AIS System - Where to Start?

[Buck Turgidson]

If I were in your situation, with that budget I’d buy a 6 or 7 inch Garmin plotter and an AIS send and receive box by Emtrak. You could save £200 by getting the Matsutec version of the Emtrak box, but I understand your wish to get ‘name brand’ stuff in this important area.

You’ll want a chartplotter anyway, and by going this route you’ll save valuable space on your instrument area in cockpit by not having a separate AIS display.

Nowt wrong with the NASA unit, and they’re a very nice company to deal with, with great customer support, but if you’re going to go the chartplotter route I’d say just add an AIS box of your choice to that. The Garmin Echomap plotters come with full Uk charts included, which saves a few quid

or if he wants to keep the dragonfly then a Single Triton 2 display in the cockpit will give him an AIS display which is far superior to the NASA product and be future proof if he wants to connect log, wind etc in the future.

 

[Tranona]

The OP has repeatedly stated a lack of knowledge in what’s available. The OP can clarify but it doesn’t look like a disclaiming of interest in transmit, rather a willingness to consider receive only, presumably influenced by:


You’re entitled to your view on the first part but for channel crossing I suspect you are in the minority: why would you *not* want to be seen, other than cost or tinfoil hat reasons? It’s hard to know what you’re arguing with the second part. Is it that one shouldn’t get transmit because the added safety will make you complacent? The Ouzo wasn’t fitted with AIS.

Long before AIS ships managed to miss small boats pretty well. The number of actual collisions in UK waters in the 20 years or so before AIS came in was tiny - fingers of one hand numbers. Since then it has effectively dropped to zero. You are right Ouzo did not have AIS, but maybe if it had a simple receiver it would have been able to change course. Ignorance of the presence of other vessels is 2 way and far and away the major improvement of awareness for small boats comes from receive. Transmit is just a bonus and I don't think that it adds significantly to safety as it still relies on the ship taking avoiding action if necessary and you have no control over this.

As to becoming aware of the potential uses of AIS this was all aired before post#23 where the OP said specifically he only wanted to receive signals from others.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Long before AIS ships managed to miss small boats pretty well. The number of actual collisions in UK waters in the 20 years or so before AIS came in was tiny - fingers of one hand numbers. Since then it has effectively dropped to zero. You are right Ouzo did not have AIS, but maybe if it had a simple receiver it would have been able to change course. Ignorance of the presence of other vessels is 2 way and far and away the major improvement of awareness for small boats comes from receive. Transmit is just a bonus and I don't think that it adds significantly to safety as it still relies on the ship taking avoiding action if necessary and you have no control over this.

As to becoming aware of the potential uses of AIS this was all aired before post#23 where the OP said specifically he only wanted to receive signals from others.

I would have to disagree with your assertion that transmit doesn't add much.
As I cross shipping lanes frequently between Valencia and the Balearics I'm constantly keeping a sharp eye on AIS and occasionally have a quick word with proximate traffic.
They often see my AIS before primary radar contact and I've watched several change course to avoid me then subsequently thanked them.
One advantage of transmitting is that your vessel type is transmitted. This can only be assumed by primary radar until within visual range.

 

[KompetentKrew]

post#23 where the OP said specifically he only wanted to receive signals from others.

I don't read #23 as a clear statement of what OP wants - the previous 20 or so posts were of people telling him "you obviously don't understand AIS" and "it doesn't work like that", so they turned the question around to comply with that and to get further options explained to them.

Perhaps OP will agree with Buck, Angus and myself when they fully understand the available choices. A transponder and chartplotter (or i70s) seems clearly superior to me, for reasons I gave in #55.

 

[doug748]

I'd probably be willing to spend around £1000+ if I could find a known brand combined chartplotter and AIS transponder - but they don't seem to make them! Does anyone know why?

No idea.

Digital Yacht made a first step 10 years ago (I have one, receive only) and I thought it would do really well. To have AIS and chartplotter in one box seemed a no-brainer, especially for small day boats, ribs, dive and fishing boats etc. Another company said it was developing similar, then it all rather fizzled out, except for the later instruments already mentioned.

