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There are a number of excellent maps being generated using the Google Maps API. But one that caught my attention was the map of piracy incidents plotted using data from the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre of the ICC International Maritime Bureau .

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) is a specialised division of the International Chamber Of Commerce (ICC). The IMB is a non-profit making organisation, established in 1981 to act as a focal point in the fight against all types of maritime crime and malpractice.

IMB’s main task is to protect the integrity of international trade by seeking out fraud and malpractice. For over 20 years, it has used industry knowledge, experience and access to a large number of well-placed contacts around the world to do this: identifying and investigating frauds, spotting new criminal methods and trends, and highlighting other threats to trade.

They also issue a weekly piracy report which is a summary of the daily reports broadcast by the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre to ships in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions on the SafetyNET service of Inmarsat-C.

In my section on using mobile phones on board I keep referring obliquely to “modern phones”. One reader picked me up on this and asked me all sorts of questions about their phone. Unfortunately the reader was in the States so I did little bit of research on what is going on in the US with the mobile phones network. This is one technology where we in Europe can justly feel proud of the advanced technology that we get to use compared with our poor cousins in the USA,…sorry

Firstly - since many readers of this blog are all over the world you may have all sorts of technology being deployed at the same time even some quite old ones so watch out - even your laptop mobile broadband dongle that you just bought may still be out of date technology.

Originally data transmissions - which is what we are interested in on our boat - was sent over the analogue mobile phone network in much the same way as modems used to send data over computer dial up networks - i.e. as sounds -this practice even continued when the first GSM mobile network was deployed.

Stage 1 - CSD
The first digital systems for data was Circuit Switched Data (CSD). This is a real digital transmission of data using the GSM network. Unfortunately when the transmission left the GSM network to go to the internet for example - the transmission was converted back to analogue - and was not IP based - which is how the internet transmits data around the world. Data transfer was relatively slow: 14.4 kbps (kilobits per second) for GSM 1800 networks (Orange and T-Mobile) and 9.6 kbps for GSM 900 networks (Vodafone and O2).

Stage 1a - HSCD
HSCSD (High Speed Circuit Switched Data) enables data to be transferred more rapidly than the standard GSM (Circuit Switched Data) system by using multiple channels. The maximum number of timeslots that can be used is four, giving a maximum data transfer rate of 57.6 kbps (or 38.4 kbps on a GSM 900 network). HSCSD is more expensive to use than GPRS, because all four slots are used simultaneously - it does not transmit data in packets. Because of this, HSCSD is not as popular as GPRS and is being replaced by GPRS/EDGE.

Stage 2 - GPRS (or 2.5G)
Following this came GPRS - General Packet Radio Service. This is sometimes called 2.5G. This brought a full data channel of about 32/48kb/sec via the GPRS service to/from the internet. Most Blackberries use GPRS it is perfectly ok for email and light internet access. The class of a GPRS phone determines the speed at which data can be transferred. Technically the class refers to the number of timeslots available for upload (sending data from the phone) or download (receiving data from the network). The timeslots used for data are in addition to the slot that is reserved for voice calls. These timeslots are available simultaneously, so the greater the number of slots, the faster the data transfer speed. Because GPRS transmits data in packets, the timeslots are not in use all the time, but are shared amongst all users of the network. That increases the overall data capacity of the network, and it also means that you are billed for the quantity of data transmitted, not the time that you are online. It may mean that during busy times, data transfer rates slow down, because the network will give priority to voice calls.

Stage 2a - EDGE
An enhancement of GPRS is called EDGE or “Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution” - aren’t acronyms great EDGE increases the speed of each timeslot to 48 kbps and allows the use of up to 8 timeslots, giving a maximum data transfer rate of 384 kbps.

Stage 3 - UMTS (or 3G)
This is the minimum standard for what I am calling a “modern phone”. Throughput should be up to 384kb/sec but because UMTS uses a different radio frequency to GPRS/GSM you should see a separate icon on your phone display indicating whether you have a “3G” signal or not. You can have one and not the other.

Stage 4 - HSDPA (or 3.5G)
An enhancement to UMTS/3G is High Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA). This can give throughput from 14Mb/sec (downlink) and 6Mb/sec (uplink) - depending on your phone provider and proximity to a 3G aerial. This is sometime called 3.5G…

In the States they dont follow these standards of course ! They use CDMA (Code division multiple access)..

