Tindie

For A021 AIS Receiver dongle (Ship/Boat/Marine)

Works a lot better than my previous receiver, the Quark 1-channel. Happy with it. Can see AIS ships a long way off.

C | Oct. 18, 2019

max 5 nm range

Initially no reception because the sensitivity is to low; with a proper VHF aerial on a 10m mast reception up to 5 nm. A professional unit connected to the same aerial exceeds 30 nm. If this dongle is to be of any use a tuned AIS aerial is required. As an emergency backup it is economical enough.
A dedicated tuned aerial should be recommended in the product information.

Response from Quark-elec | Sept. 3, 2020

Hello there,
Thank you for your feedback we will look at the recommended aerial.

Do contact us for support. There can be very many reasons for low reception.
https://www.quark-elec.com/doc/data/HOW_TO_MAXIMISE_YOUR_AIS_RECEPTION_p.pdf

You can compare the average range of our different AIS receivers/transponders on this Comparison Chart:
https://www.quark-elec.com/doc/data/Quark_AIS_receivers_MATRIX.pdf
Our different receivers have a different average range. We agree, our dongle (A021) is very much the entry level receiver. It will also take longer to receive data as it is channel hopping.

Feel free to contact us at info@quark-elec.com for specific advise related to your setup. We will be happy to help.

Robert | July 5, 2019

great little piece of equipment

For $126US, I was able to add this to my 30-year-old sailboat and within minutes

-turn my ipad mini into a chartplotter via the wireless function
-receive AIS ship data on my chart screen (I use iNavX with Navionics charts, but it works on just about anything)
-boost my FM signal, since the masthead VHF antenna becomes the AIS, VHF, and FM antenna on my boat

I haven't yet had a chance to tie in other instruments to the wireless, but will be doing it soon. If you are looking for an alternative to overpriced marine chartplotter systems, and a way to receive AIS without buying a new VHF or other equipment, the QK-A027 is your way to do it.

Melanie | April 15, 2019

4 Stars, although red LED isn't working on mine.

For A032 NMEA 2000/0183 Bi-directional converter

Excellent and convenient product.
I gave 3 for communication as in middle/neutral, because you must rate to post. I haven't had any communication with them though.
I have a few complains and improvement suggestion .

1. Windows only control panel is a big minus. ( I haven't used Microsoft since the mid 90s.)
2. WiFi should also be a router.
3. Control panel should be web based.

Philippe | Feb. 22, 2019

Good service

Afin d harmoniser les différents bus sur
Les instruments de navigation de mon voilier je vais bientot l installer

Response from Quark-elec | Sept. 3, 2020

Google Translation:
'In order to harmonize the different buses on
The navigation instruments of my sailboat I will soon install them'

We are glad to hear you will be installing the product to harmonize your systems.

Do let us know if you need any support.

Kind Regards,
The Quark-elec Technical Team

Simon | Feb. 14, 2019

Quark-elec G022G is ideal for boat security.

For G022 GSM 2G SMS Remote control module with case

I accidentally purchased the G022 without GPS in the first instance but Quark-elec were great and swopped the unit for the G022G that I meant to order in the first place. Thanks Joshua. The unit was easy to set up and use with the app and is an ideal way to provide vehicle security with tracking. I have installed it on my boat and it works brilliantly providing all the functionality I require and giving me piece of mind. Thank again Quark-elec this innovative product highly recommended.

Guillaume | Aug. 24, 2018

Parfait.

Petit boitier costaud, facile à installer. Il faut prévoir en plus :
-une antenne AIS avec son câble en BNC
-une antenne GPS active avec connecteur SMA
-une alimentation 5V USB si on ne l'utilise qu'en WIFI.
Avec une antenne AIS "Pacific Aerials" de 90 cm sur le balcon arrière de mon voilier et une antenne GPS à 8,99€ il fonctionne parfaitement, et j’espère pour longtemps. Les cargos sont captés à 10 milles nautiques, le CROSS à au moins 30 milles. Fonctionne très facilement avec OpenCPN sous Linux et Android, et avec NV charts sous Android.
La consommation électrique semble faible, conformément à ce qui est annoncé.
Ce produit devrait avoir sa place dans les catalogues des shipchandlers...

