I'm installing (flush mounting) an Axiom PRO 9"MFD and it will likely be shielded by the console and radar bridge, so concerned about GPS signal strength. Based on what I read on the
Raymarine website a GPS patch antenna is recommended. They mention a GA150.
Is this compatible with the Axiom?
Is this the latest and greatest, or is there something better?
I'm also installing a T0417 Q2 Doppler radar - does it have built in GPS (so that I don't need the antenna)?
Hello Cocoloco,
An external GPS sounds like a good plan in your instance. The GA150 is a passive antenna which boosts the signal to the internal receiver in Axiom *Pro*, eS, a9 and a12 MFDs. It's not compatible with Axiom non-Pro. For a non-Pro Axiom, you'd use the RS150 active (NMEA2000/SeatalkNG) GPS receiver. Both Axiom Pro+GA150 and Axiom+RS150 combinations have essentially the same GPS performance, which is fantastic. You could use an RS150 with Axiom Pro: it would be a more expensive option than the GA150, but could be seen as adding a redundant backup into the system. Some people like that. There's no GPS in the Quantum radars (I think it could be hard to do that from an RF interference point of view: GPS signals are incredibly low-power and very sensitive to noise.)
Regards,
Tom
Tom,
So does the RS150 plug into the back of the AXIOM PRO MFD or do I need another display (I'm not doing NMEA2000/SeatalkNG, just plug and play the components into the MFD). If the RS is plug and play, then I'll go that route, if not I'll revert back to the GA150.
Cocoloco,
Whenever you connect any NMEA2000 devices, no matter how few (2), you always need a separately-powered, terminated backbone with spurs to each display. The simplest system would be an STNG Starter Kit with an STNG-Devicenet adaptor cable. Unless you were going to have a larger NMEA2000/STNG system (e.g. autopilot), I wouldn't go this way, I'd do the GA150.
Regards,
Tom
(07-16-18 07:35 PM)Tom - Raymarine - Moderator Wrote: [ -> ]Cocoloco,
Whenever you connect any NMEA2000 devices, no matter how few (2), you always need a separately-powered, terminated backbone with spurs to each display. The simplest system would be an STNG Starter Kit with an STNG-Devicenet adaptor cable. Unless you were going to have a larger NMEA2000/STNG system (e.g. autopilot), I wouldn't go this way, I'd do the GA150.
Regards,
Tom
Thanks for clearing that up for me. Since I'm not doing NMEA2000/STNG I'll do the GA150.