Hi, Josh — the Simard is a nice radio, as well — they were one of the first manufacturers out with NMEA2000-connected VHF radios. But as you mentioned, the AIS is receive-only, and that’s easy to do with a single VHF antenna shared with the radio. To add transceiver capability, first you have to add the Class B transceiver (standalone units start at about $500-$600). Then it’s required to have an external GPS antenna dedicated to the AIS transceiver (that’s part of the Class B standard). And you need either a separate VHF antenna for the AIS, or a splitter (another $200), which is probably going to be too big to incorporate into a VHF housing people want to buy.
So it’s no surprise that the Simard is “half the estimated price of the other unit.” The GX6500 has everything I mentioned above with the exception of the splitter. And I have to say that the quality of my transmitted VHF signal improved greatly when I installed my S-H GX2200 VHF last year; I expect the quality of the GX6500 will be at least that good, if not better. — Fred Fred Street -- Minneapolis S/V Oceanis (1979 C&C Landfall 38) -- on the hard in Bayfield, WI :^( > On Oct 27, 2016, at 8:45 AM, Josh Muckley via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > Fred, > > How is the Simrad radio in the link different/better/worse? It looks to me > that the bad part is that it doesn't transmit AIS data, just receive? It > looks like it will work with a single VHF antenna and is about half the > estimated price of the other unit. Fewer features, yes but maybe a better > fit for some of us? > > http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1%7C344%7C2028691%7C2207355&id=2199069 > > <http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1%7C344%7C2028691%7C2207355&id=2199069> > Josh Muckley > S/V Sea Hawk > 1989 C&C 37+ > Solomons, MD >
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