DSC VHF with AIS

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brians

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There are several VHF sets now available with AIS built in. Icom are also bringing one out next month.

I do not normally like multiple use items but it does seem a simple way to upgrade my VHF to DSC and get AIS thrown in without the need for splitters, additional aerial etc.

Can anyone speak from experience of owning and using on?
 
The Standard Horizon GX2100 seems to be popular. I have one and so do quite a few others on the forum - as you say, it's the most convenient way of getting AIS for anyone who was thinking of upgrading their VHF anyway.

I'm very happy with it.

Pete
 
I have had the Furuno Radio Ocean RO4800 for two years now and it works great, but note it transmits AIS data at one baud rate and receives DSC position data at another lower rate I recall. The dual function set worked out cheaper than two units with a separate aerial or a splitter.

I have the manual on PDF if you need it. Was £200 from Force Four.
 
I am very happy with the Radio Ocean set and the wireless remote handset is also a real bonus. I feed the AIS data to both a Garmin plotter and a laptop which is also easy to set up and use.

Yoda
 
prv said:
The Standard Horizon GX2100 seems to be popular. I have one and so do quite a few others on the forum - as you say, it's the most convenient way of getting AIS for anyone who was thinking of upgrading their VHF anyway.

I'm very happy with it.

Pete
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+1, though still trying to get it to talk to chartplotter
 
Another vote for the Radio Ocean from Force 4. Outputs the AIS to a Raymarine C120. I have it outputting to the plotter at the GPS baud rate - apparently sub optimal but I can't tell the difference in reality although it may struggle with loads and loads of target data. Works well, although the built in screen would be a bit of a struggle to view on its own!
 
+1 for GX2100
I've had one a few years; I bought a combined radio/AIS unit to save on power consumption.

The value of the display depends on circumstance; in shipping lanes I use a small chart plotter as it gives a much better view of the traffic, further out where I may only meet one or two ships the radio display is fine for alarms and indicating where to look. Sharing a masthead antenna gives an excellent AIS range.
 
Seajet said:
How do users of the SH with AIS get on with the screen size, I'd have thought it's a bit small to make things out ?
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Yep, the graphical "radar" style display is basically worthless. The list is useable, but of course that's not great for situational awareness. However, this doesn't matter at all to most of us because we're using the built-in AIS facility in the same way as a screen-less AIS engine - the data is sent to a separate display. In my case that display is a Vesper Watchmate 670, dedicated to displaying AIS and triggering flexibly-defined alarms. But plenty of people just run it to a normal chartplotter.

The one thing that the AIS view on the radio is good for is making a DSC call to an AIS-equipped vessel. Instead of having to transcribe the MMSI from plotter to VHF as you would with most separate-engine setups, you simply scroll down the list to the name you want and then hit "Call". Choose the working channel and OK the transmission, and away you go.

Pete
 
brians said:
Can anyone speak from experience of owning and using on?
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I have the Navicom offering and it does what it says on the box. It has a small display on the front which is ok if there are just a couple of ships about. I also feed the data into OpenCPN or my YAPP sometimes. The software on the device was duff when I got as I had an early one, it but they updated it for me.
 
The one thing that the AIS view on the radio is good for is making a DSC call to an AIS-equipped vessel. Instead of having to transcribe the MMSI from plotter to VHF as you would with most separate-engine setups, you simply scroll down the list to the name you want and then hit "Call". Choose the working channel and OK the transmission, and away you go.

Pete

How easy is it to relate the target on the watch mate to the radio view so that you can select the correct vessel to call? I like the idea of being able to select the vessel from the chart plotter display, but generally you have to have the ais radio and chart plotter from the same manufacturer, and I can't find an ais radio and chart plotter combo that meets my needs. If it is easy to relate the ais radio display to the chart plotter display, then I won't worry about keeping to the same manufacturer.

Neil
 
neil1967 said:
How easy is it to relate the target on the watch mate to the radio view so that you can select the correct vessel to call?
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Well, you do it by name. The last time I used it was to call Martin on Jubilant as we were both approaching Cherbourg for the Scuttlebutt rally in September. I knew he was nearby from the AIS, so I scrolled down the list on the radio until I saw "Jubilant", and pressed Call.

Pete
 
prv; The one thing that the AIS view on the radio is good for is making a DSC call to an AIS-equipped vessel. Instead of having to transcribe the MMSI from plotter to VHF as you would with most separate-engine setups said:
Pete,

thanks that's useful info; one of the things which has always bugged me is having a ship bearing down mid - Channel then having to work out the lat & long, " Calling black ship on my port bow, sail no 119 which should be ****ing obvious to you " !

I've often fancied a Yeoman for this reason but funds only go to so much, I consider myself jolly lucky to be told by my plotter I'm in the Northern Hemisphere...
Click to expand...
 
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