Unidentifiable Oceanus VHF - accessory connection

[DTH]

I have a Uniden DSC VHF. I want to connect it to my GPS- but I don’t have the plug in accessory cable. I’m in Canada, and Uniden  does not seem to have any parts service here. (Note to Canadians - don’t buy Uniden)

the radio has two accessory pigtails sticking out the back with 8 pin connectors, one male one female.

1. is there some generic electronics cable that will fit?

2. if I cut off the end and open up the cable cover, will I find 8 coloured wires in there I can splice to?

 

[DTH]

I hate autocorrect.

Uniden  - not unidentifiable 

 

[SASSAFRASS]

In the owners manual it should designate if the plug is nmea in.  Somewhere online there will be a pigtail you can get, probably Amazon.  You just need to ID the connection and pins.  They are usually not proprietary.  Try a Ham radio cable or connection search.  You will have to leads to connect to you nmea 0183.

Oddly enough Uniden USA shows no stock for the cable??

 

[Rain Man]

Pictures or model numbers of both the radio and GPS would help here.  I just went through the process of connecting a Lowrance HDS7 GPS to a Standard Horizon Eclipse DSC radio using NMEA 0183.   It sounds like you are doing the same thing.  I got it to work so the radio receives the lat/long from the GPS.  I haven't yet got it working the other way, such that the GPS position received in a DSC transmission will be plotted on the chart plotter.  Not really sure we need that to work anyway.

Happy to help, but the process is basically to find the manuals for the both the radio and GPS, and determine if there is a compatible connector for both ends.  Failing that, you will have to do a bare wire connection - that's what I did.  Luckily in NMEA 0183 there are only two wires you have to identify on each device:  TX+ and TX- on the GPS, and RX+ and RX- on the radio.

According to the manual for the radio I found, you need to use the green wire and the bare (ground) wire in the accessory cable on the back.  You may need to cut the connector off to get at it.

See page 8:

https://www.uniden.info/download/ompdf/OCEANUS-DSCom.pdf

 

[Zonker]

And I hate Uniden too. Just on general principals.

 

[DTH]

Pictures or model numbers of both the radio and GPS would help here.  I just went through the process of connecting a Lowrance HDS7 GPS to a Standard Horizon Eclipse DSC radio using NMEA 0183.   It sounds like you are doing the same thing.  I got it to work so the radio receives the lat/long from the GPS.  I haven't yet got it working the other way, such that the GPS position received in a DSC transmission will be plotted on the chart plotter.  Not really sure we need that to work anyway.

Happy to help, but the process is basically to find the manuals for the both the radio and GPS, and determine if there is a compatible connector for both ends.  Failing that, you will have to do a bare wire connection - that's what I did.  Luckily in NMEA 0183 there are only two wires you have to identify on each device:  TX+ and TX- on the GPS, and RX+ and RX- on the radio.

According to the manual for the radio I found, you need to use the green wire and the bare (ground) wire in the accessory cable on the back.  You may need to cut the connector off to get at it.

See page 8:

https://www.uniden.info/download/ompdf/OCEANUS-DSCom.pdf

If I can just connector and find the wire that is what I am inclined to do

 

[Caustic]

Your GPS has to support the required type and format, from the manual: 

NMEA Technical Setup

OCEANUS NMEA0183 GPS Input Connection Specification

This section is useful when attaching an external GPS to the OCEANUS DSC radio. Many GPS units have a setup menu to be able to configure the NMEA0183 serial data output. This output can be used to supply information to other devices on the vessel, such as the POLARIS DSC VHF radio, auto pilots, chart plotters, etc.

To setup the GPS to be used with the OCEANUS DSC radio, the following items need to be considered for proper operation:
1. Baud Rate – Set the Baud rate to 4800.
2. Data Bits – Set the Data Bits to 8.
3. Parity – Set the Parity to None.
4. Stop Bits – Set the Stop Bits to 1.
5. GPRMC Command – This command is used by the OCEANUS DSC and includes the UTC Time, Latitude, Longitude, Speed, Direction, and Date information.

The data amplitude : Over 3.0V
Drive capability : Over 10mA

 

[Ishmael]

And I hate Uniden too. Just on general principals.

I hate them because half of the units we sold came back dead in the first year.

Not that Lowrance was much better...

 

[SASSAFRASS]

Spend a little time online you should be able to get a plug.  Only need to ID pins.  Nmea 0183 is basic two conductors data in two out.  Polarity needs to be right so try it first with a twist.  I end d up using a old Icom remote mic lead as a EUO depth jumper as it was the right plug, the bilge may provide...

 

[Caustic]

It occurs to me that my navigation convertor supports the NEMA gps format and that plug might be one of my wires, I'll have to look later. Probably get it from digikey in both sealed and unsealed formats.