However.

Looking at the suggestions for EmTrac ( who I have never heard of but seem to be respectable **), I see they actually do a Chartplotter/AIS transponder and it seems to be available for the ball park figure:

EM TRAK B400 AIS Class B 5W transponder IP67 - F&C Marine Limited

You would have to add charts.

It looks ideal for mounting above the companionway/under the sprayhood of your boat, the perfect position when singlehanding. I actually use a five quid telescopic aerial for AIS, mounted directly to the unit.

https://em-trak.com/wp-content/uploads/B400-quick-start-guide.pdf





** Em-trak AIS - PicoSense

.

 

[TSB240]

No idea.

Digital Yacht made a first step 10 years ago (I have one, receive only) and I thought it would do really well. To have AIS and chartplotter in one box seemed a no-brainer, especially for small day boats, ribs, dive and fishing boats etc. Another company said it was developing similar, then it all rather fizzled out, except for the later instruments already mentioned.

However.

Looking at the suggestions for EmTrac ( who I have never heard of but seem to be respectable **), I see they actually do a Chartplotter/AIS transponder and it seems to be available for the ball park figure:

EM TRAK B400 AIS Class B 5W transponder IP67 - F&C Marine Limited

You would have to add charts.

It looks ideal for mounting above the companionway/under the sprayhood of your boat, the perfect position when singlehanding. I actually use a five quid telescopic aerial for AIS, mounted directly to the unit.

https://em-trak.com/wp-content/uploads/B400-quick-start-guide.pdf






** Em-trak AIS - PicoSense

.

Thank you for showing us all a great alternative product.

It receives
It transmits
It transmits louder than most other leisure class b
It transmits more often than other more basic class b (Sotdma)
It is available from a European source
It offers universal upgrades and will allow use of Old or New nmea equipped instrumentation giving me a future way forward with current and potential upgraded instrumentation.

Great spot.
Just what I want for my new boat.

It will also offer all nmea required by wifi to use on pcs, phones and tablets equipped with navionics or Opencpn

Most important to me is it immediately provides a cockpit mounted daylight viewable display.

Thanks made my day but my bank balance after paying vat is going to be hammered!

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Thank you for showing us all a great alternative product.

It receives
It transmits
It transmits louder than most other leisure class b
It transmits more often than other more basic class b (Sotdma)
It is available from a European source
It offers universal upgrades and will allow use of Old or New nmea equipped instrumentation giving me a future way forward with current and potential upgraded instrumentation.

Great spot.
Just what I want for my new boat.

It will also offer all nmea required by wifi to use on pcs, phones and tablets equipped with navionics or Opencpn

Most important to me is it immediately provides a cockpit mounted daylight viewable display.

Thanks made my day but my bank balance after paying vat is going to be hammered!

Have you checked what it does and doesn't display?
You will need another instrument to display depth, wind true or apparent, speed thru water, temp etc....
It's nice but not a fully specced plotter. You could get a more usable system by using the combinations previously mentioned.

 

[KompetentKrew]

It's nice but not a fully specced plotter. You could get a more usable system by using the combinations previously mentioned.

And they're only about £100 more, with the option of a much larger screen.

 

[fredrussell]

Looking at the suggestions for EmTrac ( who I have never heard of but seem to be respectable **), I see they actually do a Chartplotter/AIS transponder and it seems to be available for the ball park figure:

This unit has already been suggested to OP in post 35, but it does indeed seem to fit the bill very well. I’m not sure how big the screen is though, might be a bit on the small side?

 

[Ian_Rob]

No idea.

Digital Yacht made a first step 10 years ago (I have one, receive only) and I thought it would do really well. To have AIS and chartplotter in one box seemed a no-brainer, especially for small day boats, ribs, dive and fishing boats etc. Another company said it was developing similar, then it all rather fizzled out, except for the later instruments already mentioned.

However.

