NavMonPc

User’s Guide
Version 1, January 20, 2010
Copyright 2010, Paul M. Elliott

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Contents
About NavMonPc .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Disclaimer and Warning ................................................................................................................................ 6
Installing the Program ................................................................................................................................... 7
Configuration ................................................................................................................................................ 8
Connections .................................................................................................................................................. 9
Serial Ports .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Port A Alarms ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Virtual Serial Ports .................................................................................................................................. 12
TCP/IP (Network) Client .......................................................................................................................... 13
TCP/IP (Network) Server ......................................................................................................................... 14
Dials ............................................................................................................................................................. 16
Dial Options............................................................................................................................................. 17
Min/Max Indicators ................................................................................................................................ 18
Min/Max Alarms ..................................................................................................................................... 19
Waypoint................................................................................................................................................. 19
True Wind ............................................................................................................................................... 20
Wind Speed ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Wind Angle .............................................................................................................................................. 20
Depth ...................................................................................................................................................... 20
AIS ............................................................................................................................................................... 21
AIS Settings ............................................................................................................................................. 22
Options .................................................................................................................................................... 24
Target Filter Options ............................................................................................................................... 25
Coastline Charts ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Guard Zones ............................................................................................................................................ 27
Vessel Details .......................................................................................................................................... 30
Anchor Watch ......................................................................................................................................... 32
Preconditions ...................................................................................................................................... 32

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 Steps for setting the anchor watch ..................................................................................................... 32
Alarm ................................................................................................................................................... 34
Man Over Board ...................................................................................................................................... 35
Strip Charts.................................................................................................................................................. 35
Wind ........................................................................................................................................................ 36
Speed ...................................................................................................................................................... 37
Water ...................................................................................................................................................... 37
Logging ........................................................................................................................................................ 38
Logging Comments.................................................................................................................................. 39
Logging Options ...................................................................................................................................... 40
NMEA Logging ......................................................................................................................................... 41
NMEA Routing ............................................................................................................................................. 41
The Default Routes ................................................................................................................................. 42
Advanced NMEA Routing ........................................................................................................................ 43
Setting Priorities.................................................................................................................................. 44
Message Bridging Options .................................................................................................................. 45
NavMonPc Options ..................................................................................................................................... 48
General Options ...................................................................................................................................... 48
GPS Options ............................................................................................................................................ 49
Filters....................................................................................................................................................... 50
Vessel Data.............................................................................................................................................. 51
Features ...................................................................................................................................................... 51
NMEA File Playback................................................................................................................................. 52
RapidAIS .................................................................................................................................................. 53
Window Options ..................................................................................................................................... 55
Frequently Asked Questions ....................................................................................................................... 56
Calculating and displaying True Wind ..................................................................................................... 56
Why can’t I send data out the Network Client port? .............................................................................. 56
All the dials are blank! ............................................................................................................................ 56
My Serial Port connections freeze when the computer wakes up from hibernation ............................ 57
How can I reduce the size of the NMEA Logfiles? .................................................................................. 57

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 I connect NavMonPc to the serial output of my B&G “Performance Processor”, and I’m not getting any
data. ........................................................................................................................................................ 58
What about NMEA-2000? ....................................................................................................................... 58
What about SeaTalk? .............................................................................................................................. 58
The NMEA inputs are connected and running, but I’m not seeing all the data. .................................... 58
How can I display “Target Boat Speed”?................................................................................................. 58
How do I set the Baud Rate for the Virtual Serial Ports? ........................................................................ 58
What is NMEA-0183? .............................................................................................................................. 59
My computer doesn’t have a serial port. ............................................................................................... 59
Technical Details ......................................................................................................................................... 59
NavMonPc Installation ............................................................................................................................ 59
A Sample NavMonPcConfig.txt file ......................................................................................................... 60
The NavMonPcRoute2.csv file format .................................................................................................... 61
Coastline Charts ...................................................................................................................................... 61
For More Information ................................................................................................................................. 62

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About NavMonPc
NavMonPc is a Windows program for the capture, display, and playback of NMEA-0183 data. The user
interface is optimized to run on a low-power, small-format "netbook" style of computer, but it will
operate on any Windows-compatible machine. It is not intended to replace a chartplotter -- NavMonPc
does not display standard navigational charts -- but instead this program is designed to supplement your
chartplotter and provides additional features and convenient access to important navsystem data.
NavMonPc features include:

Dial display of critical parameters and conditions

AIS (Automatic Identification System) decoding and target display, including flexible proximity
and approach alarms
Enhanced AIS performance using RapidAIS (patent pending)
Anchor-watch alarm
Depth Alarms
Course, Heading, Speed, Wind alarms
Man Overboard alarm
Strip-chart style displays of course and speed, windspeed and direction, water depth and
temperature
Concise on-screen log display
Logging to file
Flexible filtering and routing of input data
Multiple RS-232 serial interfaces, and TCP/IP network interface
Multiple "Virtual serial port" outputs of bridged / routed data for use by other programs.

NavMonPc has been tested with the Windows-XP, Vista, and Windows 7 operating systems.

Disclaimer and Warning

NavMonPc is a work in progress, and almost certainly contains bugs, errors, and omissions. It may or
may not be useful to you. I make no promises that it will not cause your computer to explode, but if it
does, be assured that it was accidental and I am very sorry. However, I won't be sorry enough to pay for
any damages: direct, incidental, or imaginary.

NavMonPc is the sole property of Paul M. Elliott, and is offered on a limited basis free of charge for non-
commercial use.

I reserve the right to change the terms of this offer at any time.

NavMonPc is not a substitute for proper navigation and seamanship. I am not responsible for any
damages caused by the use (or mis-use) of NavMonPc.

By installing and/or running NavMonPc you are agreeing to the above disclaimer and warnings.

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Installing the Program

The NavMonPc installation file can be found here: http://www.navmonpc.com/downloads.html.

Download and run the latest version (unless you specifically want to use a previous version). The install
program will load several programs and files. For a full list of these files, see the Technical Details
section of this document.

The installation starts with a typical setup screen:

Proceed with the installation as usual.

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Before the installer finishes, you will be asked if you want to want to run SerialToolsXPRunTime,
which installs drivers for the serial port interfaces:

If this is the first time NavMonPc has been installed on this computer, continue and run the program. If
NavMonPc has been previously installed you may opt to “un-check” the box and not run
SerialToolsXPRunTime (it only needs to be run once).

Configuration
When NavMonPc first runs, you will see the following screen:

Initial NavMonPc Screen

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Note that with the exception of the “Local Time” field (which actually displays the computer time), all
fields contain “- - - - -“. This indicates that there is no valid data available for these fields. Great pains
have been taken in NavMonPc to indicate when there is valid data and when there is not. All data
sources are constantly tested for “freshness”, and if any data becomes more than ten seconds old it is
declared to be invalid. This is done because old data can be more dangerous than no data at all.

By default, NavMonPc displays all direction and heading information in True (not magnetic), and all units
in English (feet, nautical miles, fathoms). These settings can be changed in the General Options
window.

The next step is to set up your data sources. This is done through the “File / Connections” screens:

Connections

These screens let you configure the serial ports, the virtual serial ports, the TCP/IP (network) client, and
the TCP/IP server.