Jason | April 26, 2018

Works great

For QK-G031 GSM Remote Temperature Controller

Tied into my seatalk network and instantly added external GPS and AIS to my ipad running iNavx. Could not have been easier to set up and works great.

John | April 25, 2018

Very useful unit which is simple to use.

I purchased the QK-G031 to monitor and control remotely the heating system in my home. I used a spare pay as you go SIM card from the UK (credit on the card does not expire and there is no minimum usage per month). The controller and the three temperature probes (supplied) worked flawlessly, monitoring the primary manifolds of our underfloor water heating. I tried all the SMS commands listed in the user guide but did not get around to testing the Android APP on my phone. I plan to connect the relays to the heating circulation pumps. I may purchase another unit for use on my 29' Moser M2 sailing boat. It would be useful if the unit could accept serial text in one input port for retransmission as an SMS on demand.

John | April 25, 2018

A very useful interface element which is plug and play.

For AS03 NMEA Protocol Bridge

The contruction of a navigation and performance computer for my 29' Moser M2 sailing boat was greatly simplified by using a QK-A031 multiplexer to combine serial data streams into a single stream for further processing. The multiplexer uses balanced I/O and the Arduino SBC uses 5V TTL. The QK-AS03 provides a simple plug and play interface (bidirectional balanced to RS232) which only needs an RS232 to TTL level converter to complete the picture. I would certainly use the inexpensive QK-AS03 again in similar projects.

John | April 25, 2018

Very satisfied with the QK-A031 which is simple to use.

For A031 NMEA 0183 Multiplexer with SeaTalk Converter

I purchased this multiplexer to simplify the construction of a navigation and performance computer for my 29' Moser M2 sailing boat. When I started the project I used an Arduino to do the data acquisition and performance calculations for display on a 7" TFT screen. Since the serial data acquisition (NMEA-0183) was completely asynchronous, the software soon became rather cumbersome and unreliable. The QK-A031 simplified everything, providing a single stream of NMEA-0183 sentences for parsing and data extraction. The Arduino is still used to perform the parsing, compute the performance parameters, drive the TFT screen and synthesise NMEA sentences to drive NASA Marine gauges. The NASA Marine Steering Compass is driven in a standard way, while the NASA GPS Repeater is used in a nonstandard way to indicate the course to steer for best speed based on wind conditions and the boat polar curves. Overall, I am very happy with the multiplexer which worked straight out of the box.

Jan | March 30, 2018

Good product! Very good price!

I bought the QK-A024 to use it on my 24ft sailboat. It was easy to install and works perfect with the water charts App WinGPS Marine on an Android. Fast shipping to the Netherlands. Its a very good product for this price!

Jeroen | March 22, 2018

A fantastic upgrade for my classic sailing boat

I own a classic (1976) sailing boat which I bought with a lot of near vintage, but fully functional, equipment. My autotiller, chart plotter and wind instruments use Seatalk, my speed sensor and GPS receiver NMEA0183. Since I can't get new coastal maps for my chart plotter anymore, I've switched to use a Windows tablet with OpenCPN but was really looking for an affordable way to bring all the Seatalk/NMEA info to my tablet wirelessly. On top of this, I have no AIS receiver but definitely needed one as well. After endless searches I stumbled upon Quark-Elec and the QK-A027 which in one single and very affordable product addresses all of my needs. I applaud Quark-Elec for making these products available - they help reduce reduce waste, unnecessary spending and are absolutely the coolest way to bring new life to classic vessels. On top of this, communication with the team in the UK was great as well.

Marcin | March 19, 2018

Works fine

Everything works fine at first time, just Plug&Play.
I've tested with OpenCpn on PC as well as mobile apps: iAIS, Salior and nv charts- works without any problems.
NMEA signals works good via WiFi, USB or RS.
One more feature is NMEA multiplexer, I want to use it to get signal from depth sensor and send all to iPhone/iPad.
Very good product.

