Sharing an Existing GPS Antenna with a Vesper Marine® AIS Transponder

Class B AIS transponders must have a dedicated GPS and can't share one with another unit. Certification requirements prohibit sharing the NMEA 0183 from another GPS. As a result, all Vesper Marine® AIS transponders must use a dedicated GPS antenna.

However, it is possible to eliminate an existing GPS antenna by utilizing the NMEA output from the Vesper Marine AIS transponder. Vesper Marine AIS transponders output GPS data via NMEA 0183, or NMEA 2000 for supported transponders, to other equipment. The same is true of the USB port on all Vesper Marine transponders.

For example, suppose another GPS is connected to the computer using a USB converter. In that case, both the GPS and the USB converter can be replaced with the WatchMate® transponder directly into the computer since it has a USB. Vesper Marine transponders with Wi-Fi do not require a physical connection utilizing Wi-Fi to send GPS+AIS+NMEA data to computers or mobile devices. 

The Vesper Marine transponders can supply GPS data to a chartplotter, radar, or VHF radio using NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000. As a result, other external GPS antennas could be eliminated.