Heading sensor requirement

GEG

New member
I'm installing the DRS4D-NXT. Does this radar require a specific heading sensor in order to overlay with charts on a TZTL2-15 MFD? Can it get the heading data from a gps? Since it is digital and has no magnetron, will it still cause interference if any antennas (specifically WX-220) are in the radar path?
 
You will still want to keep items like your GPS and WX220 weather sensor out of the radar beam to prevent any possible damage to the front end amp of our GPS/Weather unit.
Just about any NMEA 2000 source of heading should work fine for you. The better the quality of the heading, the better your ARPA and other results.
 
Johnny Electron":20m2dmew said:
You will still want to keep items like your GPS and WX220 weather sensor out of the radar beam to prevent any possible damage to the front end amp of our GPS/Weather unit.
Just about any NMEA 2000 source of heading should work fine for you. The better the quality of the heading, the better your ARPA and other results.

So I'm building a new hard top for my boat right now and laying out what goes where so this statement about keeping the GPS sensor out of the radar beam is very relevant.
I don't want to raise the radar if I can avoid it but the GPS antenna is less than 12" from the radome. With a vertical beam width of 25 degrees it seems like there is no way to avoid radar interference with my GPS and XM weather antennas.
Thoughts?
 
seaveepete,

Yes, keeping a GPS antenna out of the radar beam is very important for continuous reliable data being sent to your MFD and also to prevent degradation of the internal components of your GPS antenna. With the being said, I understand its very hard to have a "perfect" layout of antennas with little to no interference from other devices. The biggest thing to be weary of is your radar beam. Mounting and layout is critical, keep in mind that some companies and/or dealers sell/manufacture stands and pedestals to raise antennas above the radar beam. this would probably be the best solution for you.
 

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The OP was asking about heading information for ARPA and such. It might be worthwhile to emphasize that one can't get heading information from a GPS (or am I wrong?).
 
lshick":2xf83ix3 said:
The OP was asking about heading information for ARPA and such. It might be worthwhile to emphasize that one can't get heading information from a GPS (or am I wrong?).

There seems to be some confusion between heading sensor and GPS. First, you don't need an external GPS antenna with the TXT2. The built in is great. Second, he needs something like a Lowrance Point 1 heading sensor that operates on NMEA2000 and doesn't have to be on the top. I have mine mounted inside my center console and have been using that set up all summer and everything works well. The Point 1 also has GPS that works well but isn't used.
 
Thanks for the info. I did not mean to derail this thread since the OP asked about the heading sensor. In my case I may just have to rely on the internal GPS antenna of the TZT2 unit but I still have a secondary GP33 antenna and also an XM weather antenna to consider. The RADAR unit will only be used about 10% of the time I'm running the boat so hopefully this is not going to be a big issue.
 
Aggeloseco,

Yes, you can use the Lowrance Point-1 for your position/heading device.

It will work with the TZTouch2's NMEA2000 Network for Radar/Chart Overlay capabilities.


- Deep Blue ;)
 
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