Adding AIS to Raymarine

Dino

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Hi, I recently bought a new (to me) boat that came fitted with a fairly recent Raymarine A95 MFD Chartplotter and Raymarine autopilot. There is also an earlier model vhf Raymarine Ray 54E.
I am considering adding AIS this year. What’s the most cost effective way to add either a receiver or transponder?
I’m considering upgrading the vhf as the one on the boat is not mounted well, there is a bad rattle in the fist mic and I would like to flush mount it.
Is my best option to add a newer vhf with built in radio?
 

ashtead

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I am not a technical person however you might look at Digital Yacht as a starter. My first AIS transponder was via this firm and found helpful. Clearly budget plays a part here but you might want to look at Raymarine offerings for any upgrades . You don't say where you are but Raymarine sometimes offer day courses at their HQ on use of radar and chartplotters which might be of interest before you invest.
 

olam

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I will be upgrading to a transponder set up this year and will have a Raymarine 350 ais and Comar splitter both 2014 if you are interested.
 

Aurai

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To Start

I went the 350 route with an A65, perfect and easy connection, no fuss and just what I needed. Friends with AIS on tneir VHF radios manage very well also.

Then yesterday I added my 350 to eBay as I have upgraded to 650 as races this season require transmit as well as receive.

Helicopters show a very cute moving symbol across your screen, the rest is very useful, but always surprising how many moving boats are at anchor!
 

Momac

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I fitted the ais 650 transponder myself . It was not difficult with treading the cables for the antennas being the tricky bit.
The Raymarine ais unit came with its own gps antenna.
I have fitted a separate antenna for transmission/reception as this was less cost than a splitter.
The ais is connected to the MFD using the seatalkng network which was already in place on my boat.

A friend fitted a cheaper ais unit which was an equally easy fit.

For a yacht a splitter makes more sense - if the antenna is on top of a mast.
 

Hoolie

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I fitted a Vespermarine XB8000 transponder that, of course, has its own GPS. It has NMEA 2000, NMEA 0183 (for VHF) and WiFi as well as USB to connect to the boat computer. It is a mini-router and sends all received NMEA 0183 data out on WiFi for tablets, phones, iPad etc
 

PaulRainbow

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If it's a transponder, i would recommend the em-trak B100. It has NMEA 2000, NMEA 0183 and USB ports. It will act as a multiplexor between the ports, has its own GPS, is easy to configure and works very well. In my opinion, this is the best value for money transponder on the market.
 

maby

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NMEA2000 is a lot better for AIS - the data rate is high for NMEA0183. If you do have to connect through 0183, you will need to configure the plotter port to its maximum speed in order to reliably get the data through.
 

Dino

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Thanks for all the great advice folks. I'll do a bit of research now.
Does the em-trak B100 need a separate VHF aerial?
I'm on a mobo so won't have the height of a mast.
 

PaulRainbow

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Thanks for all the great advice folks. I'll do a bit of research now.
Does the em-trak B100 need a separate VHF aerial?
I'm on a mobo so won't have the height of a mast.

All AIS receivers and transponders need a VHF antenna, or a splitter. Combined VHF/AIS units tend to only need a single antenna as the splitter is built in.

On a mobo i'd be inclined to fit a second antenna, rather than a splitter. I wouldn't worry about the antenna height, your VHF works just fine and so will the AIS.

If you do decide to go for a splitter, look at the em-trak sail pack, a B100 and a splitter at a really good price.

** No connection to em-trak, other than having fitted several of their AIS products.
 
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Bobc

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Don't quote me on this, but I think there is some issue with the Raymarine a95 where is doesn't like having more that 1 GPS signal in the network, so you might have to disable the GPS in the AIS unit if it has one.

Have a read of the a95 manual.
 

PaulRainbow

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Don't quote me on this, but I think there is some issue with the Raymarine a95 where is doesn't like having more that 1 GPS signal in the network, so you might have to disable the GPS in the AIS unit if it has one.

Have a read of the a95 manual.

All AIS transponders must have their own GPS, this cannot be disabled.

If the a95 is affected by a 2nd GPS input (it will not necessarily be affected) then data sources can be listed from within the menus and the actual source that you want to use can be selected.
 

DipperToo

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All AIS transponders must have their own GPS, this cannot be disabled.

If the a95 is affected by a 2nd GPS input (it will not necessarily be affected) then data sources can be listed from within the menus and the actual source that you want to use can be selected.

Some AIS transponders also have the ability to block GPS position data being forwarded on their NMEA output (McMurdo, Camino 108) which is usually a tick option in the Transponder configuration software
 

DipperToo

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Although I have an AIS transponder by Camino (very happy), I needed to get WiFi broadcast so have just installed a Quark Seatalk + 3x NMEA Multiplexer/transmitter.
I noticed this company do an NMEA multiplexer & AIS receiver + WiFi transmitter for less than £80. They also sell VHF aerials. Might be worth a look? It does need 5v power via USB.
https://www.quark-elec.com/product/qk-a024-wireless-ais-receiver/
No Affiliation....
 

pvb

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Hi, I recently bought a new (to me) boat that came fitted with a fairly recent Raymarine A95 MFD Chartplotter and Raymarine autopilot. There is also an earlier model vhf Raymarine Ray 54E.
I am considering adding AIS this year. What’s the most cost effective way to add either a receiver or transponder?
I’m considering upgrading the vhf as the one on the boat is not mounted well, there is a bad rattle in the fist mic and I would like to flush mount it.
Is my best option to add a newer vhf with built in radio?

The most cost effective way of adding an AIS receiver would be to replace your VHF with one which includes an AIS receiver. No extra antenna needed, and simply feed the AIS data to your a95 via NMEA0183. You might look at the Standard Horizon GX2200E for about £300. (And then sell the Ray 54E on eBay).

The most cost effective way of adding an AIS transceiver would be the em-trak B100 which PaulRainbow has already recommended.
 
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