BEST GEAR OF 2019
WIRELESS VHF AND AIS VESPER CORTEX
Most of us have both VHF radios and AIS on our boats. These work well, but the real jewel of DSC (digital selective calling) and its game-changing role in collision avoidance is largely under-used, simply because the interface is too clunky.
That’s where the new Vesper Cortex comes in. It is a DSC VHF radio and Class B SOTDMA AIS transceiver with integrated no-loss splitter, putting it on a par with the latest AIS units from other brands.
The real difference with this system, however, is that there is no bulky base station. Its black box is wired in to power, NMEA 2000 network and VHF antenna, and houses heading, battery and barometric sensors, as well as 4G mobile capability. The touchscreen handset is IPX7 waterproof (1m, 30 minutes) with toughened gorilla glass and a protective bumper. The screen is sunlight visible and can be used with wet or gloved hands, although there are manual buttons and a paddlewheel for scrolling. The handset has three main displays – VHF radio, AIS plotter and anchor watch. In its most basic function, it looks like