In most cases, the NMEA data used by NavMonPc will be received over a physical RS232 or RS422
(NMEA standard) serial port.

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Serial Ports

NavMonPc provides interfaces to up to four serial ports. Here you can configure the port number, the
baud rate, the number of data bits, the parity, and the number of stop bits. The typical settings are:

Port – COM1 through Com15 (will be determined by the computer or adaptor)

Baud Rate – 4800 for most NMEA connections, or 38400 for AIS and/or multiplexed
connections.
Data Bits – 8
Parity – None
Stop Bits – 1

An Autostart checkbox is provided, which when checked will cause the serial port to automatically
connect when the program starts, using the current settings. If the specified port does not exist (due to
a hardware change, for example), the connection will not be made.

The Connect and Disconnect buttons start and stop the serial connection.

Just above these buttons there is a text window that shows the received data. This is an easy way to see
if the serial port is operating properly.

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At the bottom of the Serial Port window is a Transmit Data Flow indicator. In addition to receiving serial
data, it is possible to configure NavMonPc to send NMEA data out over a serial port (see the NMEA
Routing section of this document for more on this). This indicator shows the average amount of data
being sent to the serial port, relative to the selected Baud Rate. If the pointer moves into the red zone,
the data is being queued up for transmit faster than the serial port can send it. Occasional visits to the
red zone will merely cause data to be buffered, but too much data will eventually overflow and be lost.

The Transmit Data Flow indicator operates whether the Serial Port is connected or not. Note that it is
quite easy to send too much data to a port, especially if there are multiple input ports all configured to
echo data out a single serial port. NMEA Routing can be used to reduce the transmit data flow by
allowing you to select which specific NMEA sentences will be sent.

Port A Alarms
For Serial Port A only, there are three options used for alarm inputs and outputs, which can be
connected to this port’s “handshake” pins:

Alarm > RTS – When a MOB or General Alarm occurs, NavMonPc can drive the RTS pin high. This
signal can be used to drive an external alarm buzzer (or similar annunciator).
Invert RTS – This causes the alarm to drive the RTS pin low.
CTS > MOB – A high level on the CTS pin will trigger NavMOnPc’s MOB alarm. This pin can be
connected to a pushbutton in the cockpit, wired to put +12V on this pin when the button is
pressed.

By default, the Serial Ports are configured to receive, and not send NMEA. This can be changed with
NMEA Routing.

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Virtual Serial Ports

Virtual Serial Ports are used to send and receive data between NavMonPc and other programs. Many
programs are designed to accept NMEA data from a serial port, but provide no method of sharing this
data with other programs. One solution is to connect multiple serial ports to a single data source, but
this method is hardly elegant. NavMonPc can perform this NMEA data distribution by creating up to
three “virtual” serial ports. These are not physical ports, but programs can connect to them just as they
would a physical serial port.

To configure the Virtual serial Ports, it is only necessary to choose an unused port number. NavMonPc
provides a list of these unused port numbers which can be selected. There is no need to program baud
rate, etc. The Virtual Serial Port will interface to other programs regardless of their port settings.

There is an AutoStart option for each Virtual Serial Port.

By default, the Virtual Serial Ports are configured to send all NMEA data received by NavMonPc. This
can be changed with NMEA Routing.

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TCP/IP (Network) Client

The TCP/IP Client provides a receive-only data connection to a TCP/IP server. This server can be a
remote internet NMEA server, or a server provided by another program.

Required fields are the IP Address (using dot-notation), and Port #. The Name field is optional, but is
useful when saving the network address. To connect to the server, click the Connect button.

It is possible to save a network address/port/name to the NavMonPc configuration file. These saved
addresses are available for later use through the drop-down selector at the bottom of this screen. If a
new address is entered or selected, it will not be used until any current connection is disconnected.

There is an AutoStart option for the TCP/IP Client.

The TCP/IP client is configured to receive, and not send NMEA messages. This cannot be changed.

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TCP/IP (Network) Server

The TCP/IP Server provides up to ten transmit-only data connections to external clients. These clients
can be remote, or clients provided by other programs.

The only required field is Port #. With certain exceptions, this can be most any arbitrary number. When
in doubt, just use the default “9999”. To start to the server, click the Start button.

There is an AutoStart option for the TCP/IP Server.

The TCP/IP Server is configured to send, and not receive NMEA messages. This cannot be changed.

In order for other programs to connect to the TCP/IP server, they must have the IP address of the server.
This will be the IP address of the computer running NavMonPc. You can find this by opening the
Windows “Command Prompt” and running the “ipconfig” program:

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You can also find your computer’s IP address on the status window for your Local Area Connection (start
with “My Network Places” ):

In the above examples, the IP address is 192.168.1.8

If you are connecting to the TCP/IP server from another program on the same computer, you can use
the “Localhost” address: 127.0.0.1

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Dials

NavMonPc ‘s main “dashboard” is the Dials screen. These dials are quite flexible, having options for
scaling, min/max history, and alarms. The dials are:

Course: Shows Course Over Ground, Heading, and bearing to Waypoint (the red dot)
Speed: Speed Over Ground, Speed Through the Water, and if available,Target Boat Speed.
True Wind: True Wind Direction and True Wind Speed
Wind Speed: True Wind Speed and Apparent Wind Speed
Wind Angle: True Wind Angle and Apparent Wind Angle
Waypoint: Range, Bearing, Crosstrack Error, Time To Go, Closing Velocity
Depth: Water depth and temperature

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Dial Options

A dial configuration window can be accessed through the “Options / Dial Options / *Dial+” menu, or by
just clicking on the dial face. The screen below shows the configuration screens for all dials:

Here you can choose to display Min/Max indicators for various parameters, change the scale of the wind
and boat speed dials, and select various alarms. Note that the Waypoint settings are on the leftmost
portion of the NavMonPc screen.

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Once you are finished configuring a dial’s options, click on the Dial button to exit the configuration
window. The settings above result in the dials below:.

Min/Max Indicators
Most dials have one or two Min/Max indicators available. These show pairs of dots on the dial edge that
indicate the minimum and maximum values of the selected parameter(s). Note that the dot color
matched the needle/value color.

The Min/Max values are saved when NavMonPc exits and are remembered when NavMonPc starts. You
can reset the Min/Max indicators on the Dial configuration window, or simply by positioning the cursor
over the dial face and doing a “Control-Click”.

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Min/Max Alarms

Most dials have settable Min/Max alarms, to alert you when conditions have changed significantly:

Course
Boat speed
Wind direction
Wind angle
Wind speed

When an alarm is triggered, NavMonPc will pop up if (it has been hidden), set the Serial Port A alarm
output (if enabled), and play an alarm sound over the computer’s audio output (if General Alarm sounds
are enabled). The appropriate dial face will be painted yellow to help you determine the source of the
alarm. To disable the alarm, click on the yellow dial face. If the alarm condition no longer exists the
alarm will clear. Otherwise you should reset the alarm controls as appropriate (or put your boat back on
course!)

Waypoint
NavMonPc can display waypoint data that comes from your chartplotter (the Navsystem Waypoint), or
you can create a waypoint with NavMonPc (the User Waypoint). To create a User Waypoint, you can
capture the current Navsystem Waypoint, or the current Position, or hand-enter the position and name.
The User Waypoint can be saved to a list for future use.

