AIS - any advice or experience

[edmundwigan]

I recently sailed from Plymouth to Gijon and the weather was a bit lively. It was difficult to keep watch as in the troughs my line of sight was shortened to 100 mts. The radar was of limited use as it was blocked by the seastate. On one occasion I was within 200mts of a commercial vessel but there was nothing showing on radar.

I have been looking at ways to improve my visibility and to be able to see other vessels. I started looking at Radar enhancers such as Seame. In my search I came across the Simrad AIS Class B Transponder £840.

Does anyone on the panel know of any similar products or have any experience of this AIS transponder?

I should say that my plotters are the old Raymarine range and won't work with an AIS engine such as the Raymarine AIS 500 Class B transponder.

 

[haydude]

I recently sailed from Plymouth to Gijon and the weather was a bit lively. It was difficult to keep watch as in the troughs my line of sight was shortened to 100 mts. The radar was of limited use as it was blocked by the seastate.

I believe that an AIS transponder in your situation would have been extremely useful and a safety measure even more valuable than a seeme. A transponder of course is also a receiver.

Simrad, Comar, AIT, Transas, EasyAIS, the Class B transponders available on the market right now all use the same chipset. Firmwares are even interchangeable. So get the cheapest, look on eBay for Transas for example.

Simrad supplies a dedicated monitor, but it would not have a detailed chart. Your best bet would be to upgrade your plotter to a C series, rather then buying dedicated gear: more practicle, more space, less power consumption, and you probably would have to do that anyway sooner or later. An alternative is to use a laptop connected to the transponder to see the AIS tracks, all of these transponders are supplied with basic software.

 

[fireball]

I believe that an AIS transponder in your situation would have been extremely useful and a safety measure even more valuable than a seeme. A transponder of course is also a receiver.<snip>

I beg to differ ... AIS receiver would be a useful addition - the transponder is (currently) unlikely to have any impact on the commercial shipping who can a) filter out class B and b) are not likely to have it integrated into their collision avoidance screens (radar) or chart plotters.

What would've been helpful to you is a SeeMe or equivalent - so you would've shown up on their radar screens. Also useful to you would've been an AIS display so you can see what is around and ease the watch keeping tasks (doesn't get rid of them altogether as some vessels do not transmit or have AIS transeivers)

AIS displays can be as simple as the NASA all in one display (they call it Radar!) for a couple of hundred quid or you can start integrating with Laptops/plotters for which you need an AIS engine. again - Nasa do a good value one for around £100 (but with mixed results) - better (IMHO) is a dual channel one (receives both at the same time) but you can double the cost as well. Then you're talking about displays ... There are one or two stand-alone AIS displays available if you're happy with your Raymarine kit - otherwise you're either talking about replacing the kit or supplementing it with additional - we've gone down the second route for the moment (as we already had the additional chartplotter) - the pain with all of this is placing the kit in the right place so if you get an alarm you can investigate the cause and take the right action without having to clamber over ppl or get yourself into an awkward situation ...
Our second plotter is on the hatch in the companion way - this is the one that shows AIS targets - as such it is convenient for crew to keep an eye on targets leaving the helm to helm the boat. Whilst this seems to be quite a good set up - it can be a nuisance when the helm wants to cancel an alarm or change a setting - a remote control behind the wheel would be advantageous!

 

[edmundwigan]

AIS advice

Thank you very much for your thoughtful responses. What I didn't say before is that I usually sail single handed so no problem climbing over crew!

I think I will have a closer look at the laptop charting and AIS as I now have to have one on board to send emails via satphone. I don't really want to change my plotters as they function pretty well.

Perhaps I can get Father Christmas to do his stuff this year.

Thanks again

 

[fishermantwo]

I think I will have a closer look at the laptop charting and AIS as I now have to have one on board to send emails via satphone. I don't really want to change my plotters as they function pretty well.

Seaclear 2 handles AIS. You already use a laptop, just add transceiver box and aerial.

 

[ksutton]

Thank you very much for your thoughtful responses. What I didn't say before is that I usually sail single handed so no problem climbing over crew!

Thanks again

Sailing single handed, AIS reception even more important, you can set AIS alarm distance to suit.