To see a summary of the GSM service around the world have a look at this site. If you are in the UK - then check out this site for extensive reviews of mobile phone networks and phones and their capabilities

The bottom line is that your “modern phone” in Europe at least..should have options to access data and the internet using all the standards from 2G upwards. These should be selectable in the configurations so that you can choose to not use HSDPA fro example if you suspect that you happen to be somewhere where there is a lot of competition for that signal e.g St Katherines Dock in the City of London, or Gosport Marina in Portsmouth perhaps - then setting your phone “down” to 2G or 2.5G may in fact get a better uncontended link to the local aerial and therefore better internet access on the phone, laptop dongle or laptop connected by phone to the internet.

..oh, and 4G is on the way…

There are a number of subscription services for weather data, but I really think that whether you are experienced or a novice sailor it is a good idea to practice reading barometric and other weather data for yourself to get accustomed to the connection between the data and the summary weather forecasts that are available from the US and UK Met Office. Please note I am not saying that you can substitute for listening to and heeding the Inshore and Shipping forecasts - but these resources and sofware can help your own decision making in terms of passage planning.

Of course what the paid for services add is “interpretation” and “prediction”…and we all know how accurate the weather forecast is on the TV…well in England that would be funny - perhaps the weather is forecast accurately in your part of the World? There are many models for forecasting but the most prevalent is the US National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) - GFS Model.

Below are a large number of free resources and software that would make you fully capable of seeing all sorts of up to date weather data for FREE.

Links:
NOAA Marine Weather Service
This fantastic site gives free TIFF and GIF images for:
- WIND/WAVE CHARTS
- SURFACE CHARTS
- UPPER AIR CHARTS
- TROPICAL CYCLONE/HIGH WIND WAVE CHARTS
- ICE CHART
- SATELLITE IMAGERY
You don’t even need fancy software to see these pictures - just double click and the browser (IE or Firefox) will just display the picture for you - and you can save them to your laptop/PC for viewing later when you may not be able to get an internet connection.
NOAA Radiofax Schedule (for any fax viewing software - see below)

GRIB file data goes a step further by giving wind direction and speed using an easy to understand “barbed feather”. This saves you having to measure the distance between isobars to calculate wind strength. Some software even draws isotechs which are lines of constant wind speed. and some software draws arrows of different dimension and colours to represent speed and direction.

But, I use the simple free service from UGRIB. This service gives you a free worldwide viewer and free GRIB files for any area that you care to select. You can select GRIB file area by just drawing an area on the map of the world and then the software downloads that area’s data alone - thereby saving on bandwidth for the download, which si a real boon if you are connected to the internet using your GPRS enabled phone! - click on the image for a larger screen shot.

Links:
Free GRIB viewer and GRIB data file - UGRIB
Free GRIB data - SAILDOCS
Free GRIB data viewer from AIRMAIL

If you have an SSB receiver on board such as the NASA SSB, then you can even get all sorts of free data while on the high seas and no where in sight of an internet connection…yes there are places such as these!

WEFAX is a method to transmit weather facsimile images over radio. Most images are transmitted in black and white, although some are grey scale. To receive wefax images, you need a shortwave receiver and a software decoder to convert audio tones into black and white. Tuning the receiver accurately is a tricky and time consuming process, but essential to receive acceptable pictures. You then have to clean up the audio signal by appropriate filtering to isolate the black and white “tones”.
The connection from the NASA SSB is a cable that plugs into the microphone input on my laptop, and when in operation sounds just like a fax machine or old analogue modem.

The program I use is SeaTTY. This can receive weather reports, navigational warnings and weather charts transmitted in RTTY, NAVTEX and HF-FAX (WEFAX) modes on longwave and shortwave bands. It can decode GMDSS DSC (HF and VHF) messages. The software can also automatically save NOAA Weather Radio SAME voice messages (NWR SAME) and the digital headers. No additional hardware is required — you need only a receiver and computer with a sound card.

Links:
Software for WEFAX - SeaTTY
Info and further links The DKZone
Free data by ham radio from Winlink2000
Software for weather fax
WEFAX Resources

The Memory Map application for mobile phones and PDA’s is fantastic example of software development for mobile devices. This application has been around for some time, and is the work of US based developer Richard Stevens and his team. Richard is a software developer with 15 year’s experience in scientific super-computing and high-performance real-time systems such as medical imaging machines and high-end radar systems.

