CARD and AIS

bumblefish

bumblefish

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I have been looking through a post by IanGrant from May last year about 'fave' gear, I actually bookmarked it in anticpation of a few purchases, and the CARD was much loved. When seaching through the forum for other references to CARD I came across one item which suggested that some large vessels, away from shipping lanes and land, may turn off their radar! I have to ask is this generally accepted as common policy and if so do they also turn off their AIS tramsmitters? If so there seems little point in investing in either a CARD or AIS device, as a mast weight saving option, if one expects to encounter any such vessel on a regular basis. I might as well accept an almost inevitable radar set installation. And anyway who makes a CARD, because after looking on google all radar detector links seem to be aimed at motorists!
Survey today...................................
 
Andrew

The CARD systen is worth having, ships turn off the AIS (maybe) but certainly not the radar - ALWAYS the card system went beep then sure enough a ship appeared over the horizon..

CARD

It is a real wake up call on a long night watch - then turn on your radar if you cant see the ship!

Cheers

Ian
 
No, probably worth an Email to them to ask.. I was lucky mine was already on the boat when I bought her.. also note the power draw - 0.045 amps a lot less than a radar!!

cheers

Ian
 
Andrew

Whilst the CARD or similar radar detectors will tell you there is a vessel with radar in the area if that vessel is using it, in the most probable scenario for your usage sea area (I assume central English Channel), it will be beeping pretty well all the time I would think. Is that really any help or is it added confusion? The low power consumption is nice and I could see advantages in it's use mid-ocean as a warning to keep a very sharp lookout or turn on your radar.

I don't want to be preaching yet again but will nevertheless restate my own view that AIS has advantages in addition to radar but much less so in place of it. We too sail in the busy waters of the English Channel and make the north/south crossing sometimes 7 or 8 times per year, it used to be more in the days of 'proper' duty free! Crosssing the lanes takes around 1 hour per lane with a 40 minute break in between, plus there will be occasional other encounters inshore either side. Take that time as a percentage of the time for the crossing and then factor in how often that will be in bad visibility (most will avoid it if it is forecast) and you will see how small the useful usage time percentage is. However look again at your typical season afloat, weekends etc and you will probably remember many times when the visibility wasn't good, but the danger was from land, buoys or small vessels not ships, at those times proper radar will work for you when AIS or CARD will not, radar will also work for you offshore with shipping. It is personal choice if the chosen option is AIS in place of radar of course, but in my view the priority purchase would be radar first. If battery consumption is an issue, run the engine if neccessary, probably in fog 90% of the time there will be no wind anyway. Weight aloft of a small scanner is not a problem, it doesn't need to be especially high up and on a pole at the stern is quite adequate for collision avoidance.

Robin
 
Be aware - I had a CARD, something went wrong (out of warranty) so after speaking to the manufacturer I sent it back as requested to get a quote for repair.

They tried to charge me almost $100 for looking at it so see what was wrong and then another $400 to fix it. Complete f****n rip-off IMHO as they, not a reseller, had them brand new on an eBay Buy it Now at the time for less than the total of those two figures!

I no longer have a CARD!
 
My brother and I sailed an Elizabethan 23 accross the bay to La Coruna this summer. We fitted a NASA AIS set and found it excellent.It gave us sufficient information at a long enough range to avoid any shipping and more importantly could be understood with a glance unlike radar, which although having many other functions, requires time to assess; something a singleton watchkeeper rarely has
I believe it is illegal for vessels to turn the system off when underway.We found many ships transmitting at anchor or a berth. Useful as one sees when they sail, ie speed changes from zero.
With regard to Card it cannot compete with the range of information AIS provides.
Iwould say, even if you have radar it is useful. If not it is an exellent alternative for a small boat /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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