Setting NMEA 0183 baud rate on E80 Classic

[bbayne]

I currently have installed:

E80 Classic
125 GPS
S3G SmartPilot
SmartController
ST60 Speed, Depth, Wind
ST6001+
E55059 MUX
ICOM m422 VHF with DSC
FloScan 9500 with GPS interface

I'm considering adding a Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS because of the WiFi feature and have been in contact with their support department. A question that came up involved changing the baud rate of the E80 MFD to 38400 from 4800. Is that possible and if so how do I do that? Or is it auto-sensing?

Thanks!

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome back to the Raymarine Forum Bruce,

The MFD's PORT 1 BAUD rate is configured via the command sequence MENU->SYSTEM SETUP->SYSTEM INTEGRATION->NMEA PORT SETTING. Configuring the port to "NMEA 4800" will correspondingly configure both its input and output ports for 4800 BAUD NMEA 0183 communications. Configuring the port to "AIS 38400" will correspondingly configure both its input and output ports for 38400 BAUD NMEA 0183 communications. Due to the potentially high volume of AIS communications, most AIS receiver/transceiver manufacturers configure their products to communicate at 38400 BAUD. As configuring the MFD's NMEA 0183 port setting affects the BAUD rate of not only its input port, but also its output port, it may be necessary to employ a pair of programmable NMEA 0183 multiplexers in addition to the one currently installed. The additional programmable multiplexers (ex. Actisense NDC-4-USB) would need installed to support converting the MFD's 38400 BAUD NMEA 0183 output data stream to 4800 BAUD NMEA 0183 for use by the VHF radio. Similarly, the NMEA 0183 output of the third party AIS receiver/transceiver would need to be multiplexed with the output of the currently installed E55059 MUX to produce a 38400 BAUD NMEA 0183 data stream to be received by the MFD's NMEA 0183 input port. Raymarine AIS receivers/transceivers eliminate the need for these additional NMEA 0183 multiplexers as they feature built in 38400 - 4800 multiplexing. Raymarine's AIS650 transceivers also feature a USB port though which AIS data may be fed to a PC. PCs running licensed instances of RayTech RNS 6.1/6.2 software which have been interfaced via Ethernet to E-Series Classic MFDs will receive AIS data along with most other system data available to the E-Series Classic MFDs.