NMEA0183 TESTER

Operation Manual

SIM183

Document： NLT-SIM183-SSEN
Version： V141225
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................. 1
FEATURES ....................................................................................................... 1
FUNCTIONS ..................................................................................................... 1
PACKING ......................................................................................................... 1
BUTTON DESCRIPTION .................................................................................... 2
Operation ..................................................................................................... 3
CHARGE .......................................................................................................... 3
LANGUAGE SELECTION ................................................................................... 3
MENU .............................................................................................................. 3
NMEA RECEIVER ............................................................................................. 4
NMEA SENDER ................................................................................................ 5
SEND BAUD SET ............................................................................................. 7
Common Sentence Format....................................................................... 8
Connection And Specification ................................................................. 9
CONNECTION TO ECHO SOUNDER .................................................................. 9
CONNECTION TO NMEA0183 PORTS OF OTHER DEVICES ............................. 9
SPECIFICATION ............................................................................................... 9
Introduction
NMEA0183 tester SIM183 is a handheld portable tester for testing transmit-received
NMEA0183 signals, with lithium battery for 9-hour continuous working. SIM183 can
receive and display NMEA0183 signal from an external device, and test baud rate and
peak value of the received signal. It also can send the selected NMEA0183 sentence
(optional 142 kind of NMEA0183 sentences) and the baud rate of the transmitted
signal can be set. In practical operation, NMEA0183 tester SIM183 can be applied for
the installation, debugging and trouble removal.

Features

 Built-in rechargeable battery, with portable and well-adapted

 Real-time read and display NMEA0183 sentences
 Test the peak value of received signals
 Auto test baud rate of received signals
 Send optional 142 kind of standard NMEA0183 sentences
 Customizable parameters in common NMEA0183 sentences for sounder and
speedlog
 Big screen green with black words on LCD display

Functions

NMEA0183Receiver：Read and test the received NMEA0183 signals. Real-time

display the received NMEA0183 sentence and test the peak value and baud rate.

NMEA0183 Sender：Send the standard NMEA0183 sentences (optional 142 kinds) to

an external device. According to INITIAL or COMMON DEVICE, select the relevant
sentences. In addition, users can set the information of DPT sentence used in echo
sounder, and VBW and VLW sentences used in speedlog.

Send Baud Set：Set baud rate of NMEA0183 signal sending to an external device.

Packing

Battery charger（110/220V）
12.6V/350mA ，charge build-in battery 1

1
Introduction

Button Description

LED indicators

Menu
navigation Power on/off
buttons

Charging port Signal transceiver interface

LED Indicators:
Yellow light will flash when transmitting NMEA0183 signals.
Red light will flash when receiving NMEA0183 signals.
Menu Navigation Buttons:
Flashing cursor key to change the location of flashing cursor
Increase/decrease key to increase/decrease parameter value
Start/pause key to start/pause simulation
ESC key to return to the previous menu
Enter key to enter into the selected menu
Signal transceiver interface: connector to connect with the external device.
Charging port：Battery charger（110/220V）12.6V/350mA

2
Operation
In the operation manual, take NLT 10’’ inch navigation sounder DS2008 as examples
to describe the operation of NMEA0183 tester SIM183. Practically, SIM183 can as
well transmit and receive the NMEA0183 signals with other devices.

Charge

Please charge when the battery is too low for extend the battery's life.

Language Selection

After the power-on, display the product's software version number and welcome
words first, and then enter the main menu.
For the change language, Press before you enter the main menu, then the
language selection screen will appear, press or to change the location of the
flashing cursor, and press to enter the selected language's main menu.

Press

Menu
SHOW MESSAGES
NMEA Baud： bps(Range：2400,4800,9600,19200,38400)
SIGNAL
RECEIVER Peak： V
TEST
Normal Range：2.0~15.0V
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
INITIAL
O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
GYRO
NMEA ECHO
Set the information in DPT sentences
SENDER COMMON SOUNDER
DEVICE SPEEDLOG Set the information in VBW and VLW sentences
ANEMOMETER
GPS

3
 ECDIS
RADAR
SEND BAUD SET Optional：4800, 9600, 19200, 38400. Default 4800

Operation

NMEA RECEIVER

Properly connect the RX interface of the tester SIM183 to the NMEA0183output port
of an external device. If NMEA0183output port of an external device works normally,
the red light will flash; If the NMEA0183 output wires of an external device are
inversely connected, the red light will be normally on and users should connect the
wires inversely; If no matter normally or inversely connect the NMEA0183 output
wires of an external device, the red light will not work, which means the NMEA output
ports of an external device are abnormal. There is no NMEA0183 signal output or
output voltage is too low. Users can select SIGNAL TEST item of SIM183 to further
test the received NMEA0183 signal.
1. SHOW MESSAGES
Show the NMEA0183 output sentences from the external device.
In the main menu, press to move the cursor and select ‘1. NMEA RECEIVER’,
and then press to enter the secondary menu. Select ‘1. SHOW MESSAGES’ to
start show the received signal. And press to pause receiving signals for a complete
sentence display.
①. Properly connect with ②.Select 1. SHOW
an external device's MESSAGES, and
NMEA signal port, and press to read
then open the device. the sentences.
Connect with only one
port at a time.

③.Select 2. SIGNAL
TEST, and press
to test the signal.

4
Operation
2. SIGNAL TEST
Test the baud rate and peak value of the received signal
In the main menu, press to move the cursor and select ‘1. NMEA RECEIVER’,
and then press to enter the secondary menu. Select ‘2. SIGNAL TEST’ to
measure and display the baud rate and peak value of the received signal. The range
of testing Baud rate is 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200 and 38400 bps and the range of peak
value is 0~15V. In additionally, the tester SIM183 provides the normal range of peak
value for user reference. And press to return to the previous menu.

