AIS Marine Trafic

[Truro Ex Pat]

I want to show my position on Marine Traffic and can't work out if my current VHF will transmit AIS as a standard of if I have to buy a transponder to connect to my Garmin VHF and is it that simple or does it all need stating up etc?

I do not have a clue on this but I know JFM and Cloud 9 both appear on marine traffic to name but a few.
Thanks

 

[CLB]

You will need to buy an AIS transceiver/transponder.

 

[MapisM]

I want to show my position on Marine Traffic

If you are interested in a full flagged AIS visibility of your vessel, also for collision avoidance purposes, then yes, you need an AIS transponder.
But if you just want what you are literally asking for, just to allow your friends or whoever to check your position, then you might consider the Marine Traffic app for your smartphone.
As long as you are under mobile coverage (which is almost always true nowadays, while on coastal cruising), the app will constantly broadcast your position to MT servers, and you will appear on their website, albeit with a minor delay.
But mind, you will NOT be visible to other AIS-equipped vessels around you.

 

[Lon nan Gruagach]

I want to show my position on Marine Traffic and can't work out if my current VHF will transmit AIS as a standard of if I have to buy a transponder to connect to my Garmin VHF and is it that simple or does it all need stating up etc?

I do not have a clue on this but I know JFM and Cloud 9 both appear on marine traffic to name but a few.
Thanks

Your Garmin VHF will not be able to do what you require, you will need a new unit. There are devices that can have VHF and AIS share an antenna.

 

[gjgm]

As others have said, you will need a transponder and either an additional aerial or an aerial splitter. You might want to get one with wifi as it is easier to then set up and of course use on a tablet or phone. Vesper Marine make this as an example, or digitalyacht. I dont think there is any advantage in sticking with a specific brand as it plugs in out of sight as is just a box! I think nearly all the transponder chip/ part of the unit is made by one company.
When I looked, the size of the box itself varied quite a bit with newer models being somewhat smaller.

 

[jrudge]

The transponders also seem to have dropped in price. They were iirc £600 and are now £400 ish plus £100 odd for the splitter

 

[Trundlebug]

Don't fit a splitter, fit a separate dedicated aerial.
Not much difference in price, but much better performance and reliability

 

[Nigelpickin]

Don't fit a splitter, fit a separate dedicated aerial.
Not much difference in price, but much better performance and reliability

+1
Nothing but trouble 'til we installed a separate antenna.

 

[Hurricane]

Interesting
We have always had a dedicated antenna and most of the time, we are correctly visible on Marinetraffic and Vesselfinder.
Other boats often don't show up correctly on these two internet systems.
I think I will start asking the questions of those boats that don't show up correctly.
You may be correct and that the splitters are the problem.
For me, though, it just makes more sense to let a device that needs to transmit continually (even every 30 secs or so) to have its own antenna.