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Although it was designed and marketed for the recreational boating crowd, the Shakespeare Marine Web Watch antenna enclosure proved in tests last month that it's also useful for commercial fishing applications.
Inside the white bell-shaped unit is a series of antennas and hardware that create a network hotspot using either WiFi or 3G or 4G cellular data.
Ron Gatreau, a fisherman and shellfish farm manager, tested the WCT-1 during a trip across Chesapeake Bay, using the unit to connect his iNavx Navigation Suite (see NF March 2017, pg. 38) alongside his trusted Garmin sounder and paper charts. The unit also proved surprisingly useful during the downtime at various marinas, and the signal was strong enough to reach the shore and use with an iPad while waiting for dinner.
Why bother with another piece of technology when a cell phone has the same signal? In testing, the answer became obvious: the WCT-1 is...