Digital yachts ais gps antenna

[paris]

Hi, I have a digital yachts ais which is not receiving gps signals currently.
Been on to the manufacture who suggest shelling out £130 for a new antenna as that should cure it, ideally I want a certain fix. I’ve checked the cable with an ohm meter and it’s reading 0 ohms which is good, I have a redundant garmin gps mushroom antenna on the boat, could I connect this into the ais or would it cause further issues? I will need an adapter to fit it to the BNC connector.

 

[ylop]

It will be tuned to the wrong wavelength - but I did try mine once (not on the same unit) and you do get some signal. I get more with a stubby helicoil aerial from an old handheld.

 

[Plum]

It will be tuned to the wrong wavelength - but I did try mine once (not on the same unit) and you do get some signal. I get more with a stubby helicoil aerial from an old handheld.

Are you saying you received gps signals using an aerial from a handheld vhf? The Op has a problem receiving gps not vhf.

 

[oldgit]

AIS signal is from a VHF antenna.
Your vessel location only from a GPS "mushroom" .

When my Digital Yachts failed to detect any other vessels, including those less than 100M away, a "new" repurposed VHF antenna sorted the problem.
Vhf aerials sometimes "fail" but more likely to be the plug and coax connection ie. corrosion.
Check Pl259 or BNC plugged into AIS engine.
Indicator is copper braid will be in the best case black, in the worst cases totally absent and in some cases the water will have got into device PCB.

 

[paris]

Mine is picking other up but not transmitting and on the laptop can see no satellites so suspect gps antenna

 

[ylop]

Are you saying you received gps signals using an aerial from a handheld vhf? The Op has a problem receiving gps not vhf.

Ah sorry I misread his post.

For clarity no - I did experiment with using a GPS mushroom antenna that was already mounted on the pushpit as a VHF antenna for my AIS receiver. Unsurprisingly it worked better when swapped for one actually of the right design.

Assuming his “mushroom” is like mine it’s just a dumb antenna so whether it will solve his issue will depend on what is wrong with the AIS.