Uniden MHS550 User Manual download pdf (Page 4)

70 SAILMAGAZINE.COM JUNE 2005

Boats+Gear

KVH TracVision M3

and Mobile Internet

Though its new 14.5-inch stabilized M3

antenna is the world’s smallest—40 per-

cent smaller than competing 18-inch an-

tennas—KVH claims that it can pull in

“crystal-clear” DIRECTV signals even on

boats as small and “dynamic” (that means

bouncy!) as 25 feet. The antenna requires

a single cable and is said to be very quiet.

The system comes with KVH’s new 12-volt

marine TV receiver, another first, and also

includes a powerful RF (radio frequency)

remote control. Once installed, the $4,995

M3 will automatically connect to DI-

RECTV’s 300 channels of programming

(North America only), which these days in-

clude more than 50 channels of XM radio

music, and it should stay locked on as far

as 200 miles offshore.

KVH is also just about to introduce an

interesting TracNet Mobile Internet product

that combines three technologies. First it uses

a marine cellular antenna and amp to max-

imize the range of the high-speed EVDO serv-

ice now offered by Verizon and others (where

EVDO is not available it switches down to

50 to 80 Kbps using the more pervasive

1xRTT). Second, hardware and software

from MSN TV (formerly Web TV) make it

easy to enjoy this Internet connection on board;

you can just plug the KVH box into a TV set

and use the wireless keyboard to surf, write

e-mails, and so on. And, finally, the box is

also a WiFi hot spot, meaning any laptop on

board can also be online. KVH expects the

hardware to cost less than $1,500, with un-

limited EVDO and MSN subscriptions to-

talling less than $100 a month. KVH;

888-584-4163; www.kvh.com

»

COMMUNICATIONS

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