Intermittent AIS system

[Scaramoosh]

We had an AIS system fitted last summer, it never worked properly, some days it would transmit and receive, some days it would only transmit, some days it wouldn’t play at all.

About a month ago it was changed under warranty for a new Simrad unit (the previous one was not from one of the major manufacturers) to match the plotters, wind instruments etc.

Again the same problems, on Saturday afternoon last weekend met with the engineer when we were in Cowes, he diagnosed a bent cable and it worked when he left the boat. We slept on the boat overnight but in the morning not having touched anything it was dead as a doornail again.

Any ideas what can be the issue, the ships radio has now also stopped working, they use the same Ariel with a splitter so I guess that could be the problem but any other ideas would be gratefully received.

 

[fergie_mac66]

sPLITTERS

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?339595-Splitter-recommendation

There have been a lot of threads about splitters and in general the consensus seems to be that they don't work well .I have seen one or 2 posts that have had splitter, damage, vhf, in the same sentence . Transmitting on vhf with a loose,connection,or perhaps a faulty splitter could result in radio damage.

Its so easy to fit a pushpit aeriel dedicated for the ais and it also doubles as an emergency aerial for the vhf

 

[forelle541]

I just fitted a new VHF with AIS. My old VHF worked fine but when I fitted the new one it worked at first then degraded over a few days. It turned out to be a plug on the aerial that had corroded a bit, replaced the plug and all working well again.

 

[fergie_mac66]

another thread here

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?147680-AIS-Aerial-Splitter-or-Separate-One

 

[Playtime]

Try disconnecting the splitter and plugging the antenna connector direct into the VHF and then into the AIS. This should help you determine whether the problem is the splitter or, more likely in my opinion, the antenna cable or connection to the antenna itself.

As stated may times, it is definitely best to use a separate pushpit mounted antenna for the AIS. It gives more than sufficient range and is pretty simple to fit.

The only downside of a separate antenna is possible (ab)use as an emergency handhold by clumsy crew!