NMEA with new Standard Horizon gear

[noworries]

I just picked up a new Standard Horizon HX851 (Handheld VHF/GPS) and GX2150 (VHF/AIS)

If you put the HX851 in the cradle, it has NMEA cables you can use.  So I tried connecting it to my computer via DB9 female connector to USB-Serial cable  and whenever I hook it up the strobe light starts blinking.  I'm a computer guy so I know I got the computer side right, com port, 4800 8N1, etc.

So I tried hooking it up to the GX2150, which in theory I should be able to pass GPS from the handheld to the fixed mount, and the same thing happens, the strobe just starts blinking.

On the HX851 I turned on some of the NMEA outputs.  Didn't help.
On the GX2150 I made sure it was set to low speed 4800.

On the HX851 green is common.  On the PC I ran green to pin 5, on the GX2150 I ran green to green.
On the HX851 blue is NMEA Output.  On the PC I ran blue to pin 2 or 3, didn't make a difference.  On the GX2150 I ran blue to blue or grey, didn't make a difference.

I've already emailed Standard Horizon... but I'm impatient and it will bug me all day that I can't figure it out.  If anybody can shed any light on this please do!

Links to manuals/product info
http://www.standardhorizon.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=85&ProdID=1558&DivisionID=3
http://www.standardhorizon.com/indexvs.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=83&encProdID=A2C2F4EB2A092075389DC4199A79B6C1&DivisionID=3&isArchived=0

[Craig Illman]

On your PC, try using a terminal emulation application, like Hyperterminal, attached to your serial port to see if you're getting the expected data stream from the NMEA output device. Another nice tool I found is a NMEA simulator for your PC, http://www.kagstrom.no

Craig

[noworries]

Thanks.  I called support, the fix was this:
Radio Setup -> LED Setup -> Water Hazard LED -> Off