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By default, the Navsystem Waypoint is displayed, along with any other available waypoint information.
To display the User Waypoint, check the Activate User Waypoint box. NavMonPc will calculate and
display the Great-Circle Range, Bearing, Cross-Track Error, Time To Go, and CLosing Velocity from your
current position to the waypoint.

NavMonPc will not send this calculated waypoint data to an external autopilot.

True Wind
This dial shows the direction that the wind is actually coming from, and it’s true speed, not the Apparent
wind as felt from the deck of your boat.

NavMonPc will display True Wind data as received from the NMEA inputs. If True Wind data is not
available, NavMonPc will attempt to calculate True Wind values from available Apparent Wind data.
See the Technical Details section of this document for more about True Wind Calculations.

Wind Speed
This dial shows TWS (True Wind Speed) and AWS (Apparent Wind Speed).

Wind Angle
This dial shows TWA (True Wind Angle) and AWA (Apparent Wind Angle).

Depth
The Depth dial has options for:

Shallow Water alarm: Triggers a General Alarm when the water is too shallow
Deep Water alarm: Triggers a General Alarm when the water is too deep
Depth Caution alarm: This causes the Depth Dial to turn yellow when the water is shallower
than the Caution setting, but no alarm will be generated.
Depth Offset field: The Depth Offset is set to zero unless you wish to display something other
than depth from the surface (assuming that your depthsounder is calibrated to read depth from
the surface).

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AIS

AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a powerful system that is used to show the position, course,
speed, and other information about surrounding vessels that are equipped with an AIS transponder. To
use the AIS display, you must have an AIS receiver or transponder providing NMEA data to NavMonPc.
Most large ships are required to have AIS transponders, and some smaller vessels are AIS-equipped as
well. However, most small craft, and most military vessels do not have transponders.

Do not assume that all nearby vessels will appear as “targets” on the NavMonPc AIS display, or that
AIS data sent by other vessels is 100% accurate. AIS does not replace your traditional methods for safe
navigation.

Disclaimers aside, the NavMonPc capabilities give you a very useful tool, increasing your “situational
awareness” and providing you with valuable information.

The NavMonPc AIS display is a “radar-like” screen, usually showing your vessel in green at the screen-
center, and the surrounding AIS “Targets”, overlaid on a set of “range/bearing” circles. There are many
ways you can customize this display.

At the lower-left corner of the AIS display is the latitude and longitude of the screen-center. As you
move the mouse across the display, the range and bearing of the cursor location (relative to the screen-
center) will be displayed in the lower-right corner.

A valuable feature of NavMonPc AIS is the ability to define Guard Zones, in which an approaching vessel
will trigger an alarm when it gets too close, or meets other conditions.

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When a target (vessel) first appears on the AIS screen, due to the nature of the AIS message protocol, it
will not yet have sent its name. The name will be during the next six or twelve minutes (if you have a
single-channel receiver it may take twelve minutes or more for the name to appear). While waiting for
the name to be received, instead the MMSI (an identification number) will be displayed next to the
vessel icon.

NavMonPc does provide a neat solution to the “waiting for the name” problem: RapidAIS (patent
pending). See the RapidAIS section of this document for more information.

AIS Settings
The most commonly-used settings are available on the main AIS screen. These are:

Screen Orientation
o North Up
o Heading Up
o Course Up

The standard radar display uses a Heading-Up orientation, and all targets are displayed relative to your
vessel. This orientation has its merits, but the targets are constantly moving on the screen as your
vessel’s heading changes. On a small boat in heavy seas, it can be quite difficult to work with a Heading-
Up display. If you choose to work in this orientation, you may want to experiment with the filtering that
NavMonPc provides for heading (and other parameters). Look at the “Options / Filters” screen to
configure these filters. Course-Up is a slightly more stable mode, but I find that I prefer the North-Up
mode for general use.

Target Selection
o Show All
o Cautions
o Alarms

When using Guard Zones, targets may be assigned a Caution or Alarm status. It may be helpful to
display only those targets with Alarm, or Caution and Alarm status. This will clear the screen of all other
targets, letting you quickly find the target in question. Please use this feature with care, as it can hide
potentially dangerous targets.

Own Track
o Off
o 1 Hour
o 24 Hour

The Own Track option displays the one-hour or 24-hour track of your vessel. The one-hour track saves
your vessel’s position every ten seconds. The 24-hour track positions are saved every five minutes.

Target Tracks

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 o Off
o All
o Selected

The Target Tracks option shows the track of AIS targets. Either all vessels, or the selected target, or
none (Off) can be displayed. The track buffers are fixed-size and they store the most recent AIS dynamic
position reports. These dynamic reports are sent at varying rates, depending on the target’s speed and
rate of turn, so the track time will vary as well. Note that if there are a lot of targets being received,
enabling Target Tracks for all of them may create a heavy processing burden and may noticeably slow
down your computer.

Speed Vector Length

All targets display a Speed Vector, indicating the target’s course and speed. With this control, you can
choose the length of the vector; for example, with a setting of “10 minutes”, the vector will extend the
distance that the target will travel in ten minutes.

Full-Scale Range

This control sets the distance scale of the AIS display. With it, you can zoom in to a 100 foot range, and
out to a 10,000 mile range (the extremely long ranges are obviously useless when your AIS data source is
a receiver on your vessel, but can be handy if you are receiving AIS data over the internet).

You can also press the “+” and “-“ keys to zoom in and out.

Target List

This is a drop-down list of AIS targets. The list is ordered alphabetically, and will reflect the Target
Selection and Target Filter settings, so the list can be de-cluttered with these options.

If you click on one of the listed targets, the Target Detail window for that vessel will be displayed.

It is also possible to select a target by clicking on it.

Find Ship

In normal use, your own vessel will be at the center of the screen. However, it is possible to center the
screen elsewhere, by double-clicking on the screen at the desired center-location. The Find Ship button
will re-center and keep the screen at your vessel’s current position.

Pressing the “Home” key serves the same function as clicking the Find Ship button.

You can also press the Left/Right/Up/Down arrow keys to center the AIS display at a new location.

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Options

By clicking the Options button, you bring up the Options window. These are seldom needed, but may
be useful:

Relative Vectors – when enabled, all target vectors are plotted relative to your own vessel’s course
and speed. This gives a display more like a traditional radar screen.
Target Triangles – Instead of triangles showing target heading, only small dots are plotted. This can
un-clutter a busy screen.
Show Names – Target names can be omitted to un-clutter a busy screen.
Extrapolate Position – Position updates arrive irregularly with AIS. When extrapolation (ded
reckoning) is selected, target positions will be calculated from their last-known position, course and
speed. This may not accurately reflect the target’s actual position, but neither does freezing the
previous position on the screen. Take your pick, but I prefer extrapolation.
Plot to Scale – AIS targets send their dimensions and GPS location. With this option, when the scale
permits, targets will be displayed with their proper dimensions.
Target Afterlife – If no AIS signal is received from a target for seven minutes or more, it is considered
to be a dead target. It will continue to be displayed on the screen as a “grey-ghost” symbol for the
selected Afterlife time. Note that the targets in the above screen are dead, as I had disconnected
the AIS input. Please be aware that the displayed position accuracy is a ghost target is highly
questionable.

