they have much greater range and use the
international SAR homing frequency. Both
products, incidentally, have a relay feature
whereby an alarm can activate functions on
certain other electronics like EPIRBs and au-
topilots. Sea Marshall; 434-970-7775;
www.seamarshall-us.com
Marine Technologies M900M
Marine Technologies is a new company
that manufactures cellular amplifiers and pack-
ages them with appropriate gear to make up
nearly complete marine cellular systems. Thus
the $1,299 M900M kit (below) includes an
unusual Motorola handset designed for use
in a car—i.e., with large buttons, a high-qual-
ity mike and speaker, and even engine-
noise-cancelling capabilities. Also included
is a 12-volt amp that you can attach to the
marine cellular antenna of your choice, a pri-
vacy handset, and PC software that facili-
tates a one-button Internet connection
using the phone’s GSM data capabilities. Ma-
rine Technologies also offers a stand-alone
version of this same gear in a Pelican case
with a rechargeable power supply, as well
as super-powerful wireless amplifiers paired
with Motorola cordless multi-line PBX sys-
tems. Marine Technologies; 866-262-
8357; www.marinetechnologies.net
Syrens Onboard WiFi EC-AP
One problem with putting together a high-
power marine WiFi system is that you
need to use finger-thick low-loss LMR 400
coax—the shorter the better—between the
high-gain antenna and the radio. Syrens On-
board’s $1,895 solution to this problem is
a waterproof enclosure that can be mounted
near its 10dBi antenna; inside is both a +24
dBm amplifier and a WiFi/Ethernet “bridge.”
Thus onboard computers, and even VOIP
(voice over internet protocol) phones, can
go online either via a slim, no-loss Ether-
net cable or via a second WiFi hop. Syrens;
800-556-3911; www.syrens-at-sea.com
Boats+Gear
»
COMMUNICATIONS
RF CONNECTION
USB CONNECTION
TO
12 vDC
Raymarine’s SR100 Sirius Satellite Weather Re-
ceiver plugs into a SeaTalk
hs
Ethernet hub (right) so
that you can access its wealth of near-real-time
and forecast weather on any networked E-Series unit
(and eventually on attached PCs running RayTech).
The data—provided by WSI, which also serves
Weather Channel Marine—includes precipitation radar,
lightning, storm cell tracking, NOAA marine text fore-
casts, buoy reports,system predictions out to 96 hours, and much more.The
hardware costs $1,000 and subscriptions range from $30 to $100 a month,
but note that all live data is included in the minimal rate, a welcome depar-
ture from rival XM’s pricing tiers. (I’m sure the new head-to-head competition
will bear more fruit). Raymarine’s receiver does not (yet) decode Sirius’s
100+ audio channels, but the antenna can be shared and dual subscribers get
a very nice discount.
LifeTag is an “active”wireless crew monitoring system, meaning that its base
station can constantly listen to as many as 16 tags and will sound an alarm if
any tag gets farther than about 32 feet away.
The alarm also sounds if a tag wearer pushes
the help button. If a base station is connected
to certain Raymarine displays or instruments
via SeaTalk, LifeTag can also automatically
trigger the GPS receiver’s man-overboard
function. Larger boats can install more than
one base station. Each station costs $658 with
two tags, and extra tags are $115 each. Ray-
marine; 800-539-5539; www.raymarine.com
Raymarine Sirius Weather
and LifeTag
TO
EXTERNAL
ANTENNA
JUNE 2006 SAILMAGAZINE.COM 69
(12 pages)
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