From the MemoryMap web site …

“Memory-Map Weather Radar is an application to display live National Weather Service doppler radar images and animated loops from radars located throughout the United States. Radar is the most effective tool to detect precipitation, especially thunderstorms, and has been used by NWS forecasters since the 1940’s. Memory-Map now brings this information, conveniently and efficiently, right to your phone or PDA.

With Memory-Map Weather Radar, when you update the image, the radar data is downloaded as a compressed overlay, without having to download the whole base image each time. There are no usage fees or subscriptions for using the service, except your mobile carrier’s normal data access fees. If the sky is clear, the download is only 1 or 2 kbytes; if there is widespread rain, it might be 10 kbytes. The first time you view each radar station, the base map image is downloaded, which is 50 to 100kbytes….”

Although the radar product is limited to the USA, what I didn’t realise is that his company has produced a full navigation product Memory-Map Navigator - for hiking and sailing that covers the UK!. Take look at the excellent video here.

This takes the use of the built in GPS on a smartphone into a whole different realm….

I use a Raymarine C120, it can display tidal flow and even “animate” the flow over time, it is fully interfaced to my instruments for wind, and speed - but alas what it doesn’t do is:

a. Tell me precisely what time it is using - yes I know I should know - but why can’t it tell me it is set to UTC or GMT or BST or whatever at the point when I need it i.e. when I am calculating a route! This is critical to working out the time of HW at your reference port of departure, and then the tidal flow for each hour of the passage.

b. The tidal flow is not connected to any sort of calculation of course to steer - so you have to leave your 3,000 dollar technology and get your pencil and notepad out to calculate CTS.

On a recent trip from Dieppe to Brighton, this is a representation of the scribble I had to do to calculate CTS. This is after adding all the tides West and then East along the English Channel for the exact time of day and the duration in hours of the planned passage. Since the passage is at least 12 hours for a normal yacht averaging 5/6kts there will be two tides almost cancelling each other out at this part of the Channel. According to my calculations the net effect was in fact an easterly tide of about 1.5Kts.

There was - luckily - a steady W wind leaving me to hold a close reach all the way (except when avoiding cargo vessel in the Traffic Separation Zone!). But this increased leeway on my rather heavily built 32ft sloop so I used 7 degrees leeway in my calculations.

Giving a final Course to Steer of 310 degrees M.

The other issues is that since the predicted track is not displayed on the C120 screen, you don’t get an easy time estimating whether there are any dangers to avoid if you stick with your course to steer. Crossing the English Channel that is not normally such a problem - but there could easily be an island, a rock, an oil rig or even a wind farm in the way…

Naturally the CTS of 310 degrees M that I steered gave me the banana shape course over the ground rather than the red line that the C120 shows as the course between the beginning and end of this journey. (Click on the adjoining screen shot for a larger image.)

So, a plea to Raymarine - please update the C and E series software to do what programs such as Neptune and SeaPro can do !

That would be far more useful than an aerial photo of Dieppe!

Of course you can simply browse the internet directly using a modern phone with GPRS. But even my Samsung i780 is a sloth when using Internet Explorer or oven the Opera browser to do this. Stick the phone into a laptop using the USB cable and suddenly browsing the internet becomes bearable - even “acceptable” - its magic…see the picture - my phone is the tiny display behind the laptop.

You can of course use bluetooth to connect the phone and the laptop - if the GPRS signal is weak try putting the phone in a (dry) place in the cockpit while using the laptop in the saloon. This will give a better GPRS signal to the phone but the bluetooth signal to the laptop is slightly slower than having the phone wired directly in using USB. Experiment with both methods.

So on my recent sailing holiday to the Normandy coast I thought I would try out the possibility of using this combination. I can happily report that both in the marina at Fecamp and even sailing along the coast - while in proximity to the coast of course - you can access my weather page - and all the weather links and the UK Met Office 24hr forecast.

What I do is then copy and paste the forecast, and right click on images like the barometric charts and save them to a table in a Word document that I keep as a passage plan. Very useful for reviewing as the passage develops - and the possibility of having to change plan dawns on you!

If you want more information about using your mobile phone on board check out my dedicated “phones page“….

Returning to Brighton from Dieppe recently I realised that the AIS was not working, but had not time to fault trace or fix it so I thought I would revisit using the radar in earnest.

This is crucial given that the Traffic Separation Scheme that separates the Channel into two one way traffic streams for large vessels adds to the excitement for a yacht - as they say a “tortoise crossing the motorway” - gives you some idea of the experience.