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 Coastline Chart – While NavMonPc is definitely not a charting program, it can display rudimentary
“coastline charts”, available free of charge from the NOAA. The Coastline Chart button will call up
the Charting window, where you can select a coastline chart to use
Connect Track Dots – The track for your own vessel, and other AIS targets can be displayed as a
string of dots, or as a chain of line segments.
Clear Track – this will clear your own vessel’s track history, and might be used if you are playing back
NMEA files, and your vessel’s position is jumping around from file to file. Normally not too useful
though.

Target Filter Options

The Target Filter Options are used to select which types of targets to display (or not display). This can
be valuable if you are using NavMonPc to study AIS traffic, but can be dangerous if you are using it when
sailing. As the window warning states:

For safe navigation, please enable the display of all AIS target types.

The upper checkbox controls a slightly different option. When Highlight Updates is selected, an AIS
target will be displayed in yellow briefly after it sends an AIS message. This feature can be used to study
the behavior of the AIS system, but it can also be quite distracting. I recommend that you leave this
option disabled when underway with NavMonPc.

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Coastline Charts

Displaying large coastline charts may place a heavy load on your computer.

See the Technical Details section of this document for more details about coastline charts.

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Guard Zones

Standard Guard Zone

If you wish to be notified when an AIS target vessel is getting close enough to be a concern, you can use
Guard Zones to trigger a NavMonPc General Alarm. There are two types of Guard Zones provided:

Standard Guard Zone – this is controlled with the upper group of buttons. With these you can
specify a radius around your vessel. If a target is inside of this radius and you are approaching
each other, the General Alarm will be triggered. If you are moving away from each other, the
alarm will not be triggered. The Off button will set the radius to zero, disabling the Guard Zone,
and the Max button will extend the zone to 100 miles, allowing you to be notified whenever a
target is approaching.
CPA/TCPA Guard Zone – this is a more flexible Guard Zone, allowing you to specify a target’s
minimum allowable CPA (Closest Point of Approach), and a minimum TCPA (Time to Closest
Point of Approach). If a target has a calculated CPA that is equal to or less than the selected
CPA, and it has a calculated TCPA that is equal to or less than the selected TCPA, the General
Alarm will be triggered.

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 Standard Guard Zone and CPA/TCPA Guard Zone

The window above shows a Standard Guard Zone of 1 nautical mile, and a CPA/TCPA Guard Zone of
2 NM / 10 Minutes.

These different types of Guard Zones are both useful, but the CPA/TCPA mode allows you to reduce the
nuisance alarms caused by setting a large-radius zone, but still notifying well in advance of a quickly-
approaching target.

Neither of these Guard Zone types will substitute for keeping a proper lookout!

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In the above window, the target “SALISHAN” has triggered the CPA/TCPA Guard Zone Alarm. Note that
the CPA/TCPA Guard Zone has been set to two nautical miles / ten minutes, and the Target Information
Window shows a calculated CPA of 1.11 NM in under ten minutes.

When a Guard Zone alarm is triggered, NavMonPc will pop up un screen if it was minimized, the General
Alarm soundfile will be played, and the Serial Port A alarm output pin will be set (if these options are
enabled). The AIS window, the Target Information Window, and the AIS Alarm will be displayed.

In the AIS Alarm window you have these options:

Muting or enabling the AIS General Alarm (this does not affect other General Alarm sources)
Permanently ignoring this target (if the target ages and dies, this option is reset)
Put this target on a five minute “snooze”. If the target still meets the alarm criteria after the
snooze period the alarm will be re-triggered.

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Vessel Details

You can display the Target Information Window for any of the AIS targets, by clicking on the target itself,
or by selecting it from the drop-down “Targets” list.

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If you select Extend Vector to CPA the vector timescale will be adjusted to the TCPA of the selected
target. For example, note the vector for “Salishan”

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When zoomed in on a target, the length, width, and the location of the GPS receiver will be shown. Be
aware that the vessel dimensions are sometimes incorrectly entered, which can lead to inaccurate (and
unusual) vessel shapes. As always, use caution with AIS data.

Anchor Watch
Preconditions
To show the own ship geometry, including the location of the GPS sensor, the correct vessel data needs
to be entered in "Option/Vessel Data"

Steps for setting the anchor watch

After having set the anchor, note the length of you rode plus the distance from the bow to the GPS
sensor.

On the AIS screen, set "Own Track" to 1 hr

Select a Full Scale Range of 2-3 times the length of the anchor rode

Let the boat swing at anchor for a while. NavMonPC will draw a part of a circle

Double click on the AIS screen, where you think the anchor is set, probably the center of the circle, this
can be corrected later, when the boat has swung a little further.

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Click the button "Anchor Watch"

In the field anchor watch select the radius for your anchor alarm circle. In this example it is set to 110ft:
The anchor rode was 50ft, the boat is 44ft long and has the GPS sensor mounted in the back: 94ft swing
radius. Select a 10-20% larger number to allow for GPS errors as well as not having set the center of the
circle .

Hit the button "Set". A green circle should be drawn just outside of the swing-circle of the boat. An
alarm will sound if the boat drags beyond the circle. (Test the alarm to make sure, use a smaller radius)

On the AIS screen, set "Own Track" to 24 hr, to see how the circle drawn by NavMonPc develops over
the longer term, during tide swings.

Example screen shot:

This shows a boat that has swung with the tide, twice, over a period of about 12h. One could suspect the
anchor had to re-set after the first tide swing.

33
Alarm

Serious Disclaimer:

Having NavMonPc doing the anchor watch does not excuse for bad anchoring practice and if there is
any doubt about the anchor holding then a human anchor watch is the prudent thing to have.

34
Man Over Board

If the MOB menu item is clicked, or the hardware MOB input is triggered, the NavMonPc AIS screen will
be displayed, and placed into the “Heading-Up” mode. The screen will auto-scale to keep the MOB
location on-screen.

Note that the MOB location displayed is the GPS location of your vessel at the time of the MOB
trigger. The person in the water may be elsewhere, depending on current, and how quickly the MOB
trigger occurred.

Strip Charts
NavMonPc has three strip chart display screens: Wind, Speed, and Water. The strip charts display data
over the previous ten minutes, 100 minutes, or twelve hours

35
Wind

The Wind chart displays True Wind Direction, and True Wind Speed. The TWD can be centered and the
degrees scale zoomed.

The TWS range can be set from 5 knots to 100 knots full-scale.

With the 100 minute and 12 hour charts, in addition to the instantaneous windspeed (shown in blue),
the display indicates the minimum and maximum measured values (shown in grey).

36
Speed

The Speed chart shows Course and Speed Over Ground.

Water

37
The Water chart shows water temperature and depth.

Logging

NavMonPc provides powerful logging options. There is an on-screen log, and an optional logfile that is
saved in comma-delimited format for spreadsheet compatibility.

38
Logging Comments

The Log Comment menu item will bring up a comment window. Any commas in the log comment will
be included verbatim in the comma-delimited spreadsheet log (with predictable results!).

39
The log comment will be displayed on the on-screen log.

Logging Options

40
There are numerous optional log fields which can be selected on the Logging Options screen. By
default, the log time and date are taken from the computer’s time and date, but instead the GPS time
and date bay be used.

