[Brian Rader]

I just found this site... great idea.

I have a G4 Powerbook. I have really liked the computer. It is only about 1.5 years old. We use the G4 while living on board for internet access, we play lots of music (itunes) on the G4 and use it to manage our photos. Problem is, we are getting ready to go on an extended cruise and I am concerned about my ability to use the Mac for more cruising-related functions, such as SSB-linked email and weather gathering, as well as navigation. Until I found this site, I was unaware that it was even possible to get weather information or send emails via the HAM-SSB/Pactor w/ the Mac. From this site, it sounds like it is possible. My questions are...
1) Is it reliable?
2) Is it relatively easy (compared to PC-based communications, which I find sufficiently complex)?
3) Are we limited when using the Mac to having to utilize sites which charge $$$ for email & weather (my understanding (correct me if I am wrong... i may be) is that w/ a General Class Ham license & a PC we can use Winlink for email and numerous free sources for weatherfax & grib???)?
4) Are we limited when using the Mac in terms of the types of electronic charts that are supported? This is a real grey area for me... I understand rastor vs vector, but it sounds like there are many types of charts out there that cruisers regularly trade as they migrate from one charting area to another. By having a Mac, are we limiting ourselves in our ability to utilize different charting formats?
5) Will the Mac work w/ AIS? What navigation program that works w/ the Mac also will work w/ AIS?

For me, these are all important issues that I am grappling w/ as I decide which system I would like to cruise w/. I do really like the Mac, but I am willing to go to a PC if it offers some real advantages in these areas.

I would appreciate any comments or ideas you folks may have.

Thanks!
Brian.

[ReeferJon]

Welcome to the forum!

I was in a similar situation to you a couple of years ago, regarding the conflict of using PCs vs Macs for navigation and other marine tasks. At that stage, was were a number of fairly basic GPS packages available for the Mac, all of which had little or no support for commercially available charts for my sailing area, the English Channel. One app that did catch my eye was GPSNavX, but it didn't support my charts.

Actually, here's a confession but, for a while, I was running a Windows PC running MapTech's Offshore Navigator software with BSB charts of the English channel. The cartography was raster, so not ideal, but reasonably priced.

As soon as support for BSB charts was included within GPSNavX, I bought the software straight away, threw away my Windows laptop (well, it's under the sofa..), and haven't looked back since.

Have a look around the forum. you'll find all of your questions answered there. Also, I'd suggest that you check out http://www.gpsnavx.com , as it should provide you more information on cartography, AIS and GRIB support.

Virtually all areas of marine computing are catered for by one Mac package or another. However, for any non-US sailors, there is one glaring ommission; lack of Mac support for commercial vector cartography from C-MAP, which the majority of the serious Windows navigation packages support. This may or may not be an issue for you.

[jagasail]

I have to (actually glad to) agree with the previous post. You can pretty well do anything with the Mac you really need. You may not have as many choices in software, but there's at least one good option. The only omission I've found is a routing package (such as Maxsea's routing module) and my opinion is that's only useful of you're planning a major bluewater passage, such as the transpac or heading to the south pacific or Europe. BTW, I've used Maxsea in the past on a Win machinge, but imho MacENC or GPSNavX is nearly as good and a great deal cheaper, and you don't have to use that stupid dongle.

I'm currently setting up my boat for some major world cruising and I'll have two ibooks along and no Bill Gates things. The second is simply as a backup. For e-charts I'll be using predominately Softcharts where they provide coverage. As an aside, Setsail ([color:blue]http://www.setsail.com[/color]) has the best prices I've found on Softcharts, and they have some packages for the South Pacific and New Zealand you can't get elsewhere.

Finally, I haven't set up a pactor yet, but I have downloaded to my Mac some weatherfaxs at home simply using my portable Sony multiband radio. Worked well, considering the small antenna. I haven't really decided if I want to go the SSB email route. I've been seeing post recently that SSB email is getting increasingly crowded and that connects are getting harder to make, with more people turning to Iridium instead. Lot's of pros/con's either way, and that's not really a Mac/Win decision.

In the end, don't be drawn over to the dark side - it isn't necessary.

