NMEA 0183 output on a handheld GPS

[Porkchunker]

Anyone ever wire the NMEA 0183 output of their handheld GPS to a fixed station GPS chartplotter? In such a case, the handheld is used as a backup antenna.

If so, which make/model? If you were to do it all over again, which make/model would you select?

Reason I ask is that last summer the Ray 120 WAAS antenna died just before an overnight fishing trip. I ended up cancelling the trip. Raymarine replaced the unit quickly, but it would have been nice to have a handheld with a pre-configured wiring harness to plug in and keep the radar/FF/chartplotter going.

[Kerry]

Not a problem and a very simple thing to do. I'm not aware of any make/model that doesn't support NMEA with a data output capability. Really the only limiting factor is if the handheld has a connector and most of them do.

In affect that's about all the 120 WAAS antenna is, a GPS without a display and communicates with the output (chartplotter) device either by Seatalk or NMEA dependng on the model.

Cheers, Kerry.