After making a change to the logged information, please click the Rebuild Log Fields button to allow
these choices to be reflected in the log.

Various logging intervals are available, ranging from one second to one hour.

The Autolog option automatically starts saving the logfile using a name derived from the current date
(computer or GPS, as selected). At midnight a new logfile will be started.

NMEA Logging
In addition to the standard log capabilities, NavMonPc allows you to log the raw NMEA messages being
received.

There is an Add Port # option available, which prepends a unique input port number to each logged
NMEA message. This option can be useful when debugging the navsystem.

There is an Autolog option for the NMEA log.

It is possible to select or filter which messages are logged by using the NMEA Routing options. It is
possible for the NMEA logfiles to become quite large, so this filtering may be desirable. On the other
hand, it is better to have a particular piece of data and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

NMEA Routing
NMEA Routing is a powerful feature that you will most likely never need to use. It gives you the option
of choosing how NMEA message are used within the program, and are sent (“bridged” or “echoed”) to
the various output ports.

You can bring up the NMEA Routing screen through the top-line menu, under “Options / NMEA Routing”

In NavMonPc, the sources for NMEA messages are:

The four serial ports (A,B,C,D)

The three Virtual Serial Ports (A,B,C)
The TCP/IP Network Client
Logfile Playback
The NavMonPc RapidAIS engine

The message destinations are:

Internal processing and display

The four serial ports (A,B,C,D)
The three Virtual Serial Ports (A,B,C)

41
 The TCP/IP Network Server
NMEA Logfile capture
The NavMonPc RapidAIS engine

The Default Routes

Default Routes

When NavMonPc is first run, it creates a “default” Routefile and saves it (typically as “C:\Documents
and Settings\[user name]\Application Data\NavMonPc\NavMonPcRouting2.txt”). The default routes are
usually appropriate for a typical navigation system, and will at least get you up and running.

The default routes work like this:

Any NMEA message received on one of the input ports will be assigned a Primary priority and
will be used for internal processing and display.
It will not be echoed (sent) out on any of the four serial ports.
It will not be echoed out the same port from which it was received.
It will be echoed out on all other output ports.
RapidAIS is used by the NavMonPc NMEA decider (but RapidAIS must still be activated).

In a typical application, the serial ports are used as inputs, and the virtual ports and network server are
used to send data to other applications running on your computer. The default route is designed for
these cases.

The Priority entry is used to select among several sources of the same NMEA message (for example, you
may have GPS information from both your chartplotter and an AIS transponder). There are four levels
of priority:

42
 Primary – This is the highest priority. Data from this message will be used by NavMonPc.
Secondary – Data from this message will be used only if there is no active Primary data source.
Backup – Only used if there are no active Primary or Secondary data sources.
Ignore – This data is never used. It may still be bridged to the output ports.

Priority only works among identical NMEA message types. Keep reading for more details on the Priority
function, and see the Technical Details section of this document.

To edit the Priority and other options you must enable Advanced NMEA Routing.

Advanced NMEA Routing

Sometimes, the default routes just won’t do. For example, you may wish to take NMEA data received
from your GPS and send it out a serial port to your VHF transceiver. Or, you may wish to save a log of
only certain NMEA messages. Fortunately, you can change the routing rules to suit your application.

Note: I recommend that wherever possible, you use direct physical connections for your critical
navigation data. I have tried to make NavMonPc as reliable and bullet-proof as possible, but on my
boat I use hard-wired connections and NMEA multiplexers for the important stuff. Sometimes,
computers crash! Reliability and ease-of-use should be your goals when designing your navigation
system.

To enable Advanced NMEA Routing, click on the NMEA Routing screen’s “Advanced Routing” button.
There will be an “Are You Sure?” popup window, since it is possible to really mess things up with NMEA
Routing! Fortunately, you can always restore the default routes by clicking “Clear”, then “Default”.

Customized Route

You will notice that in the routing screen above, some entries have been changed from their defaults.
These options will be covered in the following paragraphs.

The control buttons on the Advanced Routing screen are:

43
 Lock Routing – Exits Advanced Routing; the current route table will be used
Collect – Monitors all NavMonPc inputs, and enters each NMEA message/source into the route
table, creating a default route for each entry. When Collecting, all internal processing and
bridging is suspended.
Stop – Stops NMEA message capture. Internal processing and bridging resumes.
Clear – Removes all entries from the route table. With an empty table, all incoming NMEA data
will be ignored: no internal decoding, processing, or bridging will be done.
Default – This adds a default routing list, and sets the default routing options for any message-
specific table entries. This will overwrite any previously-entered routing options.
Load – You will be prompted to select a Routefile, which will be added to the existing route
table. If you wish to use only the routes in the Routefile, click “Clear” before clicking “Load”.
Save – You will be prompted for a filename, and the current route table will be saved.

Setting Priorities

In the above screenshot, you will see that the Priority settings for the “Default” entries have been
changed from the original (Primary). These “Default” entries apply to any NMEA messages received on
the specified source port, unless there is a specific routing rule defined for a particular message/port
(more on this later).

In the above case, if, for example “RMC” messages (GPS data) are being received on all four serial ports,
only the message from Port A will be used (that is, used by NavMonPc – it may still be echoed to one or
more of the output ports). If Port A stops receiving “RMC” messages, after a ten-second timeout data
from the next-highest priority RMC message will be used.

To change the Priorities, simply click on the desired Priority field. The value will cycle through all
available options.

Note that Priorities are not applied to AIS data, which will be processed and bridged unless the “Ignore”
setting is selected.

44
Message Bridging Options

The screen above illustrates the three NMEA message bridging options: Send (always), Priority
(sometimes), and blank (never).

To change the bridging options, click on the option. It will cycle through the available choices.

Note the setting of Priority for the “Serial C” output. In this case, it will function the same as a Send
setting, since there is only one source (Serial A), and all messages received on Serial A are assigned
Primary status. You must have multiple sources selected in order for Priority to be useful.

In addition to Source-based routing, for even more flexibility you also have the ability to specify
Message/Port-based routing. Message/Port routes take precedence over Port-only routes. When an
NMEA message is received, NavMonPc first tests it to see if there is a matching Message/Port routing
rule. If not, the routes are searched for a Port-only rule. If no matching rule is found, the message is
ignored.

The easiest way to configure Message/Port routes is by first collecting the NMEA data being received by
NavMonPc. Enter Advanced Routing, Clear the current routes if you wish, then click Collect. All
processing will stop, and as NMEA messages are received they will be displayed along with their default
route on the route table. It will take several seconds for all messages to show up, and perhaps much
longer for certain message types (you can use Port-only routes to cover any messages you missed during
collection). When it looks like all messages have been accounted for, click Stop. Processing will resume,
using the displayed route table:

45
 Collected NMEA Messages

In the above example, you will see that all data is arriving on the Serial A port (this is from my boat,
where I have an NMEA multiplexer combining various sources into one serial stream.) The routing rules
above are functionally identical to the original default routes. They must be edited if you desire other
behavior:

Note that in the above table, there are two sources for the NMEA “RMC” message: “$GPRMC”, which is
coming from my Class-B AIS transponder, and “$M1RMC”, which comes from my chartplotter. While it

46
probably wouldn’t be cause any problems if these sources were used interchangeably (under the default
rules, NavMonPc will use the most-recently received RMC message), I prefer to use the data from the
AIS transponder. This is because I often turn off the chartplotter to save power, and I would prefer to
not have my sources switch unless necessary. To accomplish this, I have set the Priority for the
chartplotter’s RMC message to Secondary

Note that VportA (Virtual Serial Port A) has all messages disabled, except for these two RMC messages,
which have been set to Priority. In this case, VportA is feeding GPS position data to a radio Email
program, and I have decided to send only the GPS RMC data. With the Priority setting , only the highest
active priority RMC message will be sent to the Email application.

