Support – Questions and Answers to Logbook Suite

When using func­tions that access GPS or NMEA data, we stron­gly recom­mend that you first use the NMEA test func­tion to check whe­ther the con­nec­tion is still working after every inter­rup­tion in data recep­tion (for exam­ple, even after an anchor break). This avoids incor­rect or incom­plete entries.

Inter­rup­ti­ons in data retrie­val can lead to old data being recei­ved on the first retrie­val or the con­nec­tion first having to be reac­ti­va­ted. With GPS mice in par­ti­cu­lar, it often hap­pens that they first deli­ver data that was still buf­fe­red in the device after the interruption.

The NMEA test func­tion can be found in the gear button menu when the view Logbook is active.

If no data or incor­rect data is still recei­ved after a few attempts, the GPS device pro­ba­bly needs to be restar­ted. In the case of a GPS mouse, unplug the device and plug it in again. Then wait at least 2 minu­tes before test­ing again.
In any case, do not start Auto-NMEA until the test has been successful.

In Logbook, the Auto NMEA func­tion records the cur­rent posi­tion every 2 minu­tes and also cal­cu­la­tes the distance tra­ve­led since the last saved posi­tion.
If the option Distance (Log) from log instru­ment is deac­ti­va­ted in the dialog Defaults, GPS/NMEA or if no log value is con­tai­ned in the NMEA data, Logbook deter­mi­nes the value for the Log field from these par­tial distances.
This value is usually much more accu­rate than the value from the ship’s log.

Incor­rect set­tings in dialog Default, GPS/NMEA can cause that no data trans­fer is pos­si­ble or that it takes a long time until the data are ente­red in Logbook.

The­r­e­fore in the dialog Default, GPS/NMEA only the opti­ons for the data that really can be recei­ved should be enab­led. Other­wise Logbook will wait for unavailable data until the timeout.

This applies par­ti­cul­lary to the option iPad Pres­sure, which should be acti­va­ted only if the iPad has an inte­gra­ted baro­me­ter. In the app LogbookNMEA con­nect, which is used for the data retrie­val, you also need to setup and acti­va­ted the source iPad baro­me­ter in addi­tion to the source for recei­ving the navi­ga­tion data.
We recom­mend to use the option Use time from iPad only if the NMEA data source of the ship net­work does not pro­vide a relia­ble UTC value.

With USB con­nec­tions, in most cases it is not pos­si­ble to acti­vate devices that are alre­ady used by a navi­ga­tion pro­gram also for Logbook, because the navi­ga­tion pro­grams occupy the port of the device per­ma­nently and do not release it for other programs.

When Logbook is opened, the system checks whe­ther the motor ope­ra­tion is set to “finis­hed” for each com­ple­ted day. If not, an error mes­sage is dis­played.
For a cor­rect eva­lua­tion, you should check and cor­rect the ent­ries for the listed days.

Pro­ceed as fol­lows to com­plete the miss­ing entry:

1. Change to the first date men­tio­ned in the error message.
2. Acti­vate the Navi­ga­tion card.
3. Open the Data entry dialog and switch to the last entry of the day.
4. Check whe­ther the motor button for the motor in ques­tion is dis­played in blue or gray.

If the engine button is dis­played in blue:

1. Click on the blue motor button to end motor operation.
2. Pro­ceed in this way for all days listed in the error message.

If the motor button is dis­played in gray:

1. Make a note of the time.
2. Close the dialog again.
3. Now acti­vate the tab Motor, Motor(s).
4. Go to the field for the affec­ted motor under Motor — Ope­ra­ting times.
5. Delete the ente­red time and enter the noted time.
6. The motor should now no longer be listed on the right under Motor(s) swit­ched on.
7. Pro­ceed in the same way for all days listed in the error message.

If the Auto NMEA func­tion has not recei­ved any usable data during a data retrie­val, a red mes­sage inclu­ding an error number is dis­played.
The cause of the error is usually the GPS signal or the GPS source itself.
This means the type number of the error:

T1 = no data
T2 = Posi­tion error — devia­tion too large (the posi­tion is too far away from the pre­vious one)
T3 = no com­plete posi­tion (e.g. only LAT and no LON)

Seve­ral media out­lets have recently repor­ted mas­sive GPS dis­rup­ti­ons, par­ti­cu­larly in the Baltic Sea and the eas­tern Medi­ter­ra­nean. This is pre­su­ma­bly caused by tar­ge­ted inter­fe­rence (GPS jamming) in con­nec­tion with the war in Ukraine.
If you are tra­ve­ling in this area and fre­quently receive the red error mes­sage while using the Auto NMEA, this GPS jamming may be the reason. This is because Logbook com­pa­res the posi­ti­ons with each data recor­ding and reports an Auto NMEA error if they are too far apart. Incor­rect posi­ti­ons are no longer used. <br>
If the GPS error is only tem­po­rary (as we have mostly seen with the errors repor­ted by our cus­to­mers in the past year), this also has no influence on your logbook ent­ries.
See also (unfort­u­na­tely only in German):

https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/Ostsee-Raetselhafte-GPS-Stoerungen-behindern-Schiffs-und-Flugverkehr,balticjammer100.html

https://skipper.adac.de/gps-stoerungen-im-ostseeraum-und-mittelmeer/

What often helps with pro­blems with the iPad is a deep restart of the device. Unfort­u­na­tely, unlike the PC, the iPad is not com­ple­tely restar­ted even when a system update is per­for­med, which means that data and set­tings accu­mu­late and can lead to problems.

1. First close all files in Logbook Suite.
2. Then close all apps by swit­ching them out of the App Switcher.
3. Restart the iPad. To do this, you have to hold down the keys men­tio­ned below until the apple appears. This can take up to 10 seconds. The pro­ce­dure is dif­fe­rent for the various models:

• iPad (newer modells): Press the Volume Up button once briefly, then press the Volume Down button once briefly, and then press and hold the Standby button.
• iPad with home button: Press and hold the home button and the standby button at the same time.
• iPad Pro (old): Hold down the side button (standby button) and the quiet button at the same time.

If you don’t know how to cate­go­rize your iPad here: just try it out, not­hing can happen. You can tell that it is working because the apple will appear at some point. Do not select the slider that may appear in between.