AIS transponder

[Daydream believer]

An interesting thread. I have an AIS receiver [integrated into the VHF set] which displays on my chart plotter in the cockpit, plus a passive radar reflector [I don't spend much time in shipping areas]. my course alteration was sufficient to avoid him.

The AIS integration into the VHF makes it very easy to make a DSC call to an AIS target. You don't have to transcribe the MMSI into the VHF, just press a button on the VHF AIS page. I haven't had the need to do this yet, but it is conceivable that it would be possible even singlehanded.

I'm sure there are quite a few AIS equipped boats within striking distance of Southminster you could have a look at - though many may be ashore at the moment.

I do not have a chart plotter - not even using my GPS that much although i do use my yoeman when I do.
Oddly Cactus replied to a query I had by saying they had an offer on chart plotters & receivers. Perhaps they feel that is a good option. The whole setup of options is a minefield.

What items do you have ? as I could put a chart plotter in the cockpit somewhere & put an AISreceiver near the VHF down below, coupled to the chart plotter GPS. I really did not want to link anything else into my existing GPS & VHF as i am always wary of an electric fault.

I had one once & had near panic for a few minutes as all electrics on the boat went down. Fortunately i had my Sestrel grid compass set up under the tiller & knew where I wanted to go so transition to manual was really quite easy & I did my plots on the Yoeman overlay with a felt pen. So never considered a chart plotter until this thread. I certainly do not want the hassle of setting up a laptop. not enough room on a 31ft boat

 

[prv]

The AIS integration into the VHF makes it very easy to make a DSC call to an AIS target. You don't have to transcribe the MMSI into the VHF, just press a button on the VHF AIS page. I haven't had the need to do this yet, but it is conceivable that it would be possible even singlehanded.

I've used this a couple of times, though to call another yacht rather than to avoid collision with a ship. Certainly it's vastly easier than typing MMSIs, which I probably wouldn't bother with unless I'd had no answer on voice. Instead I just press the "AIS" button, scroll down the list of vessel names in the vicinity, press "Call", and it rings on their boat.

If you have the Vesper displays you may be able to do one step better - when you have a vessel selected on the display, there is a "call" button that will trigger your radio so you don't even need to pick their name from a list. Unfortunately, although the system to do this (NMEA sentence) is standardised, most radio manufacturers have not bothered with it. Vesper maintain a list of radios it's known to work with; mostly Icom I think, and sadly not the otherwise-excellent Standard Horizon GX2100. But this is a minor niggle really.

Pete

 

[rgarside]

What items do you have ? as I could put a chart plotter in the cockpit somewhere & put an AISreceiver near the VHF down below, coupled to the chart plotter GPS. I really did not want to link anything else into my existing GPS & VHF as i am always wary of an electric fault.

I have an Advansea T50 plotter [as it fitted into the space occupied by the previous, non-AIS Navman unit], and a Standard Horizon GX2100 VHF/AIS. I looked at fitting a separate AIS receiver, but by the time I'd sorted out the hassle of a separate antenna or antenna splitter, and splicing together the NMEA network with a multiplexer box to get enough talkers onto the system, it seemed much cheaper and simpler to replace the VHF and get the benefits of the integrated VHF/AIS set. The T50 is bulkhead mounted in the cockpit, and I have a remote handset for the VHF mounted just inside the companionway, reachable from the cockpit.

The links in the system will be in the NMEA data feeds, these are just data signals so any failure should just result in data not getting communicated rather than shutting down any of the power electrics. With the right circuit breakers or fuses in the system an individual fault should be contained. However, it is always a challenge to work out what previous owners / builder have done with wiring on a boat of a certain age!

 

[Twister_Ken]

I do not have a chart plotter - not even using my GPS that much although i do use my yoeman when I do.
Oddly Cactus replied to a query I had by saying they had an offer on chart plotters & receivers. Perhaps they feel that is a good option. The whole setup of options is a minefield.

What items do you have ? as I could put a chart plotter in the cockpit somewhere & put an AISreceiver near the VHF down below, coupled to the chart plotter GPS. I really did not want to link anything else into my existing GPS & VHF as i am always wary of an electric fault.

DDB,

My set up:

Digital Yacht AIS ANT200 - a combined aerial/circuit board which outputs AIS info in NMEA, linked to a Garmin 550 plotter in the cockpit. Lets me see AIS contacts on screen and interrogate them to find vessel name, MMSI, speed, course, rate of turn, destination and estimated closest point of approach. Also there's a user-settable alarm which will sound if the CPA gets within whatever range I deem too close.

That pairing could work stand-alone, but I also have the Garmin linked to the VHF for positional info, and to my Yeoman plotter. It doesn't let me auto-call a contact on VHF which a cleverer radio would do.

I chose the ANT200 because a) it's a fully integrated unit, nothing extra required except a plotter and b) because it's cheap. Mounted on the pulpit I pick up AIS contacts at about 7 nm.

http://www.digitalyacht.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=11646

I'm pleased with the set up, but if doing it again I'd find a radio which I could integrate as well.