Fa 50 transponder out put

[Locrasto]

Hi, is it possible to increase the power output? I have a 8' ais antenna on my hardtop, base of the antenna is 10' off the water and 9' away from my vhf antenna. Gets about 5 miles out. Would a liner amplifier work to boost it to 5w or is there a software change that can be made? I know in tanker mode it goes to 5w but all the others are 2w. Boat has navnet2 and would like to keep it as such. 7" and 10" display, 3.5 open aray, bbwx2 and gp39.

Thanks

 

[DannyAtSowilo]

Sending it is (theoretical) possible. But if you want to see more - no.

 

[Locrasto]

I can see ships 20nm away that's not the problem at all. I am looking to have more transmitting power.

 

[DannyAtSowilo]

A booster between the FA and the antenna would help but I do not like that it gets more complicated.
A better cable and a better antenna is easy.
How much it will help is a bit of black magic....
The sales people will tell you it help a lot - but my experience is that depends a lot of current installation so you must try and see.
On our yacht I removed the boaster (because I thought it caused strange problems) and put in a nice big antenna and a fat cable.
Result: Doubble distance.
Maybe there are better boasters out there - if so please tell us.

 

[Locrasto]

The antenna is a new Shakespeare ais 8' cable is going to be a problem to replace, the way the boat was outfitted they ziptied everything together in the hardtop pipe so that's why I asked about a amplifier. And seeing that the fa50 only transmits at 2w and the new ones are at 5w. Like I said if you put it in tanker mode it will transmit at 5w then marinetraffic can see the boat at my dock. In fishing or pleasure only picks up in the middle of the bay. Anyone know how to "hack" into one to keep it at 5w?

 

[TheReaper]

The FA50 is a Class B system that uses CSTDMA technology which is limited to 2W output. The newer Class B+ systems use SOTDMA which allows for 5W output. Our newer FA70 is a Class B+ system.

 

[Locrasto]

I know that but if you put the fa50 in tanker it puts the power output to 5w. Is there a way to use the fa70 with vx2? I have 10" 7" bbwx2 330b antenna gp39 and simrad 26 ap. Everything works as it should and I really don't want to cut up my helm just yet. At some point I am going to upgrade.

So that's why I was thinking go the amplifier way till then.

 

[TheReaper]

The FA50 is only capable of 1W (low power) or 2W (normal power). It's not capable of outputting 5W as seen by picture below. Only class B+ AIS, like FA70, is capable of 5W output. So, tanker mode simply allows you to drop power to 1W which is not the desired outcome.




The FA70 can be connected to the NAVnet vx2 via Data2 on 10.4" or Data1 on 7" by using the FA70's NMEA0183 output. If your NAVnet vx2's 10.4" Data2 or 7" Data1 port is not available, then it still can be done, but with some modifications of wiring. When bring AIS in to either of those ports, that's all that port can do...i.e. no output.

The amplifying method would be outside of the FA50's Class B specs, so Furuno USA would not recommend doing that.

 

[Locrasto]

Ok, thank you. So I can put the 330 receiver on the 10" that would free up data 1 on the 7". Right now data 1 on 7" is used for 330 and data 2 on the 10" has gp39/ ap26 data 3 has heading sensor data 1 is free.

I would like to be able to have the redundancy still, ie one setting change and I can get the 10" GPS from gp39 if the 7" died or 330 stopped working.
I am open to other opinions if they exist... I was looking into a way to use the nmea out of the fa50 for a backup as well so I would have 3 different receivers to pick from.

Thank you for your time

 

[TheReaper]

To address the last thing first...the FA50 doesn't output any position information via the NMEA0183 connection (only Ethernet), so it can't be a 3rd source of position if connected that way. The FA70, however, will output position via NMEA0183 which would give you the 3rd source of position.

One way to do it...If you moved the GP330B to the 10.4", then you'd lose the redundancy to the 7" because both GP330B and GP39 would be going to the 10.4". You could move the GP39 input to Data3 on the 7", move the GP330B to Data1 on the 10.4". This would keep the redundancy, but it'll take a little rewiring. You would end up with 10.4": Data1-GP330B; Data2-AP26 output; Data3-possible heading input; Data4-empty; and Network-HUB. Then, the 7" would be: Data1-FA70 NMEA0183 input; Data2-empty; Data3-GP39 NMEA0183 input; and Network-HUB.

 

[Locrasto]

Sorry I did not read the output on the 50 correctly.. rs422 is only ABK, ACA, ACS, ALR, VDM, VDO, TXT, PFEC.. looks like I will be spending the next rainy afternoon rewiring

Are the pigtails for vx2 plugs still available new?

Thank you again.

 

[TheReaper]

Yes, they are still available. You can order them from any Furuno USA dealer.
6-pin pigtail is part number 000-154-054
7-pin pigtail is part number 000-154-028