The Ray49 is Raymarine’s new compact DSC-enabled VHF radio. I wanted one because I want position data received over DSC to appear on my chartplotter, and my current Ray54 can’t generate outgoing NMEA data.
So I’ve got a Ray49, and I’m thinking about how I’ll install it. If you’ve been keeping track at all, you [...]

(With apologies to Lewis Carroll.)
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All MMSI were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.
I’ve written lots (here and here, particularly) about MMSI—the Marine Mobile Service Identity [...]

Remember my various issues with my Ray54 VHF radio? It’s a good radio, and I like the compact size. But it does have its idiosyncrasies. The only feature I really miss, though, is NMEA output, which would allow me to see incoming DSC calls right on my C-80 chartplotter.
At my last writing, I figured I [...]

OK, I’ve finally done it. I’ve installed the cheapest AIS receive-only unit aboard my boat. This is the Milltech Marine single-channel SR161, which I purchased from my friends at The Offshore Store.
I plugged it into the NMEA port on the back of my Raymarine C-80, which was free because I rewired my VHF radio [...]

Oh, NOW I get it. I admit I’ve been a bit inconsistent on this, if you re-read earlier writing about my radio. To set the record straight, I submitted the following question to Ask Raymarine:
"Is the Ray54 VHF DSC radio an NMEA ‘talker’, sending position info from received distress calls to a chartplotter, for instance?
Or [...]

I’ve written about this before, here and here. Talking with folks from Raymarine and The Offshore Store during the Seattle Boat Show, I have confirmed that yes, my Ray54 DSC VHF uses NMEA for both input and output. Currently, my VHF is receiving NMEA messages just fine, but no NMEA data seems to be getting [...]

I’ve written an article about DSC (Digital Selective Calling) which should appear in the January issue of 48° North, our local sailing magazine.
Mainly, I wanted to reiterate the Coast Guard’s advice that we register for a MMSI number, install the radio correctly, connect a GPS, and enter the MMSI number into our radios.
One [...]

As regular readers may know, I recently bought a used C-Dory 22 Cruiser. I love my little boat. It came with a nice suite of Raymarine electronics: C-80 multifunction display, GPS, radar, autopilot, and Ray54 VHF radio. It’s this last unit I want to talk about today.

What a nice little unit. It’s got DSC, [...]