The rather shaky photo here - sorry but we were bouncing up and down a bit! - and I didn’t want to leave the helm too long just to take a photo! - shows the MARPA targets acquired on the Raymarine (C120 + Raymarine Radome 2kw) - click on the image for a larger view.

Just like the AIS you must take the heading, speed, and collision avoidance data with a pinch of salt. I have seen a moored cross channel ferry registering 17kts on the AIS - and so it is here - this screen shot shows variable quality of data eg. was the second vessel in this MARPA list really doing 33kts ! - also the vessels were all clearly on a heading of about 250 degrees magnetic, but the heading data on the display shows the vessels going in all sorts of directions…

The bottom line is that standing in the cockpit with a pair of binoculars and taking bearings was my chosen primary source of data…and although we had bowled long from Dieppe for some 8 hours on a close reach doing 6.5 to 9kts with only the occasional sail trim adjustments… I was forced to reel in the genoa and come to a standstill to let an imposing cargo vessel from Iran thunder past.

Good decision as it turned out since it took a good 10 minutes to cross the wake after it had passed by!.

This screen shot shows our track as we took avoiding action and then tried to get underway again before the next charging container vessel came barreling down the track.

It is annoying that the Raymarine C and E series which have an AIS interface have no displays to show whether AIS is actually working but has no data to display.

Both these displays simply say “No AIS” in the top right hand status corners of the screen. From the software developers point of view they probably would say indignantly that this language is consistent with the message displayed before the GPS Fix is obtained - in other words “No Fix”.

But the difference is this:

1. “No Fix” means the GPS is still obtaining satellite and the chartplotter is calculating the position of the boat. After few minutes if no fix is still displayed you know the GPS is not working and you need to fault trace. So the passage of time adds another piece of vital data that helps you decide that something is wrong (assuming the USA has not declared war and switched off the whole GPS system!)…whereas…

2. “No AIS” means two different things -
a. the AIS is fully functional, is receiving transmissions, but there are none to display, or
b. the AIS is NOT fully functional, is NOT receiving transmissions, and you need to due some fault tracing…straight away

This means you can set sail unaware that the AIS is faulty - but you would be totally aware if the GPS was faulty.

Please Raymarine, do something about AIS error detection - a suitable button could live nicely on the MARPA/AIS settings toolbar.

Having written already on the subject of fuel consumption and even carrying a picture of a friend’s power boat on this blog..I thought I would continue this worrying trend by writing about Garmin’s nice little flow meter - the GFS 10

This not only displays the current fuel level (based on initial reading less flow) but comes up with a single “Economy” reading (in nm/gal) that will have power boat skippers skipping with delight. This help a skipper see his nm/gal consumption automatically therefore taking into account current sea conditions, power applied, and speed over the ground. You can then have a good stab at optimising throttle position to give the best fuel economy. You can also connect up one sensor per engine.

So if you have the GMI 10 marine instrument display then you can connect up the GFS 10 fuel sensor using NMEA2000 - other GPSMAP 4xx and 5xx series units require Garmin’s own CANet™ connection.

Specs for the fuel sensor:
Maximum flow rate: up to 50 GPH per engine
Minimum flow rate: 2 GPH
Maximum back pressure: 0.5 PSI at 20 GPH/1.0 PSI at 40 GPH

My little venture into experimenting with mobile phones and their use on my boat has stirred up a lot of readers of this blog it appears see comments here

Questions include:

- Can I use my smartphone to connect my laptop to the internet?
- Can I use my phone as a chart plotter?
- Which software and maps can I use on my phone?
- How can I improve the interface on my phone? - I cant get to the Bluetooth and other settings easily because they buried under so many menu options…
- Can I get the Met Office weather forecast and barometric charts on my phone?

I had not realised that so many of you are as frustrated as I am in getting more out of my expensive smartphone when they seem to promise so much….

Just to make one point absolutely clear I am referring to the latest crop of smartphones “not the common or garden phones” - and I dont care if you have 3G, MP3, or any other acronym - I mean a phone that is running a real mini operating system such as Windows Mobile 6 or Symbian.

As a result of all this interest I have decide to create a whole new section dedicated to mobile phone use on boats - look across the tabs at the top of the page….and you will see a tab called “Phones”.

I have only just started, but please - come back and check because I will be trying to answer the questions raised as best as I can on this new section.