AIS transponder with WiFi ?

[Pirx]

I'm going to install an AIS transponder over the winter and I'd appreciate any comments regarding the 'best' products available.
WiFi is essential as our ancient plotter doesn't have a clue about anything much, and I find that Navionics on a tablet and on my 'phone works extraordinarily well.

I'm thinking about jumping ship from Navionics and going with OpenCPN: the AIS display looks more foolproof (this is vital for us!) and we want to use Antares charts next year. So any thoughts about all of that are welcome.

 

[Tranona]

Have a look here quark-elec.com this is what I am considering for exactly the same sort of reasons. No doubt others will come along and say whether it actually works or not, but to my layman's eyes should do.

 

[Jamie Dundee]

Emtrak 952 has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. B900 Class B AIS Transceiver - Work Boats, Fishing, Sailing, Motor, Tenders I em-trak.com

 

[duncan99210]

No idea about integrated kit but I have a Yakker NMEA to wifi bridge (NMEA Wi-Fi and wired converters by YAKBITZ from UK Distributor, AVES Marine Ltd | eBay) fitted to my Matsutec AIS transponder. Works fine with Navionics and has the added advantage of giving Navionics the a gps position fix for my wifi only iPad.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Have a look here quark-elec.com this is what I am considering for exactly the same sort of reasons. No doubt others will come along and say whether it actually works or not, but to my layman's eyes should do.

Not a patch on the Emtrak B924 or the B954 that Jamie mentions.

It costs £432 but needs a VHF antenna or splitter and a GPS antenna. It does not support N2K, so you can't connect it to many current MFDs. A Quark GPS antenna costs £50.40 and their splitter is £170, that's £652.40

The Emtrak B924 costs £670. It has built in GPS and a VHF splitter, so no extra kit to buy or install, even comes with the VHF patch lead. It supports NMEA 0183 (two IN and two OUT ports), N2K and USB. The 0183 and N2K ports also multiplex. Britich company, they make the internal gubbins for many of the big name AIS sellers and it comes with a 3 year warranty.

An extra £100 (£770) gets you the latest B954 SOTDMA version.

 

[Tranona]

I am looking at just the AIS receiver rather than a transponder to give AIS on my tablet until I decide what I want to do long term with my new boat. Planning to sail it back from Neyland to Poole next spring. Currently has only very basic old gear - not even a log!. Chart table below. Upper left is an old chart plotter but not sure it works - will find out week after next when I go up there again.

All a learning curve for me after 20 years of having factory installed systems.

 

[prv]

Another EmTrak fan here - we use them at work, having switched over from McMurdo, and it's also what I fitted to Ariam a couple of years ago.

Pete

 

[Moodysailor]

We had the same thought when upgrading ours and went for a Vesper XB-8000 AIS. As we were using the boat as a remote office, we also had a 4G router on board with Vodafone sim card for internet. The Vesper has the ability to act as an access point, or use another so it was really easy to configure to use the on-board router putting all the data on one network.

It is very easy to use and works great. As I have had some people ask - no it does not need the internet (4G) for the AIS/instruments to work on the WiFi network.

Edit to add: One potential downside (depending on how you view it) with the Vesper compared to the Emtrak is it needs a separate splitter if using the same antenna. This wasn't a deal breaker for us due to the location of the kit, and I was happy that if the splitter went down for any reason it's a simple and lower cost replacement. But for sure, it would have been easier to not have to worry about routing extra wires - so it's down to your choice.

 

[eebygum]

Have a look here quark-elec.com this is what I am considering for exactly the same sort of reasons. No doubt others will come along and say whether it actually works or not, but to my layman's eyes should do.

I use the AIS Receiver with WiFi from Quark; excellent build and price. I had it on my last boat (for 3 years) and I’ve installed my latest yacht (4years).

Very easy to set-up; I run on my ipad and iPhone with navionics and I also use the Scottish Antares charts (I don’t think integration is required for the latter as I use the charts primarily for anchorages. Quark also offer a very cheap whip aerial if required (although range obviously reduced if mounted on the stern)

 

[Hoolie]

I've had a Vesper Marine XB8000 for several years with their splitter as well. The setup works fine and I can pick AIS targets beyond visual range and use the data on the N2K network and portable devices. But if I were to buy now I'd go for the higher power Emtrak B954 even though it doesn't convert NMEA0183 data to N2K or WiFi as the XB8000 does

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I've got an AMEC camino. Similar to the EmTrak mentioned above but cheaper when I bought 3 years ago.

