To get weather charts you only need a $250 receiver (Grundig Satellite 750) and a $350 iPad running HF-Weather Fax (App Store.) Or use an Android device $200 Nexus 7 or similar (HF-Fax at Google Play store - March 2013.) On the iPad connect the headphone-out on the radio to the headphone jack on the iPad using an iRig cable adapter ($40 at Radio Shack) which connects the iPad mic to the radio output. Or you can just put a headphone from the radio over the iPad mic. Same for an Android device  which can’t be directly connected to the radio like the iPad. The iPad can also be used with Caribbean marine charts for navigation (Imray.com). The set of Eastern Caribbean charts for the iPad is $47. IOS device use hardly any power compared with SSB and Ham equipment. If you get a BadElf GPS designed for IOS, then you won’t need a 3G version of the ipad. In fact it will work much faster when at sea if you use the BadElf GPS. There is a a cable for 30 pin and lightning connectors. Also an extension so that the GPS can be in the clear. Using this GPS will keep the iPad power consumption at a minimum compared with using the built in GPS which uses five times the power.

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