Live AIS receiver v Boat Beacon?

[sailorman]

Ah, but the windmill isn't showing up on Marinetraffic though! View attachment 49782

The camera is on top of the restaurant Tr beside Het Arsenel

 

[Bru]

Boatbeacon is just a tool. And like any tool it has its uses and its limitations

As long as you understand what it can and, critically, cannot do, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it

I find it useful for friends and family to keep track of where we've got to (since we're very rarely out of mobile data range) and a handy supplement to the AIS receiver hooked up to the chart plotter

That's because the software on the chart plotter is clunky, to put it mildly, and I want some detail on a particular ship its easier to pull it up on Boatbeacon (having obviously mentally noted that there is no significant data lag)

 

[dunedin]

OK I know exactly how it works thanks. How does a ship with a normal, internationally standardardised, run-of-the mill AIS system see a boat that's using Boat Beacon, and Boat Beacon alone?

The original question and thread title referred to an AIS RECEIVER as the comparator. Clearly this would not transmit a position to other ships either.
An AIS TRANSPONDER is a different matter - but generally much more expensive and historicaly were much less common than receivers on yachts. And as they get more common ships will probably opt to declutter small boat signals anyway, as they can elect to do

 

[Koeketiene]

The idea of using the internet for collision avoidance is surreal!

+1
After a lifetime in the military, I thought I had heard pretty much every stupid idea under the sun - apparently not.

 

[Carduelis]

...and as they get more common ships will probably opt to declutter small boat signals anyway, as they can elect to do

No they can't. There is no facility on Class A AIS receivers to filter out any class of AIS return. This is a commonly held, and potentially dangerous, fallacy.

 

[prv]

No they can't. There is no facility on Class A AIS receivers to filter out any class of AIS return. This is a commonly held, and potentially dangerous, fallacy.

I used to believe that, then someone pointed me at the IMO standards document for ECDIS which does seem to permit it.

Pete

 

[Carduelis]

I have it on very good authority (from a professional standards tester) that, even if filtering is permitted, this hasn't been implemented by any major manufacturer.

I'm thinking that there are potential liability issues here too. If a ship's Captain hit a yacht while he had Class B returns filtered out then he could be considered negligent...

My main point though, is to scotch the rumour that there is no point fitting an AIS transponder to a yacht, because ships switch them off. It simply isn't true.

 

[BrianH]

I have it on very good authority (from a professional standards tester) that, even if filtering is permitted, this hasn't been implemented by any major manufacturer.

I'm thinking that there are potential liability issues here too. If a ship's Captain hit a yacht while he had Class B returns filtered out then he could be considered negligent...

My main point though, is to scotch the rumour that there is no point fitting an AIS transponder to a yacht, because ships switch them off. It simply isn't true.

No rumour. Time to read this thread: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?411993-Class-B-makes-you-that-confident/page5

Edit:

The relevant bit starts at post #28.

 

[fireball]

A system like boat beacon receives its signal from a wireless transmission whether wifi or more likely a mobile phone mast.
The received signal is one that has been monitored by a shore station and placed in digital form on the internet on a server database from where it is accessed.
A signal transmitted from a vessels transponder is based oninformation sent to it from a computer data base including data interpolated from satellites.It could be that the data itself might have looped through a shore based server as well.
In my opinion the only difference is where the incoming signal is coming from and the quality of reception.
Boat Beacon by the way will also accept nmea input from an AIS engine which it displays on google maps.
If I want to know what the big ship is and where its heading so as to keep out of its way particularly in busy inshore waters then a system like boat beacon is just as reliable as an AIS receiver.
I am just in my old age coming to the conclusion that men just love gadgets whether its for sailing,the motor,your camera etc etc and we convince ourselves of its necessity.

Not sure what you mean by "It could be that the data itself might have looped through a shored based server as well" ...

AIS transmissions from a vessel contain a variety of information - from the mundane - size of ship, name, destination, ETA etc to the important - Position, Speed, heading, rate of turn ...

I could see that the destination and eta could feasibly have been updated & fed to the transmitter from a shore based station - but ALL the data is broadcast direct from the ship and the time sensitive information like position and speed will be fed directly from the sensors and NOT fed back from a shore based server.

 

[prv]

even if filtering is permitted, this hasn't been implemented by any major manufacturer.

Apart from, say, Furuno?

http://www.furunousa.com/ProductDocuments/FAR21x7 28x7 Operator's Manual P 4-8-11.pdf

Pete