for smartphones and tablets for free from November 13 to January 13. The apps are available from Raymarine.com. Both of these apps work with the built-in Wi-Fi networking found in the new Raymarine c-Series and e-Series multifunction displays. The RayControl app will turn your tablet into a multifunction display.

The ability to put touch screens into use on boats to control navigation and auto-pilot functions always made me a bit nervous since boats are always moving and tossing people around. One swipe of finger on a touch screen can have unintended results. Raymarine wisely has addressed this by requiring additional confirmations when using the tablet to control autopilot functions to prevent false changes.

Raymarine AIS100 Antenna Splitter

In other Raymarine news, they have developed a new VHF antenna splitter that is designed for use with AIS. In the past, the difficulty of an AIS installation was partially due to the need for a second VHF antenna to ensure that emergency VHF communications weren't interfered with by AIS communications. Raymarine's new AIS100 Active Antenna Splitter allows one VHF antenna to handle a VHF radiotelephone, a Class B AIS transceiver, and a FM radio tuner. This antenna splitter actively routes the different signals giving priority to the VHF radiotelephone transmissions. Check below for an example wiring diagram. 

For those of you that don't know, AIS stands for Automatic Identification System. It is an electronic system that exchanges vessel information including position, course and speed automatically through a VHF antenna. In my opinion, the  best thing about AIS is that ships can now can see small boats on their navigation and/or radar screens. I highly recommend AIS, particularly with the concentrated commercial traffic on southern . The new generation of antenna splitters makes the installation of AIS even more reasonable since one VHF antenna now does it all.

Possible AIS wiring diagram

Raymarine has also developed an Online Print Shop for Product Documentation. Now, as a Raymarine dealer, Crowley's can order for you a replacement handbook for your Raymarine electronics in multiple languages. Currently most of the current products are covered and in the future most legacy products will be covered.

Please contact Kathy Lindt, our Installation Department Mangager, at kat@crowleys.com for futher information regarding any of the above items.