Looking at the suggestions for EmTrac ( who I have never heard of but seem to be respectable **), I see they actually do a Chartplotter/AIS transponder and it seems to be available for the ball park figure:

EM TRAK B400 AIS Class B 5W transponder IP67 - F&C Marine Limited

You would have to add charts.

It looks ideal for mounting above the companionway/under the sprayhood of your boat, the perfect position when singlehanding. I actually use a five quid telescopic aerial for AIS, mounted directly to the unit.

https://em-trak.com/wp-content/uploads/B400-quick-start-guide.pdf





** Em-trak AIS - PicoSense

.

Not really a chartplotter though the Em-Trak B400 is a high quality SOTDMA AIS with a chart display. Without a card, the display just has a crude generic chart or range rings on which the targets are displayed and a separate list of targets with MMSI/Range/CPA etc is also accessible + alarms. The actual display is a little smaller than it appears to be. No integrated splitter.

 

[doug748]

Oh dear and we were all getting v excited. Never mind it's an excellent AIS set with a basic plotter attached. Nice though.

I hope they keep at it, it's almost perfect for smaller boats.

.

 

[laika]

You are right Ouzo did not have AIS, but maybe if it had a simple receiver it would have been able to change course. Ignorance of the presence of other vessels is 2 way and far and away the major improvement of awareness for small boats comes from receive.

Thankfully the Ouzo was an isolated tragedy so I'm not going to say "and this is why small plastic boats are safer transmitting AIS" but it's a perfect example of how transmit can help. If you accept the sequence of events generally held to be most likely, the ouzo's crew would have seen on their receive only AIS (had they had one) that the pride of Bilbao was going to pass them. They didn't know it was just reaching a waypoint and about to turn into them. The bridge crew did check radar and didn't see a target. Transmit AIS would have put the ouzo on the screen so that only an utterly negligent bridge crew would have missed them.

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/media/547c7053ed915d4c10000083/OuzoReport.pdf

I stress that I’m not questioning your right to consider that transmit is not worth the extra expense, just saying that this would be the wrong example to chose to support that view

 

[Ian_Rob]

Oh dear and we were all getting v excited. Never mind it's an excellent AIS set with a basic plotter attached. Nice though.
I hope they keep at it, it's almost perfect for smaller boats.

….it is a first class bit of kit.

 

[TSB240]

The reason I like this is I have definitely got used to a smaller dedicated basic ais display by using the basic Matsutec for the last 5 years? This display is larger!

I have just acquired a much bigger boat that was well equipped in 1999 with a variety of instrumentation. Most of it is still functioning and will do for now.

It has a basic GPS that Furuno made for Noah. It thinks it is still 2002 but somehow gives the right lat long. Who knows when it might roll over and die completely?

It has an adequate DSC radio with a wireless remote which is connected to the Furuno.

It has a Chartplotter with radar.( It could have ais input but it's not where I want to be looking at it.)
It has networked B and G wind depth and autopilot. It is all still working apart from seized wind speed cup bearings but will probably want upgrading as the displays are aged.

The one thing it needs and doesn't have right now is an easily visible screen at the helm which only displays AIS info including (filtered?) watch lists cpas, bearings and tcpas and a "radar display"

I use navionics on tablets and phones, I use open cpn on a mini pc and phone and have a low consumption 12v TV for display.

This unit will allow me to immediately rid myself of Noah's gps! and a bonus is I won't send the coastguard back to 2002 if I press the red button?

It will provide a reliable WiFi gps and ais source to pc and tablet. No wiring required.

It could be hard wired to the Charplotter but I don't think I would ever use it and running a fishtape through a load of trunking and pulling cables is what I have retired from!

I am sure it's future proof for those lovely giant MFDs or HMIs as I am used to calling them . I will take my time before deciding if I need one.

I am not a fan of splitters and it could be installed and working for me in few hours with a pole mounted dedicated AIS whip on the starboard rear quarter.

I think it is an excellent interim solution for anyone with a mix n match of elderly electronics but no AIS in the cockpit and a plan to modernise for the future.

