Nasa AIS unit that uses vhf cable

[Rhylsailer99]

Ive been looking into buying one, theyre aroud £235 on ebay.
Are they worth the cost as looking to do some night time sailing.I think it might be a good idea to purchase one.
Also do i need to connect to my gps antenna as my garmin 128 has a gps antenna .

 

[Plum]

Ive been looking into buying one, theyre aroud £235 on ebay.
Are they worth the cost as looking to do some night time sailing.I think it might be a good idea to purchase one.
Also do i need to connect to my gps antenna as my garmin 128 has a gps antenna .

I have one of those ( AIS SART Plotter - Nasa Marine Instruments ) connected to a Garmin 128 to provide the GPS position and connected to a dedicated VHF stubby aerial mounted at the stern about 1.5m above water level. Works well but not as useful as a system that overlays AIS onto a chart plotter. I pick up ships at 8 miles. AIS is, in my opinion, definitely worth having, day or night!

www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[Tranona]

They were a big thing when they first came out over 20 years ago and still have their uses if you don't have a modern MFD/chartplotter that will take an AIS signal and display it . I fitted one with the same set up as Plum and it was well wprth having, but would not have one through choice if I had a modern chartplotter. Much better AIS solutions available now.

 

[Rhylsailer99]

I bought a quork cq a026 and plan to link it to my navionics app on my phone. I think it can even over lay onto my lowrance chartplotter.

 

[Refueler]

" £235 " ......... mmmmm few years back - yes I could understand that.

Today ? If I did not have my Onwa GPS / AIS plotter .... I would use a USB AIS to a Tablet .... giving not only AIS but full chart plotting as well on one screen ..... Android tablets can be had from such as Banggood for budget price and with good performance - for less than that "235" .......