AIS troubleshooting

[joss]

Have been installing the NASA AIS engine and am having trouble getting it to work properly. Perhaps you have some experience in it.
It sends out a stream of AIS NMEA sentences every few seconds for up to a few minutes then stops for anything between a few minutes and an hour or more. Have ensured nothing else is turned on, so am pretty sure it is not an interference issue. Tried a second (emegergency) VHF antenna, but this gave nothing. When it does work it is thought the masthead. Now, this could suggest a signal strength issue, but when it does receive, it is showing signal strength around 30 (halfway up the scale) and boat is in Portsmouth. Also, when it is receiving it picks up traffic accross Eastern Solent, South of Island and up Southampton water. I was told that it may be losing when it switched to channel B, but there is no time pattern to the drop-outs and I am geting sentences on both channels (though mostly A). Any ideas appreciated! Thanks.

 

[milltech]

I suggest you call Nasa on 01438 354033 or mail nasamarine@aol.com, they're very helpful although I understand working pretty well flat out at the moment.

 

[joss]

Thanks, yes, have spoken with them and they suggested that it is propably to do with switching between channels, but that doesn't seem to be the case as it is not following a fixed time pattern. Though it is unlikely to be faulty, I have sent the unit for them to check out, so that I can at least eliminate it as a cause.

 

[steverow]

I would think that this is some sort of antenna connection issue...intermittent.
Areas to check out are the BNC connector on the unit itself, and any PL259/BNC adapters either home made or otherwise. It could be an intermittent dry joint sort of fault in the unit itself. NASA should find this if it's there.


Steve.

 

[cgw]

I'm interested in fitting the NASA AIS engine to my Raymarine C80 which I've just successfully updated to Version 3.18. Does anyone have any experience of interfacing these two items, or have any alternative recommendations?

 

[tome]

Re: Coincidentally...

Electrician turned up in the office today to put in some extra sockets, turns out he's trying to interface E series and NASA AIS. I gave him the new v3.2 software and instructions how to wire them together so will enquire whether it's all working

The AIS output is a 9 way D type female. Pin 3 should go to the Raymarine NMEA 0183 cable NMEA Input (+ve) white conductor. Pin 5 should go to Raymarine NMEA Input (-ve) common green conductor

In the System Setup Menu / System Integration Setup Menu change the default NMEA 4800 setting to AIS 38400

You'll notice a new AIS icon

 

[joss]

When its working its great!