Poor VHF and AIS performance

[Delfini]

Hi - I am having problems with my new boat and its VHF and AIS system - the boat has a distributed antenna design as per drawing below and has a Simrad VHF and an AIS600 transceiver with aerial splitter- the VHF range has been poor and the AIS signal only seems to be recognised by web based AIS systems every now and again - the original design Delta 200S antenna is no longer fitted and has been replaced by something else

Ive recently fixed the AV205 which had a blown fuse and now VHF radio reception is working well (it wasn't working before) but I still cant see myself on the marine traffic online AIS application and I wonder what the AV205 should be doing - does it amplify on the transmit side or only the receiver

I bought a cheapo SWR meter and which suggests the SWR is OK but showing significant signal power drops at every stage



Any guidance appreciated

 

[V1701]

Is there any way that you can check whether other vessels pick you up on AIS? Apparently you won't show up on Marine Traffic unless you're within 30 miles of one of their coastal stations so it could be that all is actually fine with the AIS...

 

[Momac]

I still cant see myself on the marine traffic online AIS application

That's not necessarily a fault with your system
While in port I have been invisible but usually find my track on the website immediately after a sea trip.

 

[duncan99210]

The online ais sites and apps are not a good method of checking if your AIS is working. I set mine up in the yard a couple of years back and was worried that it didn’t show up on the Marine Traffic app. It appeared on the app as soon as I launched.