Running AIS cables

[Mac2]

Just ordered the Garmin CORTEX-M1-GBL (AIS-Transmit/Receive). It specifies not to run the antenna cables next to radar cables. Everything attached to my mast (Including two radars) runs through a 4 inch tube at the bottom of the mast. Is it a suggestion or mandate to seperate the cables?

 

[SteveK]

Just ordered the Garmin CORTEX-M1-GBL (AIS-Transmit/Receive). It specifies not to run the antenna cables next to radar cables. Everything attached to my mast (Including two radars) runs through a 4 inch tube at the bottom of the mast. Is it a suggestion or mandate to seperate the cables?

Generally, any two antenna cables should not be close. As you know they can radiate and the signal can interfere with another instrument that picks up the radiation.

 

[Mac2]

Guess I was hoping for a magical solution. Pretty much makes it unrealistic to mount antennas and radars on a mast. All the wires end up together at the base.

 

[l00smarble]

Many pieces of marine electronics gear have a warning section that tells you not to mount it with x" of Y or etc. Like don't mount your MFD near the ship's wet compass. But practically that is where the user wants it. It is impractical to have everything on a boat separated. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. The VHF cable has probably been in there next to the radar cable for years.

 

[Bmarler]

Aren’t most modern radars just power cable and data back to a mfd? Seems like it would be less prone to leak into your ais cable. If there are issues leaking into the data cable it could be upgraded to an industrial grade like a profinet cable.

 

[boomerang]

SSB radio cabling was about the only thing that I had to worry about being detrimental to other communication/navigation equipment. Occasionally a VHF ,when transmitting, would mess with an autopilot if the cables were too close but for an AIS that only transmits in short 5 watt bursts , I wouldn't worry about it.
I've personally used a Cortex on our last 2 boats and never had an issue with the any radio interference even though the cables were run beside other electronics including radar. For me. the biggest issue with the Cortex was finding a place where the internal heading sensor was happy...they have proven to be very finicky for me and I couldn't ever get the heading to display correctly without using an external heading sensor.

 

[Mac2]

SSB radio cabling was about the only thing that I had to worry about being detrimental to other communication/navigation equipment. Occasionally a VHF ,when transmitting, would mess with an autopilot if the cables were too close but for an AIS that only transmits in short 5 watt bursts , I wouldn't worry about it.
I've personally used a Cortex on our last 2 boats and never had an issue with the any radio interference even though the cables were run beside other electronics including radar. For me. the biggest issue with the Cortex was finding a place where the internal heading sensor was happy...they have proven to be very finicky for me and I couldn't ever get the heading to display correctly without using an external heading sensor.

Thanks for the real world feedback. Good advice. I’m assuming you’re saying to do a temporary mount to verify internal heading sensor is working?

 

[SteveK]

@Mac2 shielded cable should be less of an issue

 

[boomerang]

Honestly, I've never found a place where the internal sensor would work satisfactorily. On our last boat, I moved the Cortex all over the place and it never showed the heading correctly. Garmin had just acquired Cortex and they couldn't come up with an answer to fix it so the sent me a free SmartCast nmea2000 heading sensor that I installed below deck and that solved my problem. I bought our current Cortex and hoped that the internal sensor would be ok because I mounted it 100% in the middle under the flybridge away from pretty much everything but it still didn't give a correct heading. It wasn't an issue for me because I interfaced the system to the nmea2000 buss which has the Simrad autopilot Precision9 heading sensor on it so I use that sensor for the Cortex heading.

 

[twistedtree]

Every manufacturer seems to want the whole boat and all the cable runs to themselves. I just do the best I can, and use the best antenna cable that is practical.

 

[Iggy]

Your AIS antenna wire is a shielded cable. Your radar should be too. Unless you have a very old radar, I would not worry about it.

The newer radar units use Cat5E or Cat6. Which is just data not RF.

 

[Mac2]

Your AIS antenna wire is a shielded cable. Your radar should be too. Unless you have a very old radar, I would not worry about it.

The newer radar units use Cat5E or Cat6. Which is just data not RF.

I have a 90s era Furuno. I have the option of mounting the AIS antenna on the eyebrow of the pilot house. My Flybridge and Flybridge bimini (solar panels) would block a direct line of sight to the stern area of the antenna. The advantage of this position is avoiding a cable run next to the radar cable. I know the AIS antenna has a heading sensor, so Im weighing the two mounting options. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Cigatoo]

My AIS/VHF cables run through the same overhead tube as the radar and then up the mast. No problems. I use a splitter on the advice of the AIS manufacturer so same cable for AIS and VHF.

 

[Nepidae]

First, if you have a Garmin problem, call Garmin (800-800-1020). They have the absolute best support for marine electronics going.

Second, our AIS transceiver is mounted under the cowling on our bridge, where the radar is on our arch.

The attached picture hopefully shows that a bit better.

We did a Loop and IF I ever had to choose between Radar & AIS for that trip, it would be AIS. AIS ability to 'look' around corners made it the best for the rivers that we shared with tows.

Any other question, PM me.

 

[Frosty]

Every manufacturer seems to want the whole boat and all the cable runs to themselves. I just do the best I can, and use the best antenna cable that is practical.

Isn't that the truth? You'd need to tow a couple of additional boats the way they spell it out. And you never know if it's just wishful thinking on their part, like if you could; or if it's really critical.

I don't know for sure if this is correct or not, but from reading various manuals I got the impression that two things maybe stood above the rest:

1) That transducer cables are a bit sensitive. I ran those up the stbd side just like all the other stuff, but did make a separate set of Weld Mount wire tie holders that are a few inches away from everything else and put them there in their own loom.

2) The VHF antenna cable seemed to be often mentioned as a source of interference. I ran that all by itself up the port side of the boat.

Everything else pretty much had to ride together on the stbd side.