General
Operation Waypoint: A way to help our troops in need
Operation Waypoint is a not-for-profit organization that turns donations into free, hand-held GPS units equipped with Middle Eastern mapping chips for deploying soldiers. […]
Marine Electronics
Fishing
A wireless kill switch never gets in your way
Here’s a hassle-free substitute for that kill-switch lanyard you stopped wearing because it was always in the way. […]
Fishing
Do your batteries die or are they killed?
Industry experts say that excessive sulfation can stop batteries from working long before their internal components wear out. […]
Fishing
Getting it right the first time
The secret to eliminating 90 percent of electronics problems is getting the installation right. […]
Fishing
Just how stupid are we?
The button under the plastic safety cover on the front of your VHF radio can help save your life, or it can do nothing at all — it’s up to you. […]
Fishing
A battery’s power is anything but consistent
Two common misconceptions can have you wondering where your trolling motor’s battery power went. […]
Fishing
What is your life worth?
A few issues back, we looked at emergency locator beacons that use the international search and rescue satellite system, and I mentioned that there is another choice, the SPOT satellite GPS messenger. While the EPIRBs and PLBs we looked at before communicate with U.S. and European emergency satellites, SPOT units use the commercial satellite network that supports satellite telephone and Internet communication. And while EPIRBs and PLBs are last-resort devices to be used only in life-threatening emergencies, SPOT can send less-intense transmissions and handle other tasks as well. […]
Fishing
New electronics arrive in time for New Year
About the time my report on Lowrance’s new down-scan imaging (DSI) units reached these pages, Humminbird announced a new series of down-scanning units with both its Down Imaging and traditional sonar technology built in. […]
Fishing
Talon holds anglers in shallow water
The word “anchor” starts visions dancing in my head of handling a heavy, muck- and weed-coated chunk of metal connected to a slimy wet rope by a length of rusty chain. […]
Fishing
Fish finders lower learning curve to speed bump
Wandering the aisles at the annual ICAST show last month looking at next year’s fishing equipment, I realized that the convention is a window into the future in more ways than one. I’d heard about the new fish finders Lowrance was going to introduce, but their significance didn’t really hit me until I saw them running in the company’s booth. […]
Fishing
Plug and play beats plug and pray
Bad connections can cause your electronics to do things that are science-fiction strange. They can cause simple problems like a unit failing to power-up, but they prefer to hide behind sneaky, intermittent troubles that could be caused by dozens of things. The complete list of possible problems (if you could make a complete list) wouldn’t fit on this page. […]
Fishing
Amp of prevention worth pound of cure
A bass fisherman recently posted a plea for help on a marine electronics forum I frequent. The GPS part of his fish-finder/GPS combo unit suddenly stopped tracking his position and displayed the warning, “GPS Not Responding.” […]