Automated fog horn

[Steve Laume]

Maine Sail has me thinking about installing an automated fog horn on Raven. My radio is set up to operate one with the wires connected to a terminal block.

What kind of horn, manufacturer and model, has anyone used and where is the best place to mount it? It seems like you would want the thing away from the cockpit so it didn't deafen you to incoming signals. The spreaders seem like the obvious place but that means running another set of wires up there with their associated hull penetrations.

They should incorporate horn mounting on the radar bracket.

So where do all those Maine boats mount their fog horns?

This will be a winter project with a trip north planned for next year. I just don't want to forget about it until next August, Steve.

[Neil Gordon]

I suspect that wherever you mount a horn you won't hear other boats when you're blasting your fog signal. One drawback of automated signals is if they're in time sych with others out there, none will hear the others.

[bottomscraper]

Our speaker is a Standard Horizon Model 240SW. Our radio is an Icom 504 equiped with a hailer/fog horn. Our radar bracket is an older Raymarine (now equiped with a Garmin Radar ). I made a trapezoid shaped piece of white King Starboard to fit between the webs of the radar mount. I drilled and taped holes in the aluminum radar mount to attach the Starbaord. The speaker is mounted on the Starboard. I ran standard two conductor boat wire up the mast to the speaker.

http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse. ... 20722.html

http://www.kingplastic.com/products/all ... starboard/

[Jim Davis]

Also handy for waking up fuel dock attendants.

However, be careful when you are working on the bow and not paying attention to the Chief of Staff

[mahalocd36]

I suspect that wherever you mount a horn you won't hear other boats when you're blasting your fog signal. One drawback of automated signals is if they're in time sych with others out there, none will hear the others.

Neil, this honestly has never been a problem. See Mainesail's other thread about the lack of people actually making noise LOL. If by some miracle someone else was near us using an automated signal at the same time as us to the exact 1/2 second I think I'd drop dead from the excitement and not from any collision.

You can also control the volume, and you can turn it off and back on a few seconds later to change it's sync with a potential other boat near you if you think you see something on your radar or hear something.

I love it, it makes us sound a lot bigger than we are. There's been more than one occasion when other sailboats have fallen in behind us to "draft" from the protection of our signal I think. Then at least I know where *they* are...

And, you don't have to think about it, it just happens every 2 minutes, like clockwork. One less thing to worry about in the fog.

[tartansailor]

I'm not in dense fog all that often, but my Icom likewise has a loudspeaker feature.
I use a Thunderpower hand held when the situation requires, usually in the "squawk" mode,
and if that does not get a reply, the "siren" mode usually scares the bejeezers out of anything live
out there.
dick

[Maine Sail]

Maine Sail has me thinking about installing an automated fog horn on Raven. My radio is set up to operate one with the wires connected to a terminal block.

What kind of horn, manufacturer and model, has anyone used and where is the best place to mount it? It seems like you would want the thing away from the cockpit so it didn't deafen you to incoming signals. The spreaders seem like the obvious place but that means running another set of wires up there with their associated hull penetrations.

They should incorporate horn mounting on the radar bracket.

So where do all those Maine boats mount their fog horns?

This will be a winter project with a trip north planned for next year. I just don't want to forget about it until next August, Steve.

#1 Your radio has to have the ability to do fog signals via the hailer circuit. Not all do. Our Standar Horizon VHF AIS 2100 can do this.

#2 The 5" hailer speakers from Standard Horizon are excellent. The Shakespere ones last about a year. They look the same but the SH speakers are apparently more water resistant.

#3 Our speaker is not permanently installed It plugs into the anchor locker and is removable (cause it looks ugly and takes 30 seconds to install it). When in use it mounts to the bow pulpit to keep the horn noise away from the cockpit. If you have a mast mounted radome right below the bracket is an excellent location. I delivered a boat with the hailer horn on the radar pole and it was obnoxious....

The other option is a Fog Mate fog signal device and an Ongaro horn but this is more complicated to wire in if you already have a VHF that does fog signals.. If you VHF does not do fog signals then a Fog Mate is a great device.

[Dean Abramson]

Ours is under the radar on the mast. We recently added this, and it adds a lot of peace of mind in the fog.

[Steve Laume]

Thanks for the tip on Shakespere vs Standard Horizon. It's the same old story that you get what you pay for.

I purchased one of the SH Matrix radios last year. I went from a very basic VHF to this thing that can do just about everything. The amazing part is that I was able to figure out how to hook it all up and use the thing. The AIS feature was may main reason for buying it. I now get a warning and can see AIS equipped vessels on the radio long before they are visible from on deck. I also know who and what they are as well as how fast they are going. Being able to see my own course and speed from down below is another big plus. It has an amazing number of features for the price.

I had thought about a pulpit mount on a board with clips. That would eliminate the need for routing more mast wires. The piece of mind and convenience of having the thing permanently mounted may be worth the trouble of adding more wires to the mast. It would be too easy to get lazy if you had to rig the thing every time you wanted to use it.

Having it up high and away from the cockpit seems to be the best place. If you are really trying to hear something the bow is sometimes the place to be. It would be pretty annoying to be listening hard between blasts from your own horn mounted right in front of you.

Any idea of wire size on this thing? I am thinking it is probably one of those deals that the wire just has to be big enough to work with. Maybe 18 Gage? I am going to have to make up a wire way to hide all the stuff that leaves the mast and is impossible to route under the head liner. I have been using the Blue Sea clams for the hull penetration and now have four of them. I might switch up to one of the larger size to accommodate two sets of wires.

I sure wish I had thought of this while I had the mast down and was rewiring everything, Steve.

[bottomscraper]

Any idea of wire size on this thing?

I believe ours is #16. The "experts" would probably want a larger size for the length of run I have, but hey it's a fog horn and it works just fine.

Here is some info on wire sizes from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_wire

[hilbert]

Standard Horizon recommends #22 (or larger) for their 30 Watt VLH-3000 Loud Hailer.
For durability, I would use #18 stranded, tinned marine wire.

[Maine Sail]

Matrix VHF AIS 2100 fog horn feature:

Video Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0xGtF19_Mk