[CA] [CA11] Ais connection via raymarine autohelm st 7000

[toniocask]

Hallo to everybody,
I need help for a friend of mine that have a old autopilot Raymarine autohelm St 700 and a radio ocean R0 6800 ais.

The problem is: The nmea 0183 is connected from the radio to the mdf plotter Raymarine C80 and the ais radio doesnt show's the position on the radio. On the plotter all is working right, speed, position etc.

We will try to connect the radio ais directly to the autohelm st 7000, but in wich port? We have on the autopilot aux 1, aux 2, aux 3 and aux 4 and bus 1 and 2. We will connect the ais directly to the autopilot because the nmea
0183 GPS speed is different of the ais speed at 3800 baund.
On my sailboat with the raymarine s2 smart pilot I have connected the ais GPS cable + and - direct to the nmea port's of my smartpilot and everything works.
It is possible to do also with this old raymarine st 7000?
Thank you.
Ciao

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome back to the Raymarine Forum Antonio,

Unfortunately, your suggestion to interface the AIS receiver / transceiver to any device other than the MFD's NMEA 0183 input port is not valid for the following reasons:
- unlike SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications protocol, SeaTalk communications protocol does not support communications of AIS data.
- Raymarine autopilot course computers featuring a NMEA 0183 communications interface are exclusively designed to support 4800 BAUD data rates. AIS receivers / transceivers supporting NMEA 0183 communications are designed to support 38400 BAUD.
- C-Series Classic MFDs are exclusively designed to support reception of AIS data via the MFD's NMEA 0183 communications interface. The NMEA 2000 and SeaTalk communications interfaces of C-Series Classic MFDs cannot be used to support communications with an AIS receiver / transceiver.

Raymarine has produced not autopilot known as a ST 700. The device which has been referred to as a ST 700 autopilot may actually be a ST7000 autopilot control head. If so, an autopilot course computer has also been installed onboard the vessel and it may be possible to interface the VHF radio's 4800 BAUD NMEA 0183 input leads to the NMEA 0183 output terminals of the autopilot course computer to supply the VHF radio with 4800 BAUD NMEA 0183 GPS data. If the autopilot course computer features two NMEA 0183 output ports, then the port labeled NMEA2 would feature NMEA 0183 GPS sentences.

Alternatively, the 38400 BAUD NMEA 0183 output leads of the VHF radio may be interfaced to an Actisense NDC-4-USB NMEA 0183 Mutiplexer which will be programmed to receive at 38400 BAUD and transmit at 4800 BAUD. The NMEA 0183 input leads of the VHF radio would then be interfaced the NMEA 0183 output terminals of the Actisense NDC-4-USB NMEA 0183 Mutiplexer to supply the VHF radio with 4800 BAUD NMEA 0183 GPS data.

[toniocask]

Thank you Chuck,
You right, I lost one 0, the autohelm is a st 7000 not st 700 :-) as I wrote in the title..

So my friend and I have to check for an autopilot course computer if I have good understand..
He bought his boat used, so he dont’know exactly what he have on board ( Perry 47 feets sailboat, from 1980 year) the autohelm st 7000 has some inputs like nmea but they are labeled different: Aux 3 and aux 4 and bus 1 and bus 2
Nothing to do with this inputs?

I have attached the autopilot controller, it is this what you mean ?

Thanks again
Antonio

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Antonio,

This photo is indeed that of a very early production ST7000 Autopilot Control Head and support for it ended many years ago. Unfortunately, documentation for this autopilot control head is no longer available. AUX1 an AUX2 ports are likely NMEA 0183 input port and would have been used to support interfacing the autopilot to a NMEA 0183 source of navigational data (in support of Track mode) and/or wind data. The BUS1 and BUS2 ports are likely the control head's SeaTalk communications interfaces. None of these interfaces would support supplying GPS data to a DSC VHF radio. Should you trace any cables which are connect to the autopilot control head's BUS1 and BUS2 ports, you will eventually locate the system's autopilot course computer.

[toniocask]

Ok I will do that.
Many thank's.
Antonio

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

You're welcome.