Marcin Markowski

Joachim | March 19, 2018

The shiping to Germany was very fast. !!!

In this moment I can say noting about this product. I want let it work on my sailing boat, but the sailing season start is in May 18

Winrent | March 17, 2018

ottimo

Compatto
Funziona correttamente
Consumi ridotti
Perfetto come AIS "portatile " da imbarcare quando serve; per chi cambia spesso barca ,trasferimenti , noleggio,e regate.
Consumi ridotti , per renderlo totalmente portatile è stato accoppiato con power bank da 20000 ma con durata di 15/20 ore + antenna "gommino"
Da migliorare :
Manca la disponibilità di un sw QK dedicato per Android/Win/Mac , con una interfaccia semplice ,chiara , rapida (tipo AMEC AIS https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AMEC.AmecAIS&hl=it)
Manca un interruttore on/off
Saluti

Lafourcade | March 2, 2018

Great AIS and GPS receiver

This AIS+GPS receiver is really powerfull.
After connecting, it has been tested on board with a standard boat GPS antenna and a 3db VHF antenna.
Not connected yet to my SeaTalkNG network.
Configuration is very easy with the tool available on site.
AIS target could be identified up to 15 nm.
Interfaced with OpenCPN and qtVLM using WiFi and USB port on PC and Android pad.
Both of these applications could detect, analyse and display NMEA sentences.
NMEA sentences are compliant with the standards and well interpreted by the applications.
This QK-A027 is the cheapest and powerfull AIS-GPS receiver available on the market.
In conjunction with the QK-A031 (I will order this item), you could build a cheap and really performant network on your boat and make all your instruments talking together.
Thanks to the Quark-Elec team

Peter | March 1, 2018

QK-A024 WiFi works perfectly with iSailor on my iPad

I wanted a simple lightweight inexpensive way of testing out AIS making my crossings of shipping lines safer and easier. I have a small sailboat with no real plotter, only use my iPad and other iOS and Android devices as backups and use iSailor as main navigation software.

I bought the product through Tindie on a Monday and I believe it landed in my home country already Thursday. Very impressed with how quickly I received the product from England to Denmark.

Upon receiving the AIS I bought a small AIS/VHF antenna with 20 meters of cable attached and set out to test the AIS receiver immediately. Unfortunately there wasn't any data transmitting into iSailor on iPad. The LED lights of the QK-A024 would blink red and green but you are not able to see in documentation, called Application Note, what these 3 LED lights mean and how they should react. Through the Forum I have received help with this and a notice that documentation will be updated - thank you!

But my problem was not at all with the AIS receiver nor my antenna. The problem with no data in iSailor was due to the bad documentation of iSailor. I had bought all AIS inApp purchases needed but I also needed to do extra AIS input settings inside the APP which to me was not obvious.

After inputing data to iSailor, data all found in the QK-A024 Application Note, iSailor showed AIS targets immediately.
My boat is currently on the hard, behind trees and obstacles, but the QK-A024 was still able to see AIS targets 5 nautical miles out with the antenna mounted on the stern pulpit.

I definitely recommend the product for easy access to AIS data through WiFi. I have not tested other features as I have no NMEA network on my boat.
Thumbs up!

Best regards, Peter

Graeme | Dec. 27, 2017

Very disappointed

I bought one of these last year with high hopes. The AIS worked ok, but the NMEA not at all. It turns out Quark had configured it for 9600, not 4800, which is what the NMEA 01834 standard specifies.

I returned it to them for reconfiguring to 4800. Quark refused to cover my return postage as they said it was "not defective". Go figure!

When I received it back, the NMEA still would not work, despite me confirming the signal and swapping wires etc. And btw I am an electrical and controls engineer, not a complete dope regarding stuff with wires!

By this stage I'd had enough and returned it (again at my cost), with the message that I REALLY wanted it to work, as it would fit my requirements perfectly if it worked as claimed, and I would be happy if they could fix it and send it back despite the hassles to date. About 6 weeks went by with no response, so I emailed them and was told basically that they had overlooked it, at which stage I'd had enough and asked for my money back.