The above route-table shows collected data, with the default routes added (either before or after
collection). Note that the order of route-table entries makes no difference.

There are a few editing aids available with a mouse-click:

Sorting – Click on the NMEA or Source column-headings to forward/reverse sort the table.
Deleting Entries – Right-click on the NMEA message to delete the entry
Seeing NMEA message data – Click on the NMEA message to see the most-recently received
message.

47
When you are finished editing the route-table, click Lock Routing. This will prevent inadvertent changes
to the routes. The new route-list will be saved when NavMonPc exits, and will be reloaded at program-
start. It is possible to load the route-list file into a spreadsheet or text editor, and hand-edit it there.
See the Technical Details section of this document for information on the file format.

NavMonPc Options

Most NavMonPc options can be accessed through the Options menu.

General Options

HDG=COG – This option uses Course Over Ground (COG) in place of Heading (HDG) if no heading
data is available. COG is typically provided by a GPS, and HDG by a fluxgate compass.

48
 True Wind – This option selects either ground-referenced, or water-referenced True Wind
calculations. See the FAQ for more information on True Wind calculations.
Units – Selects English or Metric units
Alarms – Mutes the Man Over Board and General alarms
NMEA Parity Errors – Some NMEA equipment does not generate a proper message parity field
(also called a checksum). Normally NavMonPc will discard NMEA messages with invalid parity.
This option causes the parity to be ignored.

GPS Options

User Position --You will typically use the position delivered by a connected GPS. In some cases
you may instead choose to manually enter the latitude/longitude of a fixed location.
Magnetic Variation Source -- In most cases the Magnetic Variation is provided by the GPS. In
some cases it is not, and you can either enter a fixed magnetic variation, or let NavMonPc
perform the calculation. Note that the GPS-provided and NavMonPc-calculated variations may
not agree exactly. The difference is usually minor and can be safely ignored (and the NavMonPc
calculation is probably the more accurate of the two).
Use True Bearings – Magnetic bearings will be displayed if this box is un-checked.

49
Filters

It may be useful to filter, or smooth, the various data sources. For example, some GPS-delivered speed
and course data can be pretty noisy, and this can affect the AIS proximity alarm calculations, or make
the dials and stripcharts difficult to interpret.

The filters are very simple, and provide a wide range of ”time-constant” settings. Longer settings will
cause the displayed values to respond very slowly, so the filter settings will always be a compromise.
Start with a low filter setting and gradually increase it until you achieve the desired effect.

50
Vessel Data

The Vessel Data is provided so your vessel appears on the AIS screen in its proper size, relative to the
other ships. It serves no other purpose.

Note that the AIS Closest Point of Approach (CPA) calculations use the locations of the GPS antennas
on each vessel, and do not take into account the vessel dimensions.

Features
NavMonPc provides several additional features:

51
NMEA File Playback

NavMonPc can replay NMEA logfiles, which allows you to review previous conditions, your boat’s
performance, etc. The playback speed is only approximate, with the options for 1x (real-time), 10x, and
100x speeds.

52
RapidAIS

If you have spent much time using AIS, you have no doubt experienced painfully long delays while
waiting for an approaching vessel’s name to appear on the screen. While AIS transponders transmit a
vessel’s position, course, and speed fairly frequently, a vessel’s name, callsign, and other “static”
information is only sent every six minutes. If you have a single-channel AIS receiver you may have to
wait twice as long for this valuable information, and if the signals are weak or noisy a vessel may be
dangerously close by the time the name appears. Calling “the ship off my port bow” is often fruitless,
while a “Hailing Vessel Andromeda!” will usually get a quick response.

RapidAIS (patent pending) is a powerful feature that will remember the name, callsign, and other static
information for AIS-equipped vessels you encounter, and save it to a database on your computer. This
won’t help the first time you meet, but as we often see the same vessels again and again in our cruising
grounds, over time RapidAIS “learns” the names of many of the vessels you encounter.

It is also possible to use a “pre-collected” database, with data collected from the internet and other
sources of AIS data. I am looking into this and other options, so stay tuned.

53
A license is required to activate RapidAIS. You can request a six-month license by clicking the RapidAIS
License button, which opens the license screen. Click the Request License button, to start your
computer’s email application. You can also copy the RapidAIS Server Key manually and send email with
this key, (and your name, please) to: [email protected].

54
Once you receive your license, click the Enter License button and paste it into the pop-up window.

The long-term RapidAIS license policy is currently being studied.

Window Options

NOTE: The Minimized Window and tray icons feature is currently disabled, as it was responsible in
part for a major program bug. Every effort will be made to restore this feature.

The normal NavMonPc tray icon The “Loss of GPS” NavMonPc tray icon

If the GPS input to NavMonPc is lost, the tray icon will flash once every second, alternating between the
normal and the alarm icons.

55
 The Small Window button restores the NavMonPc window to the default minimum size. This feature is
included because the normal Windows “drag window edge” operation is rather difficult to use in
NavMonPc. It works, but the expected cursor icons do not appear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Calculating and displaying True Wind

(working on this)

Why can’t I send data out the Network Client port?

Because I can’t make the networking library I am using properly support this. I’m working on it.

All the dials are blank!

The reason for this is that your computer’s “Color Quality” is set to 16-bits. Due to a “feature” of the
programming libraries used in NavMonPc, certain objects require a Color Quality setting of 24 or 32-bits.
You can set the quality in the Windows “Display Properties” screen:

56
The above screen is from a WindowXP system, and it may have a different appearance in other versions
of Windows.

My Serial Port connections freeze when the computer wakes up from

hibernation
Sometimes the serial ports do not resume operation when the computer comes out of hibernation. In
my experience this depends on the Serial/USB adaptor, not the computer, its OS, or the NavMonPc
version. On my testbench, the Belkin FSU409 behaves well, but the no-name (Prolific) adaptor always
hangs up during hibernation. Strangely though, one NavMonPc user is seeing the same adaptor work
fine with NavMonPc ver 0.67, but hang up (after hibernation) with ver 0.70. Any other reports would be
appreciated.

How can I reduce the size of the NMEA Logfiles?

Just to clarify, the NMEA logging is by default all or nothing. The 1 minute interval (and others) is for the
spreadsheet log only. If you want to reduce the size of the NMEA log, you can use the advanced NMEA
routing function to select which NMEA sentences/input ports will be sent to the log. This is obviously
only an option if there is data you don't care to save.

57
I connect NavMonPc to the serial output of my B&G “Performance Processor”,
and I’m not getting any data.
As an option, the B&G Performance Processor puts out data in a proprietary “H-Link” format.
NavMonPc cannot decode this format, it only understands NMEA-0183.

What about NMEA-2000?