 

[KompetentKrew]

The reason I like this is I have definitely got used to a smaller dedicated basic ais display by using the basic Matsutec for the last 5 years? This display is larger!

I have just acquired a much bigger boat that was well equipped in 1999 with a variety of instrumentation. Most of it is still functioning and will do for now.

It has a basic GPS that Furuno made for Noah. It thinks it is still 2002 but somehow gives the right lat long. Who knows when it might roll over and die completely?

It has an adequate DSC radio with a wireless remote which is connected to the Furuno.

It has a Chartplotter with radar.( It could have ais input but it's not where I want to be looking at it.)
It has networked B and G wind depth and autopilot. It is all still working apart from seized wind speed cup bearings but will probably want upgrading as the displays are aged.

The one thing it needs and doesn't have right now is an easily visible screen at the helm which only displays AIS info including (filtered?) watch lists cpas, bearings and tcpas and a "radar display"

I use navionics on tablets and phones, I use open cpn on a mini pc and phone and have a low consumption 12v TV for display.

This unit will allow me to immediately rid myself of Noah's gps! and a bonus is I won't send the coastguard back to 2002 if I press the red button?

It will provide a reliable WiFi gps and ais source to pc and tablet. No wiring required.

It could be hard wired to the Charplotter but I don't think I would ever use it and running a fishtape through a load of trunking and pulling cables is what I have retired from!

I am sure it's future proof for those lovely giant MFDs or HMIs as I am used to calling them . I will take my time before deciding if I need one.

I am not a fan of splitters and it could be installed and working for me in few hours with a pole mounted dedicated AIS whip on the starboard rear quarter.

I think it is an excellent interim solution for anyone with a mix n match of elderly electronics but no AIS in the cockpit and a plan to modernise for the future.

I think the em-trak B400 is a nice bit of kit, but it's not the most economical solution for most people. I think it would suit very well someone who wants a redundant AIS / AIS display alongside their main chartplotter.

The thing that leaps out to me about the description of your new boat is that the chartplotter is not in the place you want it - IMO that is the true problem that should be addressed. I consider a chartplotter of decent and usable size in the cockpit to be pretty much essential (essential for relaxed and comfortable cruising, at least).

I sympathise entirely with your distaste for pulling cables through narrow conduit though, so I don't mean to preach or tell you you're doing it wrong.

 

[st599]

It has a basic GPS that Furuno made for Noah. It thinks it is still 2002 but somehow gives the right lat long. Who knows when it might roll over and die completely?

If it thinks it is 2002, it may be using the incorrect almanac data - it may look like the correct position in some locations, but not all.

 

[Roberto]

This unit will allow me to immediately rid myself of Noah's gps! and a bonus is I won't send the coastguard back to 2002 if I press the red button?

The date is not sent in the DSC alert string, just time

 

[TSB240]

If it thinks it is 2002, it may be using the incorrect almanac data - it may look like the correct position in some locations, but not all.

Trust me it is the first thing to get carefully removed. I have found a non oem junction box with unmarked and uncrimped nmea cables connected by corroded 13 amp choc blocks to the DSC radio.
It will probably end up on ebay along with a friend's ancient and barely viewable receive only Nasa ais!
Some old salt might want to adopt them for their local maritime museum?.

 

[TSB240]

The date is not sent in the DSC alert string, just time

Thanks Roberto for ruining my day but I really liked the idea of time travel back to 2002 at the press of a button.?

 

[st599]

Trust me it is the first thing to get carefully removed. I have found a non oem junction box with unmarked and uncrimped nmea cables connected by corroded 13 amp choc blocks to the DSC radio.
It will probably end up on ebay along with a friend's ancient and barely viewable receive only Nasa ais!
Some old salt might want to adopt them for their local maritime museum?.

Not sure I understand how the connections used would affect the Almanac - it's downloaded from the satellite on start up and is used in the calculation of location, To do that, you need the location of the satellite. if the calculation assumes it's 2002 and uses the wrong satellite location, your location will be also wrong.