The whole experience was very unsatisfactory and I would not buy from them again.

Response from Quark-elec | Jan. 17, 2018

Hi Graeme,
We are very sorry your experience of us was not the best. We strive to improve and your feedback is valuable to us and as a growing company we do take on board your complaints and suggestions. All units are now user configurable with our Configuration App and more upgrades are ongoing. Again, we are very sorry our customer service did not come up to your expectations and we have taken that on board as well.

Rob | Dec. 20, 2017

Perfect for both vessel as home device AIS receiver

For A031 NMEA 0183 Multiplexer with SeaTalk Converter

Super, easy device for showing AIS data on any pc. Just connect the VHF and GPS antenna's, plug the USB and off you go. Via a simple phone loader you have wifi access. I used it together with OpenCpn.

Very content with this purchase

Rob van der Meulen

Anthony | Nov. 1, 2017

Didn't work; made me pay for shipping

Company shipped me a defective unit which did not output any data. When I complained and asked for exchange/refund, they wanted me to pay to ship their defective unit back to them (I had already paid to have it shipped to me). They eventually agreed to give me a refund of the purchase price of their defective product, but only after I paid to ship it back. They then refunded me the return shipping, but not the original shipping that I paid for them to send me a broken product. Never mind my time and aggravation of installing, deinstalling, and shipping their defective product. Don't waste your money. Spend a little more and buy one of the other similar products out there that actually work, while avoiding all this hassle.

Response from Quark-elec | Nov. 8, 2017

Obviously we would not knowingly ship anyone a defective unit! It is normal policy in the UK, where we are based, for the buyer to pay for return shipping if they are unhappy with the product. This product does require that the owner pays attention to how it is being wired in and connected to other items in the network as, like most electronics, it is sensitive to being misconnected. There are extensive application notes with comprehensive installation instructions available both on the CD that ships with all our products and also available to download on our website. We do like to have the units back on the rare occasion that they fail so that we can investigate why there has been a problem. We find that most people are supportive of our efforts to improve and develop our products, and the feedback we receive about our customer service is overwhelmingly positive. However, as someone once said, you can't please all the people all of the time, and we are very sorry that you feel we could do better. We strove to meet your high expectations, and we fell short, all we can do at this point is apologise.

Erkki | Sept. 18, 2017

Very, very good all in one GPS + AIS receiver!

This little box contains all you can whish for, real dual channel AIS receiver,
a really good GPS receiver, all sorts of connectivity, from old school RS232
to USB and WIFI !
So you can connect it to everything very easily.
Power is easy just connect it to a USB port and all the fun wakes up very fast.
And all this for a very good price !
I will prolly order one extra as backup :-)

If you are even remotely intersted in AIS and /or GPS, get one !
it doesn't get easier or cheaper than this.

Michael | Aug. 24, 2017

ais and wifi work, nmea input has problems

Ais is working and the wifi is set up.
nmea input does not accept the nmea signal of my garmin gps. Other nmea instruments accept the garmin signal.
Could be that the ais is just accepting balanced signals as discribed by nmea standarts and not - as almost all nmea products - balanced an unbalanced signals. Buts thats only a guess.
I've tried to contact the seller several times and over two weeks now but he is not answering.

Michael | Aug. 24, 2017

ais and wifi work, nmea input has problems

For A031 NMEA 0183 Multiplexer with SeaTalk Converter

Response from Quark-elec | Aug. 25, 2017

Hello Michael,

Can you let me know how you contacted us? We aim to reply to customers as soon as possible and I am not sure why that hasn't worked for you. If we have sent you an email to say we have passed your enquiry on for answers, please be aware that the person who would answer technical questions is out of the office for 2 weeks, travelling on research and will reply when in reach of a good wifi signal. I apologise if this looked like we were ignoring you. Please get back in touch at kit@quark-elec.com.
warmest regards,
Kit

Eric | July 27, 2017

Test QK-A031 NMEA en français

Le multiplexeur est de qualité et son prix est incomparable! La mise en service s'effectue sans difficulté à condition d'avoir chargé l'interface pour le piloter en PC ou en Mac. Le wifi marche très bien et surtout, il autorise plusieurs adresse en même temps sur toutes les plateformes, PC, Mac, IIos, Andro, Linux.... Le must c'est la possibilité d'ajuster au mieux le débit sur toutes les entrées et sorties de façon à être en phase avec l'AIS à 38500Bauds et du NMEA à 4800Bauds pour le seaTalk par exemple.
A terme, le plus serait d'avoir du NMEA 2000... mais à ce jour le QK-A031 est de ce qui se fait de mieux en NMEA183!