NavMonPc does not understand NMEA-2000. There are adaptors available that can translate a limited
subset of NMEA-2000 data into NMEA-0183.

What about SeaTalk?

NavMonPc does not understand SeaTalk, and the SeaTalk data format is not compatible with standard
serial ports. There are adaptors available that can interface to and translate SeaTalk data into NMEA-
0183.

The NMEA inputs are connected and running, but I’m not seeing all the data.
Did you mess with the NMEA Routing? I told you this might happen! Try going to the Advanced Routing
screen, click Clear, then Default.

If this doesn’t fix it, check the Serial Port connections. Is the baud rate set correctly? What about
Databits, Parity, and Stopbits? You should be seeing the NMEA data flash by on the data window. If it
looks like a bunch of funny symbols, the Port settings may be wrong. The usual setting is:

Databits: 8
Parity: None
Stopbits: 1
Baud Rate: 4800 (or 38400 when AIS is being carried)

You may be getting NMEA Parity errors. Some equipment omits the NMEA Parity (also called
checksum). See if setting the NavMonPc “Ignore NMEA Parity Errors” option fixes the problem.
(“Options / General Options”)

How can I display “Target Boat Speed”?

TBS (Target Boat Speed) is provided by your sailing instruments, not NavMonPc. These instruments
calculate TBS from the wind conditions, your boat’s polars, and often other parameters such as heel,
etc.

I am working on an option to read a Polar table, perform a simple TBS calculation, and display it. This
will most likely not be as accurate as the high-end systems, but may prove useful.

How do I set the Baud Rate for the Virtual Serial Ports?
The virtual serial ports completely ignore baud rate (and parity, stop bit) settings. You can select any
baud rate in a connected application and it will work fine.

58
What is NMEA-0183?
(info about NMEA-0183, some sample messages)

My computer doesn’t have a serial port.

(info about USB multiplexers, network interfaces)

Technical Details

NavMonPc Installation
Here is the installer control file for NavMonPc version 0.76:
; -- NavMonPc.iss --
[Setup]
OutputBaseFilename=NavMonPc-0.76-Setup
AppName=NavMonPc
AppVerName=NavMonPc Prototype Dials
DefaultDirName={pf}\NavMonPc
DefaultGroupName=NavMonPc
UninstallDisplayIcon={app}\navmonpc.exe
Compression=lzma
SolidCompression=yes

[Files]
Source: "navmonpc.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: replacesameversion

Source: "NSBComDlg.dll"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver

Source: "NSCEPictureBox.ocx"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver
Source: "NSBControls.dll"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver
Source: "MSCEFILE.DLL"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver
Source: "NSBWin32.dll"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver

; Franson serialtools
Source: "SerialXP.dll"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver
Source: "SerialToolsXPRunTime.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"; Flags: replacesameversion

; Catalyst SocketWrench, for network client

Source: "cswskax5.ocx"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver

; NETStreams.dll, Newobjects, contains network server tools

Source: "newobjectspack1.dll"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver
Source: "NETStreams.dll"; DestDir: "{sys}"; Flags: restartreplace sharedfile regserver

Source: "NavMonPcConfig.txt"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"; Flags: onlyifdoesntexist

Source: "NavMonPcRouting2.txt"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"
Source: "Alarm1.wav"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"; Flags: onlyifdoesntexist
Source: "Alarm2.wav"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"; Flags: onlyifdoesntexist
Source: "navmontray.bmp"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"
Source: "navmontrayAlarm2.bmp"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"
Source: "NavMonPcSplash.jpg"; DestDir: "{%appdata}\NavMonPc"

[Icons]
Name: "{group}\NavMonPc"; Filename: "{app}\navmonpc.exe"

[Run]
Filename: "{app}\SerialToolsXPRunTime.exe"; Flags: postinstall

59
The installer will create the NavMonPc folder in your computers application folder (usually
C:\Program Files\NavMonPc).
Into this folder goes

NavMonPc.exe
SerialToolsXPRunTime.exe

It will also create a folder for NavMonPc’s data (usually C:\Documents and
Settings\[user]\Application Data\NavMonPc)

Into the data folder go these files:

NavMonPcConfig.txt
Alarm1.wav – the general alarm soundfile
Alarm2.wav – the MOB alarm soundfile
navmontray.bmp – the regular system tray icon
navmontrayAlarm2.bmp – the “loss of GPS” system tray icon
NavMonPcSplash.jpg – the program-start screen

The installer also installs numerous support files into the system folder (usually
C:\WINDOWS\system32):

NSBComDlg.dll
NSCEPictureBox.ocx
NSBControls.dll
MSCEFILE.DLL
NSBWin32.dll
SerialXP.dll
cswskax5.ocx
newobjectspack1.dll
NETstreams.dll

When all these files are installed, the installer asks if you want to want to run
SerialToolsXPRunTime., which installs drivers for the serial port interfaces. If this is the first time
NavMonPc has been installed on this computer, continue and run the program. If NavMonPc has been
previously installed you may opt to not run SerialToolsXPRunTime.

A Sample NavMonPcConfig.txt file

' NavMonPc Version 0.72 Configuration File: C:\Documents and Settings\Elliott\Application Data\NavMonPc\NavMonPcConfig.txt
' Save Date: 11/30/2009 11:27:28 PM
'InitialConfig$ Ignore Parity Errors$ Use True Bearings$ SilentMobAlarm$ SilentGeneralAlarm$ obTwsUseStw$ Spare
InitialConfig$ 1$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 0$ Spare
'UserPosition$ Lat (+/-DD.ddddd)$ Lon (+/-DDD.ddddd)$ Use
UserPosition$ 38.39428$ -122.9994$ 0
'SerialConfig$ portA$ BaudA$ AutoStart$ cbAlarmA$ cbMobA$ cbInvertRts$ portB$ BaudB$ AutoInitB$ VPortA$ AutoInitVPortA$ VPortB$ AutoInitVPortB$ VPortC$
AutoInitVPortC
SerialConfig$ [Closed]$ 38400$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ [Closed]$ 38400$ 0$ [Closed]$ 0$ [Closed]$ 0$ [Closed]$ 0$
'PortA$ AutoStart$ ComPort$ BaudRate$ DataBits$ Parity$ StopBits$ Alarm>RTS$ CTS>MOB$ Invert RTS
PortA$ 0$ [Closed]$ 38400$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0

