I did take all the comments to heart and replaced my VHF radio on the weekend. Tim and Thunder Bay radio reported an excellent signal and good audio deviation. Now the install of the radio was easy, the wiring for the older Standard Horizon radio worked with the new on just fine. I did have to rewire the Remote Mic, that required some fishing and taking most of the back end of the boat apart to run the cable. Oh and the supplied cable was too short so I had to by the extension available from Standard Horizon for the cost of $50. I lucked out and found one at Bay Port in Midland so that completed the radio install.

The frustration started when I tried to get the GPS and the radio to talk, this allows the radio to automatically  report location data when the emergency DSC button is pushed. So I hooked everything up according to the supplied manuals and nothing happened. WONDERFUL....... but I kinda expected it.

So three days of testing and various configuration changes and it still isn't working. There is suppose to be a little satellite icon in the top right corner of the radio display and even that is not there...hummm wonder if it's a problem with the brand new radio????????????????????  just another possible cause in the list.

I am now in the middle of a conversation with Garmin about NMEA protocols. the Question is....are their NMEA sentences  propitiatory or they do actually meet NMEA specs. One manual (the radio) says the the sentences should be "RNC" and that is their preferred one. Garmin sentences are named "GPRNC" ,  I am not sure what to think, but I have asked that question to Garmin....lets see what the come back with.

Oh and I figured while I was spending the money and the time at the dock I installed Satellite radio....Not much of an install used Velcro and plugged it in to the power point on the DC distribution panel.
Photos to be uploaded when I get them