Heinz | July 5, 2017

"A very compact AIS receiver that truly works"

For A021 AIS Receiver dongle (Ship/Boat/Marine)

The Quark Electronics USB QK-A021 AIS Receiver is providing me with another level of safety on the water for a reasonable cost that I otherwise would not be able to afford. I am using it successfully with the free OpenCPN navigation software on my laptop.
No one should go boating/cruising without it...
I highly recommend this device to any boater...

Alfonso | June 6, 2017

AIS Receiver Dongle

For A021 AIS Receiver dongle (Ship/Boat/Marine)

Hola. No hablo inglés, así que lo diré en español, que es mi idioma.
Estoy encantado con AIS Receiver Google usb, funciona perfectamente, a veces inclusive sin haber conectado la antena. El envío fue rapido. El precio muy, muy bien.

James | April 10, 2017

This works great!

For QK-A023 Ship/Boat/Marine AIS Wireless Receiver

I purchased the QK-A026 Wireless AIS+GPS Receiver, an inexpensive active GPS antenna, and an inexpensive VHF antenna.

After I bought this I had really high hopes for it. As it turns out my hopes have been mostly realized. I can connect iNavX on my iPad and MacENC on my Macintosh computer wirelessly and receive GPS and AIS data while the A026 is happily providing AIS target data to my Garmin GPSMap 3206 chart plotter.

I had hoped that I would be able to add one of my other NMEA output devices to the the NMEA in on the A026 but I don’t have any more NMEA ports available on my network. My nav network is actually two separate ones. One is an old SeaTalk network by Autohelm and the other is an old Garmin ethernet network.

Anyway, I am ecstatic with the way this has worked out. I will be installing it permanently when I get a VHF antenna splitter and a way to power the A026 in the console.

YouTube Video of my installation. - > https://youtu.be/4OofGHCp8oo

Mihhail | Feb. 27, 2017

Great Deal

I ordering this AIS, because my portable True Heading Carbon was stolen from my car.
So I was need quickly to get new one AIS with small size ( its amazing on QK-A023).
As great bonus I got WIFI communication wit my laptop.
I testing reciever for 2 weeks and see good sensitivity, on portable VHF antenn I got 20 Nm far ships without any problem.
Also i test it with open CPN and transas Isailor ( on IPAD and Android), all working stable.
Only one wish for future..... clip on battery same size as AIS itself . It will be great with using WIFI communication.

Highly reccomend !!!!!

Alan | Feb. 26, 2017

Excellent receiver

For QK-A022 Ship/Boat/Marine Dual Channel AIS Receiver

Bought this unit at my first attempt of receiving AIS broadcasts. I was on the lookout for a dedicated dual channel AIS receiver of good quality and reasonable cost. I was not disappointed. Excellent service and fast delivery. The unit works perfectly. My first VHF marine band antenna had a poor connection in it but when swapped with another one the receiver sprang to life. I'm about 3-4 miles inland in an easterly direction from the sea at an elevation of approx 30m. I'm receiving traffic around 15-20 miles to the south west, 10-12 miles to the west a bit less to the north west. of course being VHF the transmissions are line of sight and local terrain does affect me. I'd highly recommend this receiver.

Alan

Miguel | Feb. 20, 2017

Great product, works fine, excellent experience!

For QK-A022 Ship/Boat/Marine Dual Channel AIS Receiver

Great product, works fine, excellent experience, wee see important ships information and at moment works very well.
Shipping with no delay and client support works great.
Thanks guys.
Miguel

Glen | Jan. 30, 2017

Fantastic product