Scot

[cyberhusky]

When I bought my iBook last year it was because I saw GPSNavX and because ibookas are reliable and run several hours compared to PC laptops.
I only use Windows based PC at work and never use them at home.
When I tried the demo of GPSNavX I ordered it at once and haven't regretted it.
I even made a demo at our club and compared it to MaxSea where every module like AIS/radar, weather GRID support costs a fortune.

The BSB maps for Europe just work great and the system didn't crash once.
PC laptops we tried either makes enormous noise or power useage is way to high.

Weather charts are downloaded via mobile phone or via WiFi in harbours.
I'm very satisfied with GPSNavX and will buy MacENC as soon as S57 maps for Europe are supported.
I would even pay 150 USD for GPSNAVX!

Regards Manou

[GPSNavX]

Thanks for the kind words about GPSNavX. We have no plans to increase the very fair prices.

I am working to get support for encrypted (International) S-5 ENC's in MacENC. That is the good news. The bad news is they are very expensive. About $10 to $20 for each cell.

[adjuvantjfoster]

MacENC 3.20 answers a lot of wish list items.

Note: MacENC 3.20 is a Universal Binary which allows it to run natively on both PowerPC and Intel OS X. This requires OS X version 10.3.9 or later for both PowerPC and Intel Mac OS X. Make sure you do "About this Mac" on the Apple menu to confirm. If your OS X is older than version 10.3.9 then select "Software Update..." and accept any OS X updates. Most Macs do this automatically.

Changes/Fixes since version 3.10:

- MacENC supports non North oriented Mercator raster charts!!

- Support for encrypted international ENCs. MacENC will now open S-63 encrypted ENCs. I have developed and tested with the UKHO ENC's...

http://www.ukho.gov.uk/admiralty_enc_service.html
http://www.ukho.gov.uk/list_of_agents.html

And the ENC's from ChartWorld...

http://www.chartworld.com/

Use the UserPermit displayed in the Chart Manager window to purchase international ENC's.


- NDI Canadian ENC's are compatible with MacENC

http://www.digitalocean.ca/

- "Request GRIB" on the "Weather" menu will request via SailDocs a GRIB for the currently displayed chart. The GRIB will come into your mail applications inbox and can be opened in GPSNavX via the "Open GRIB...". The GRIB will have both wind and pressure data and be for 00, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 hours. Note: this requires at least one email account be setup in the OS X Mail application.
- GRIBS with pressure, air temperature or sea temperature will be plotted as contour lines. "Contour" button toggles display of contour plot.

- Mighty Mouse scroll wheel will also function in the Chart Overview panel.

- Zoom to 1:20,000,000 scale.

- Closest Point Of Approach Distance and Time displayed in AIS "More Info.." sheet. Automatically updates.

- "Scroll To" button on AIS panel, scrolls chart to selected target.

- "New" button on Track window will create a new track record with current position.

- "Cross Track Alarm" on "Waypoints" menu will trigger if cross track to the active waypoint is equal to or greater than "Cross Track Distance" in Preferences window.

- SiRF GPS (GPS type in the GPS panel "Settings" drawer) such as the TN-200, TN-206, MR-350, BU-303, BU-353 will have their NMEA satellite messages $GPGSA and $GPGSV limited to once every five seconds, other position, speed and heading messages will continue at once a second. This will help improve overall performance.

- "Cells" on the "View" menu lets you select the scale of cells that are displayed.
"General" 1:250,000 - 1:500,000 / "Coastal" 1:60,000 - 1:250,000 / "Approach" 1:25,000 - 1:60,000 / "Harbor" 1:2,500 - 1:25,000.

- Improved Raster chart clipping.

- [control] clicking when a raster chart is displayed will give a list of all raster charts that intersect the screen sorted by scale. Those in bold contain the position where clicked.


GlobalMarineNet offers on the fly high speed compression for web access. This is useful if you are using a cell or sat phone connection. Works great with Safari or any other Mac or Windows browsers..

http://www.globalmarinenet.com/fastweb.htm


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Mac Charting & Navigation & Weather
www.gpsnavx.com
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