Cheapest, simplest plotter/AIS product?

[webcraft]

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Just want a receiver, not bothered about a transponder.

- W

 

[Rafiki]

Replace your VHF with one that is also an AIS receiver, ten connect to your chartplotter, or rely on the tiny screen on the VHF. Doesnt require a separate aerial.

 

[lpdsn]

I've a Standard Horizon VHF with an AIS receiver. I had to replace the VHF anyway so cost about £150-ish extra for the AIS capability.

I feed the AIS data, along with all the rest, into a tablet running OpenCPN and the VisitMyHarbour Admiralty charts. £32 for charts IIRC.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Don't laugh, but the best bang for buck seems to be a netbook, a bluetooth VHF dongle, a usb chartstick from Visit My Harbour, and an NMEA/USB cable from Digital Yacht to forward the AIS data from your DSC radio to the netbook.
Excluding the DSC radio, you're probably looking at less than £200. It's what I have and it all works. And I even have two spare netbooks up the loft should the one on board get drowned (been working 5 years, no problem).

Beaten to it. Must type faster.

 

[salar]

You can have cheap (as above or a plotter +Nasa AIS engine) or simple (plug and play) but it is rare in the boat world that you can have Cheap AND Simple. The not-cheap part will be the plotter. What do you want from it? If you can't find a plotter with built-in AIS, find the cheapest plotter you like (you may have to buy maps as an extra) and add the NASA AIS engine. I had that on a previous boat - see here and there is a link on that page to some screen examples

 

[Tranona]

Laptop, USB dongle for GPS and NASA AIS engine plus any of the low cost charts - I used the Imray programme and charts but plenty of others on the market.

 

[Mctavish]

Don't laugh, but the best bang for buck seems to be a netbook, a bluetooth VHF dongle, a usb chartstick from Visit My Harbour, and an NMEA/USB cable from Digital Yacht to forward the AIS data from your DSC radio to the netbook.
Excluding the DSC radio, you're probably looking at less than £200. It's what I have and it all works. And I even have two spare netbooks up the loft should the one on board get drowned (been working 5 years, no problem).

Beaten to it. Must type faster.

Where can you buy a bluetooth VHF dongle? Thanks.

 

[prv]

Where can you buy a bluetooth VHF dongle? Thanks.

I think he probably meant GPS.

Pete

 

[GHA]

Raspberry pi, openplotter and a rtl TV dongle.
And a phone /tablet to view it on

Then for a few quid more you have barometer, compass, battery voltage & thermometers with everything sent over the net should you have a connection while you're away.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I think he probably meant GPS.

Pete

I did mean GPS. Got mine from Amazon several years ago.

 

[Saguday]

An iPad or Android tablet/smartphone and this app for a fiver:

Boat Beacon

Or splash out and buy the complete set with nav charts and a neat head-up video/compass for £30:

SeaNav

CompassEye

Obviously they only work when you have internet access, either wifi or 3G/4G but depending where you are around the UK coast that's usually ok (especially near ports here you may need it most).

I was initially looking for a basic marine traffic tracker app (like Marine traffic) and came across Boat Beacon for a similar price and it's much more useful. I tried it out on our recent 2 week cruise around south Cornwall and it worked a treat. It *does not* replace the functionality of a full AIS Class B transponder hooked into your £2k plotter but it does give CPA and collision alerts, anchor watch, route planning and tracking etc. If you have an MMSI it will also report your location to the shoreside AIS systems so you become visible on marine traffic etc. Great pice of kit and cheap enough to take a punt on, even if you have all the rest of the gear because you can carry it around with you

 

[doug748]

You might find a Digital Yacht 500 Plotter with built in AIS, secondhand. Like the one shown here on this defunct web page:

https://www.stormforcemarine.com/digital-yacht-chartplotters.html

The plotter function is not great but not dreadful. All you need do for live AIS is stick a telescopic aerial in the back.

Next best, cheap option is the DIY job with Android or summat.

The Nasa AIS Radar is good but that does not solve the plotter issue.

 

[Oldfellah]

I am afraid I am not really up with many of the set ups suggested however I am extremely happy with the one I now use. With a radio capable of giving AIS information connected to a Comar display I have all the information laid out in great detail at the chart table with access to all I need to know about ships in the area. I found that using the AIS information on a chart plotter led to a rather cluttered up screen that I found rather confusing to sort out. Probably an age thing but my option is certainly the best for my needs.
A Comar display can be picked up quite cheaply from Fleabay . I picked up my CSD300 for around £150 almost new.

 

[rptb1]

I have a Standard Horizon combined VHF/GPS/AIS, mainly because I want a proximity alarm for offshore single-handing in a reliable waterproof package.

 

[laika]

Raspberry pi, openplotter and a rtl TV dongle.

I'll see your dodgy software defined radio and raise you an AIS HAT:
https://www.tindie.com/products/astuder/daisy-hat-ais-receiver-for-raspberry-pi/
I personally have no experience of this and not-produced-by-a-major-manufacturer caveats may apply but it seemed to have been well received by people on cruisersforum:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/daisy-open-source-ais-receiver-154962.html
There's also a standalone version in a box if you want to skip the pi altogether:
https://www.tindie.com/products/astuder/daisy-2-dual-channel-ais-receiver-with-nmea-0183/
I recall there's at least one other similar product out there, possibly more

 

[GHA]

I'll see your dodgy software defined radio and raise you an AIS HAT:
https://www.tindie.com/products/astuder/daisy-hat-ais-receiver-for-raspberry-pi/
I personally have no experience of this and not-produced-by-a-major-manufacturer caveats may apply but it seemed to have been well received by people on cruisersforum:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/daisy-open-source-ais-receiver-154962.html
There's also a standalone version in a box if you want to skip the pi altogether:
https://www.tindie.com/products/astuder/daisy-2-dual-channel-ais-receiver-with-nmea-0183/
I recall there's at least one other similar product out there, possibly more

Yet to hear a bad word about the Daisy. Cheap and apparently good, just not the cheapest....

Plus with a Pi and you get SO much more as well.

 

[prv]

I personally have no experience of this and not-produced-by-a-major-manufacturer caveats may apply but it seemed to have been well received by people on cruisersforum:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f13/daisy-open-source-ais-receiver-154962.html

I have one at the back of the abandoned-projects drawer. My subjective impression was that the reception wasn't as good as, say, my Standard Horizon AIS-VHF. I also believe it's a channel-hopping receiver like the early NASAs, rather than proper dual-channel. Of course, at a tenth of the price of the SH and with fair warning on the website about both these points, I have no complaints at all.

Pete

 

[laika]

I also believe it's a channel-hopping receiver like the early NASAs, rather than proper dual-channel.

From looking at available versions it looks like the v1 was channel hopping, the current v2 is dual channel

 

[pagoda]

.
Just want a receiver, not bothered about a transponder.

- W

Depends heavily on the capabilities of your existing plotter / network set up.
I have had NASA AIS3 feeding both my old Garmin 556 directly and our current boat set up of NASA AIS3 feeding NMEA0183 at 38.4KBaud to a NMEA 2000 converter to a B&G plotter. Both installations worked perfectly well. I'm primarily interested in big commercial targets in poor weather, not moored yachts. The stationary boats are a pest.

 

[prv]

From looking at available versions it looks like the v1 was channel hopping, the current v2 is dual channel

That's good news. Pretty sure mine is an early v1.

Pete