McMurdo Fastfind Personal AIS - £130

[lenseman]

A little warning is in place..
Not all plotters display these targets as MOB and sound the alarm.
So before buying one - check that your plotter supports this equipment.

My Furuno NN3D does not - and we still don't know if the new SW version we where promised to be out by Desember 2012 will support this.

Yes, thanks for that. If your chart plotter company is on the ball they will have issued a software/firmware update.

I had to get the update/upgrade from Garmin, December 2011, and installed it no problem. When I asked Raymarine, as I was installing on S/Y "Nereida", they were a little slow and said they did not have an upgrade but that was back in January 2012.

Hopefully they have got their act together now that are being run by a company (FLIR) with a bit more common sense?



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[Cardo]

Yes, thanks for that. If your chart plotter company is on the ball they will have issued a software/firmware update.

I had to get the update/upgrade from Garmin, December 2011, and installed it no problem. When I asked Raymarine, as I was installing on S/Y "Nereida", they were a little slow and said they did not have an upgrade but that was back in January 2012.

Hopefully they have got their act together now that are being run by a company (FLIR) with a bit more common sense?



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I would be interested to find out if my relatively new Raymarine plotter can pick them up. I would imagine so, there's been loads of firmware updates in the last year. They've been adding loads of features. I rather like the ability to differentiate CG helicopter AIS transmissions. They now show up as little helicopters on the plotter!

 

[Otter]

A little warning is in place..
Not all plotters display these targets as MOB and sound the alarm.
So before buying one - check that your plotter supports this equipment.

My Furuno NN3D does not - and we still don't know if the new SW version we where promised to be out by Desember 2012 will support this.

+1 Most plotters do NOT display these as an MOB they just show it as a standard target shape and do not trigger an alarm. OK if you have someone on board to come get you and they can run the cursor over all the targets to see which one is you but useless for triggering an alarm on yachts/ships in the area.

 

[Cardo]

I would be interested to find out if my relatively new Raymarine plotter can pick them up. I would imagine so, there's been loads of firmware updates in the last year. They've been adding loads of features. I rather like the ability to differentiate CG helicopter AIS transmissions. They now show up as little helicopters on the plotter!

I shall answer my own question. All the new Raymarine a, c and e series plotters support SART AIS devices as long as they're running the April 2012 firmware update or later.
As per the firmware update details for the April 2012 update:

Added support for AIS feature support for STEDS EAIS integration & display of SAR aircraft & SART devices

I guess the question now is: Does the alarm go off when the plotter picks up a SART device?

 

[prv]

I guess the question now is: Does the alarm go off when the plotter picks up a SART device?

My AIS display is a Watchmate 670. I know it displays SARTs properly, but the instructions don't specifically say that it sets off alarms and buzzers when it encounters one. I assume it does, but I've just emailed Vesper to ask (I had an ongoing exchange with them about a new firmware feature I suggested which they will be adding at some point). I will let you know when it's morning in New Zealand and they've responded

Pete

 

[hightech]

Plotters responding to an AIS MOB alert is down to how lazy the manufacturer is to getting their software to do this. It became a mandatory requirement on all commercial plotters some time ago, however the leisure boys are a bit slower off the mark.

If you unit does not alarm, then it should. Badger your manufacturer and if no response do a name and shame on here.

 

[prv]

I will let you know when it's morning in New Zealand and they've responded

Forgot to come back at the time (I've deliberately avoided wasting time on the forum over Easter weekend, to maximise boat fettling in time for the Poole trip ), but for the record...

The Watchmate units all understand AIS SART / MOB messages. They set off the internal and external buzzers, the former at maximum volume despite whatever may have been configured for the routine alarms. They bring up a message saying what has happened, they plot the SART on the map with the approved symbol, and they select it as the current target so that distance and bearing are displayed. Test transmissions are handled identically (except the initial message says it's a test) so that you can practice accurately.

I have slight misgivings that all this non-overridable behaviour might become annoying if you have a false alarm problem like another forumite reported (someone keeps setting an AIS SART off in a house inland but within AIS range of his home berth) but certainly it does everything you could ask for in a real emergency short of automatically steering the boat back to you

Pete

 

[st599]

If anyone wants a backup plotter that does do AIS SART, then OpenCPN definitely does it.

 

[lenseman]

I have a FF220 but I carry it when skiing trekking and mountain biking when I'm alone. Better than cutting your arm off with a blunt pen knife!! Will also take it sailing later in the year when cruising offshore short handed. . . . . . . .

I suppose having cut your arm off when trekking or mountain biking, if you then went sailing,u would indeed be short-handed!!



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