NMEA SENDER

Transmit the NMEA0183 signals to an external device (the yellow will be flashing).
Users can select the NMEA0183 sentences to send to an external device. The data in
the sentence can be set as 123456789, such as 12.3kn, 123.4m. The optional 142
kind of NMEA0183 sentences are bellow.

AAM ACK ALM ALR APB APA BEC BOD BWC BWR BWW BER
BPI DBT DCN DPT DSC DSE DSI DSR DTM DBK DBS DRU
FSI GBS GGA GLC GLL GNS GRS GSA GST GSV GDa GLa
GOa GXa GTD GXA HDG HDT HMR HMS HSC HTC HTD HCC
HCD HDM HVD HVM IMA LCD MLA MSK MSS MTW MWD MWV
MDA MHU MMB MTA MWH MWS OSD OLN OLW OMP ONZ RMA
RMB RMC ROT RPM RSA RSD RTE Rnn SFI STN SBK SCY
SCD SDB SGD SGR SIU SLC SNC SNU SPS SSF STC STR
SYS TLB TLL TTM TXT TEC TEP TGA TIF TRF TRP TRS
VBW VDR VHW VLW VPW VTG VCD VPE VTA VTI VWE VWR
VWT WCV WNC WPL WDC WDR WFM WNR XDR XTE XTR YWP
YWS ZDA ZDL ZFO ZTG Zaa ZCD ZEV ZLZ ZZU

In the main menu, press to move the cursor and select ‘2. NMEA SENDER’, and
then press to enter the secondary menu. There are two kind of NMEA selection
type.

5
Operation
1. INITIAL
Press to enter INITIAL type and then press to move the cursor and
select the initial of the sentence. Press to enter the window of all sentences with
the selected initial.
2. COMMON DEVICE
Press to enter COMMON DEVICE type and then press to select the device
type simulated output by the tester SIM183. The device types are gyro, echo sounder,
speedlog, anemometer, GPS, ECDIS and radar. Press to enter the window of all
sentences used for the selected device.
Then press to move the cursor and select the sentence. Press or to
select ‘1’ or ‘0’, where ‘1’ means the sentence is selected to send and ‘0’ means the
sentence is not selected. After selecting one sentence, press to send the sentence
and the yellow light will be flashing. The NMEA type will be also shown on the screen.
Press to cancel the transmitting and return to the previous menu. And the yellow
light will be off and the selection will be saved.

② . Select 1. ③ . Select 2. COMMON

INITIAL to choose DEVICE to choose the
the sentence, and sentence, and press to
press to send send the sentence.
the sentence.

①. Properly connect with

an external device's
NMEA signal port, and
then open the device.
Connect with only one
port at a time.

6
Operation
Especially, users can set the data parameters in DPT sentence for echo sounder, and
VBW and VLW sentence for speedlog as needed.
For example, the test is sending the VLW sentence to external speedlog repeater
IR861. Select ‘c. SPEED LOG’ and press to enter the window of speedlog
sentences. Move the cursor to select VLW sentence. Press to enter the VLW
sentence set. Press to move the cursor and select the data location. Press
to set the data parameter and press to save the settings and return to the previous
menu. Then, press to start to send the set sentence. The speedlog repeater IR861
will receive this VLW sentence and display the setting voyage data. The settings of
the tester SIM183 are shown bellow. The total cumulative distance is 12345.67
nautical mile and the current voyage is 123.45 nautical mile. Users can change the
settings as needed.

SEND BAUD SET

Optional baud rate of the transmitting signal is 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400bps.
In the main menu, press to move the cursor and select ‘3. SEND BAUD SET’,
and then press to enter the secondary menu. Select the baud rate of the
transmitting signal press to save and return to the main menu.

7
Common sentence format
DPT——Depth
$--DPT,x.x,x.x,x.x*hh<CR><LF>
Maximum range scale in use
Offset from transducer, in meters

Water depth relative to the transducer, in meters

VBW – Dual ground/water speed

$--VBW, x.x, x.x, A, x.x, x.x, A, x.x, A, x.x, A*hh<CR><LF>

Status: stern ground speed,

A = data valid, V = data invalid
Stern transverse ground speed, knots
Status: stern water speed,
A = data valid, V = data invalid
Stern transverse water speed, knots
Status, ground speed, A = data valid, V = data invalid
Transverse ground speed, knots
Longitudinal ground speed, knots
Status: water speed, A = data valid, V = data invalid
Transverse water speed, knots
Longitudinal water speed, knots

VLW——Distance travelled through the water

$--VLW,x.x,N,x.x,N*hh<CR><LF>
Distance since reset, nautical miles
Total cumulative distance, nautical miles

8
 Connection and Specification
Connection to Echo Sounder

※ Sim183 is connected to NLT navigation echo sounder DS2008.

Invalid

Connection to NMEA0183 ports of other devices

NMEA0183 NMEA0183
signal output signal input

According to the identity on SIM183, one end of the wire connects to the RX or TX
interface of SIM183 and the other end connects to NMEA0183 signal output or input
interface of an external device (NMEA A to SIG - A, NMEA B to SIG – B).

Specification

Display 128×64 dot-matrix LCD

Dimension 235mm×135mm×55mm
Weight（battery included） 0.6kg
Recharge lithium battery 12.6VDC 1500mAh
Battery charger 12.6V / 350mA
Working Temperature -15℃ ~ +55℃
Waterproof IP23