Marine Link
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Furuno Introduces New High Power NAVNET Pair

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

June 18, 2002

Furuno added to its NavNet series of Radar/Chart Plotters, the 1953C & 1953C/NT. Designed for all types of vessels, the 1953C series bundles high-power X-band radar performance with NavNet technology. Built to commercial-grade standards, the 1953C is a 12kW Radar with a 1/8 to 72 nm range. It is available with either a four or six ft. open array antenna. This unit presents true color radar images on a high-resolution 10.4-in. color LCD, housed in a waterproof case. The 1953C offers many standard radar features, including an Electronic Bearing Line (EBL), an Electronic Variable Range Marker (EVRM), Echo Trails, Guard Zone Alarm, Off-Center, Target Zoom, and Watch Modes. When connected to proper heading and speed sensors, all units can display images in Head-up, Course-up, North-up or True Motion. Continuous and automatic control of receiver tuning, sensitivity and anti-clutter ensures optimum performance and target detection, while keeping the overall operation of the radar features simple. Add the optional Radar Autoplotter (ARP11) with an appropriate Heading Sensor and the user can automatically up to 10 targets continuously. The 1953C includes an integral, full-featured chart plotter that can be displayed full screen, split screen with the Radar or even Radar overlay to make navigating even easier. Choose from two units that accept either Furuno CDC and Navionics or C-MapNT mini-chart cards. The charts can be presented in True Motion North-up, True Motion Course-up, Relative Motion North-up and Relative Motion Course-up. When the True Motion mode is selected, coastlines remain stationary on the screen while your own ship moves according to its actual course. The Relative Modes keep your ship at the center of the screen, while the coastlines move in relation to the vessel's position. In addition to the standard Course Plot mode on the Chart Plotter, a choice of Alphanumeric Nav Data, Steering Display and Highway modes are offered. The Chart Plotter allows for storage of up to 8,000 points for ship's track and marks, 1,000 waypoints and 200 planned routes with a maximum of 35 waypoints per route. It also has special alarm functions that alert the user whenever the vessel enters or leaves a pre-defined area (Arrival/Anchor Watch), exceeds a preset limit (XTE) or approaches a dangerous area (Proximity Alert). With proper inputs, it can also alarm when water depth or temperature exceeds predefined limits, or when fish are present. For high accuracy GPS data, the NavNet GPS Receiver Antenna can be connected. This 12 parallel channel receiver connects directly to any NavNet display and automatically activates the GPS menus upon start-up of the unit. A 600/1,000 Watt Network Sounder can also be added to these units. This dual-frequency (50/200 kHz) transceiver turns any NavNet display into a fully functional fish finder. The Network Sounder can be connected directly to a NavNet display for a single or dual station bridge or connected to an Ethernet hub as part of the network. The 10.4-in. color LCD displays also have the capability to accept any external NTSC video input. This means that you can plug in video input from a variety of sources, including video cameras, VCR, DVD, CCTV, security cameras, etc. and view it right on the display. View it full screen or split screen with other NavNet components. Designed primarily for fishing boats, workboats and pleasure craft, the 1953C is part of the new NavNet series of Ethernet networked products. NavNet allows flexibility to create a variety of bridge configurations, including single, dual and even tri or quad-stations, utilizing an Ethernet Hub. NavNet is completely component based, so if there is a need to add a sounder, GPS, DGPS or a remote depth display, each component can be added to the network through a single cable and then accessed from any NavNet display. Each unit also has standard NMEA0183 ports and a RS232 PC Serial port that allows it to be connected to other NMEA0183 electronics. Operation in 12VDC or 24VDC is possible without the need for external voltage converters.