60
'PortB$ AutoStart$ ComPort$ BaudRate$ DataBits$ Parity$ StopBits
PortB$ 0$ [Closed]$ 38400$ 1$ 0$ 0
'PortC$ AutoStart$ ComPort$ BaudRate$ DataBits$ Parity$ StopBits
PortC$ 0$ [Closed]$ 38400$ 1$ 0$ 0
'PortD$ AutoStart$ ComPort$ BaudRate$ DataBits$ Parity$ StopBits
PortD$ 0$ [Closed]$ 38400$ 1$ 0$ 0
'NetworkConfig$ Name$ address$ port$ AutoStart
NetworkConfig$ Ais-Hub$ 87.121.76.11$ 4033$ 0
'AisConfig$ North Up$ Heading Up$ Course Up$ Show All$ Show Cautions$ Show Alarms$ Relative Vectors$ Target Triangles$ Show Names$ Plot to Scale$ Auto-TCPA
Vector$ GZ Radius$ GZ CPA$ GZ TCPA$ Range$ Vector$ ExtrapolatePosition$ cbGhostLife$ obDisplayChart$ CoastlineFileName$ ShowOwnVessel$ ShowClassA$
ShowClassB$ ShowSAR$ ShowBaseStations$ ShowWaypoints$ ShowNavAids$ ShowStoppedShips$ FreshTargets$ MmsiCaching$ Spare$ Spare
AisConfig$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 2$ 11$ 13$ 1$ 1$ 0$ C:\Documents and Settings\Elliott\My Documents\_NavMonPc\Coastline\California.dat$ 1$
1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ False$ False
'Waypoint$ LatDeg$ LatMin$ LatNS$ LonDeg$ LonMin$ LonEW$ WpName$ WpActive
Waypoint$ 38$ 23.6573$ N$ 122$ 59.9636$ W$ Fitzpatrick PM$ 0
'Stripchart$ TimeScaleIndex(0)$ TimeScaleIndex(1)$ TimeScaleIndex(2)$ RightScaleIndex(0)$ RightScaleIndex(1)$ RightScaleIndex(2)$ ZoomArrayIndex(0)$
ZoomArrayIndex(1)$ ZoomArrayIndex(2)$ LeftChartCenter(0)$ LeftChartCenter(1)$ LeftChartCenter(2)
Stripchart$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 60
'IpList$ [Name$ IP$ Port]
IpList$ Hi-Def San Francisco$ 207.7.148.216$ 9009
IpList$ Ais-Hub$ 87.121.76.11$ 4033
IpList$ Siitech$ 174.1.59.216$ 9019
IpList$ Barn AIS Server$ 192.168.1.5$ 4005
IpList$ Barn GPS Server$ 192.168.1.230$ 14001

'OwnShipData$ OwnShipName$ OwnShipGpsLocA$ OwnShipGpsLocB$ OwnShipGpsLocC$ OwnShipGpsLocD$ Spare

OwnShipData$ Own Ship$ 13$ 1$ 3$ 1$ Spare
'InternationalOptions$ obUnitsMetric.value
InternationalOptions$ 0
'WaypointList$ [Name$ Lat$ Lon]
WaypointList$ Fitzpatrick PM$ 38.39429$ -122.9994

'Filters$ cbSogFilter.ListIndex$ cbCogFilter.ListIndex$ cbAwaFilter.ListIndex$ cbAwsFilter.ListIndex$ cbTwaFilter.ListIndex$ cbTwsFilter.ListIndex$

cbTwdFilter.ListIndex$ cbCogToHdg.value
Filters$ 2$ 2$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0
'MagVar$ AutoMagVar$ CalcMagVar$ UserMagVar$ UsrMvDeg$ UsrMvMin$ UsrMvEW
MagVar$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 00$ 00$ W
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ cbShowMinMax.value$ cbShowMinMax2.value$ Max$ Min$ Max2$ Min2
Dial$ Compass$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 0$ 194.5764$ 138.0013$ 198.4$ 131
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ cbShowMinMax.value$ cbShowMinMax2.value$ cbScale.ListIndex$ cbTbsEnable.value$ Max$ Min$ Max2$ Min2
Dial$ Speedo$ 1$ 2$ 1$ 0$ 3$ 1$ 10.39341$ 5.698496$ 10.77$ 6.5
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ cbShowMinMax.value$ cbShowMinMax2.value$ cbScale.ListIndex$ Max$ Min$ Max2$ Min2
Dial$ WindSpeed$ 2$ 2$ 1$ 0$ 8$ 24.4$ 13.1$ 31.0901860887877$ 20.5194659661044
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ cbShowMinMax.value$ cbShowMinMax2.value$ Max$ Min$ Max2$ Min2
Dial$ WindAngle$ 2$ 3$ 1$ 0$ 212$ 112$ 209.02$ 125.188
Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ cbShowMinMax.value$ Max$ Min
Dial$ TrueWind$ 2$ 1$ 1$ 351.296$ 298.841
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ cbEnaShallowAlarm.value$ tbShallowSetpoint.text$ cbEnaDeepAlarm.value$ tbDeepSetpoint.text$ cbEnaDepthCaution.value$
tbDepthCaution.text$ cbEnaDepthOffset.value$ tbDepthOffset.text
Dial$ DepthDial$ 2$ 4$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0$ 0
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column
Dial$ Waypoint$ 1$ 3
'Dial$ InstanceName$ Row$ Column$ Height$ Width$ SsLogFileName$ SsLogFileRoot$ NmeaLogFileName$ NmeaLogFileRoot$ cbLogGpsTime$ cbLogRun$ cbLogTrueWind$
cbLogAppWind$ cbLogWater$ cbLogStw$ cbLogHdg$ cbLogTbs$ cbSsAutoLog$ cbNmeaAutoLog$ cbAlog2Interval$ cbNmeaLogSourceId$ Columns(1).width$ Columns(2).width$
Columns(3).width$ Columns(4).width$ Columns(5).width$ Columns(6).width$ Columns(7).width$ Columns(8).width$ Columns(9).width$ Columns(10).width$
Columns(11).width$ Columns(12).width$ Columns(13).width$ Columns(14).width$ Columns(15).width$ Columns(16).width$ Columns(17).width$ Columns(18).width$
Columns(19).width$ Columns(20).width
Dial$ LogList$ 0$ 0$ 424$ 603$ C:\SsLog.csv$ C:\$ C:\NmeaLog.txt$ C:\$ 0$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 1$ 0$ 0$ 9$ 0$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$
75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 75$ 10
'Dial$ NmeaRouteList$ Row (unused)$ Column (unused)$ Height$ Width
Dial$ NmeaRouteList$ 0$ 0$ 408$ 603
'NetworkServer$ AutoStart$ Port$ Spare$ Spare$ Spare$ Spare
NetworkServer$ 0$ 9999$ Spare$ Spare$ Spare$ Spare
'NavMonScreen$ Top$ Left$ Width$ Height$ StartMinimized
NavMonScreen$ 0$ 0$ 800$ 434$ 0

The NavMonPcRoute2.csv file format

( To be added)

Coastline Charts
While NavMonPc is definitely not a charting program, it can display rudimentary “coastline charts”,
available free of charge from the NOAA: http://rimmer.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/coast/getcoast.html .

The easiest way to get these charts is to download them in “Mapgen” format, using zip compression.
Extract the “.dat” file and save it to a convenient location where you will be able to find it later.

The coastline chart file is a simple tab-delimited textfile, made up of coast sections. Each section starts
with a delimiter (“-b”), followed by a batch of line segments (longitude, latitude points):

# -b
-158.115670 21.379668
-158.115670 21.452420
-158.038224 21.494663
-157.906802 21.421911
-157.773032 21.309263
-157.683852 21.227124
-157.728442 21.206002

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-157.829356 21.194268
-157.949045 21.175493
-158.059346 21.236511
-158.160260 21.379668
-158.148526 21.421911
-158.115670 21.379668
# -b
-157.242647 21.081620
-157.275503 20.987747
-157.242647 21.029990
-157.155814 21.051111

For More Information

See the NavMonPc website: www.NavMonPc.com

Join the Yahoo NavMonPc discussion group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NavMonPc/

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