Marine Radio GPS Signal

[MuleShack]

I have a Cobra MRF45 DSC VHF Radio and put in the Shakespeare 4' antenna. I know now that i want to get the 6 or 8' antenna for the longer range...but i wanted to know about the GPS cabability.

I hooked this radio up myself, but there is no GPS coordinates displayed on the screen. Do i have to have a GPS antenna seperate for this feature to work? I'm assuming it doesn't work of the VHF antenna. Just looking for some insight here. I have the Lowrance internal IGPS Locator hooked up to my boat. Is there a way to connect it to that to get the coordinates? There is 2 wires coming off the radio, but i dont know what to hook them to?

thanks in advance for any help.

[Shack]

The one thing I do know about "GPS" is you need to have a "GPS" antenna to get signal. I would think you have to buy a GPS antenna for the correct application. I would contact Lowrance and see if they ave an adapter for this.

Just my 3 cents .

[Capt. Don*]

You have to interface the radio and the GPS via NMEA0183, colors may differ from various manufacturers. Read your manuals and determine which wires to connect. GPS and other navaids will send out signals called sentences, your radio will be able to read the date, time and position sentences. NMEA0183 is the communication protocol standard to marine electronics. There should be diagrams,some showing which electronics use which wires, normally for a simple radio connection it is a positive and negative and a signal return,(NOT 12 VOLTS) usually a green, yellow and blue wire, but read the manual first, if you don't understand it, bring the books to an experienced electronics retailer/installer, and have them show you or call the manufacturer for technical assistance. I have no experience with those makes of electronics. But they should be very similar if not exactly the same wires.