 

[Tranona]

I use the AIS Receiver with WiFi from Quark; excellent build and price. I had it on my last boat (for 3 years) and I’ve installed my latest yacht (4years).

Very easy to set-up; I run on my ipad and iPhone with navionics and I also use the Scottish Antares charts (I don’t think integration is required for the latter as I use the charts primarily for anchorages. Quark also offer a very cheap whip aerial if required (although range obviously reduced if mounted on the stern)

Thanks for that. Very helpful. The boat does not have a masthead antenna as far as i can see, but a whip mounted on the davits at the stern. So initially think I could use either a splitter from that or another whip in a similar location. Accept of course range would be less than masthead. One of my options for aa longer term solution is to fit a Garmin chart plotter which has an NMAE 0183 input.

 

[david_bagshaw]

I'm going to install an AIS transponder over the winter and I'd appreciate any comments regarding the 'best' products available.
WiFi is essential as our ancient plotter doesn't have a clue about anything much, and I find that Navionics on a tablet and on my 'phone works extraordinarily well.

I'm thinking about jumping ship from Navionics and going with OpenCPN: the AIS display looks more foolproof (this is vital for us!) and we want to use Antares charts next year. So any thoughts about all of that are welcome.

I have used Open cpn with charts from visit my harbor (admiralty updated to dec 2020), for over 10 years. use to have it direct wired, via usb but now via wifi with digital yacht equipement. (ait 2000).
Have to say wifi is so convenient and spares the damage usb slots get in a sea way.

Open cpn have a very good implementation of AIS, which has been valuable crossing shipping lanes.

 

[Pirx]

Thank you everyone; that's all really helpful. I had not come across Emtrak: very interesting collection of transponders with different configurations.

 

[tudorsailor]

I use the AIS Receiver with WiFi from Quark; excellent build and price. I had it on my last boat (for 3 years) and I’ve installed my latest yacht (4years).

Very easy to set-up; I run on my ipad and iPhone with navionics and I also use the Scottish Antares charts (I don’t think integration is required for the latter as I use the charts primarily for anchorages. Quark also offer a very cheap whip aerial if required (although range obviously reduced if mounted on the stern)

I have had the quark for 4 years and have never got it to work properly. Now the USB socket has broken and the box is sealed so i cannot get in to fix it

So is there an alternative that is AIS receiver, USB powered and sends AIS on Wifi to my tablet? The reason for receiver rather than transponder is that I have a working Raymarine AIS transponder. I would like a back-up receiver. I would also like AIS on Navionics as a back up hence wifi
Thanks

 

[Porthandbuoy]

The EmTrak 952 bluetooth does not work with iPads (IOS Operating systems).

 

[zulloboy]

I tried a Quark wifi AIS a few years ago and was so unhappy with it I returned it in frustration.
I replaced it with a 2-channel dAISy AIS and TwinYakker wifi which work well, with very easy set-up and good support. But not USB powered.
OpenCPN on a cheap (so cheap I can afford a spare!) netbook which also works extremely well.

 

[tudorsailor]

I tried a Quark wifi AIS a few years ago and was so unhappy with it I returned it in frustration.
I replaced it with a 2-channel dAISy AIS and TwinYakker wifi which work well, with very easy set-up and good support. But not USB powered.
OpenCPN on a cheap (so cheap I can afford a spare!) netbook which also works extremely well.

The dAISY now seems to be USB powered so ticks that box. Can you give a simpleton's guide to how you added the TwinYakker?
I have OpenCPN on a PC and Navionics on Samung tablet
I am trying to have an independent back-up to my Raymarine transponder
Thanks

 

[Supertramp]

I just installed a Vesper Vision2. Very straightforward and I removed more redundant wiring than I added. The WiFi makes it work with Navionics on a tablet without any fiddling. I chose an AIS with a screen though so I can see what's going on with only the GPS and vhf connections. Depends how comfortable you are at interconnecting instruments and systems. I'm not, and I have many different ages of units on board.

 

[CapPugwash]

I achieved the same thing. I needed a new VHF so I bought an ICOM IC-M605EURO with integrated AIS and an ActiSense W2K-1 NMEA 2000® to Wi-Fi Gateway.

Works very well with the bonus of getting all my instrument data available over Wi-Fi.