Reccommendations for AIS Transciever

I received an email from Vespermarine this morning with information about a new antenna product:

Choosing the right antenna for your onboard system

For optimum performance, the antenna needs to be mounted at the highest point on the boat such as the top of the mast of a sailboat, radar arch support or top deck of a powerboat. Mounting the antenna as high as possible gives the best performance but may be difficult to achieve with a dedicated AIS antenna.

Dedicated VHF and AIS antennas need to be separated by at least 1m or there may be a possibility of damage to the VHF or AIS transponder. That's where a shared AIS/ VHF antenna is fit for purpose. Used in conjunction with the AIS/ VHF splitter, it provides excellent performance for both the VHF Radio and AIS transponder.

Shared AIS/ VHF antenna (VA-159)

Vesper Marine takes you one step further. In the past, one had to choose between an AIS tuned antenna that was optimized for AIS frequencies but performed poorly for the VHF radio and an antenna designed for VHF radio but not AIS optimal. With the shared Vesper Marine AIS/ VHF antenna, you get the best of both. With a wide bandwidth of 6MHz and with 159MHz as the center frequency, it has excellent performance for both VHF radio (156 MHz) and AIS (162MHz).

The Vesper Marine splitter SP-160 provides amplification to the AIS signal resulting in much higher AIS sensitivity and AIS receive range. The splitter has a VHF fail-safe functionality to continue transmitting VHF radio even if the power to the splitter fails.

Dedicated AIS antenna (VA-162)

If you have the luxury of multiple high locations on your boat like in the case of a powerboat or a sailboat with multiple masts, you can choose two dedicated antennas: one for VHF Radio and one for AIS. Vesper Marine's dedicated AIS antenna is tuned with a center frequency of 162 MHz for maximum transmission and reception of AIS signals.

https://www2.vespermarine.com/news/antenna

Richard
 
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Good VHF antennas have 7 MHz band width, 156MHz to 163MHz. centre-tuned. They carry their low VSWR across this bandwidth. This is the best antenna to choose for combined radio and AIS.
AIS antennas are often just VHF radio antennas with a 2" shorter whip which moves the tuning point up to 162MHz. Some have a different coil characteristic to maintain good performance at the lower end as well.
I would always recommend a good quality VHF antenna with 7MHz bandwidth for both radio and AIS use. A dedicated AIS antenna should be selected only if you never intend it to be back-up for the radio antenna, and never with if you use a splitter.
 
For everyday navigation I tend to use an Android tablet with MX Mariner, works well for me. For longer offshore trips I also run a Yeoman plot, just in case.
I had intended to fit a Vesper XB 8000 as I understand that it will communicate with the tablet via wifi [so the man at a boat show said].
The em-track B100 looks like a good device but how does it connect with a tablet? I've tried to read the manual but my electronic knowledge has large gaps.
 
We're still happy with our Matsutec HP-33a. We wanted one with a display, as it replaced an old Raymarine standalone (backup) GPS receiver. It can do waypoint navigation (not charts) and also anchor watch, which is handy - you only need to leave one device powered at night that way. They also do a blackbox unit for less if you don't want the display. GPS mushroom was included with ours, although beware, some resellers try to make money by selling that separately.

Instead of a splitter, I've fitted a cheap marine VHF whip on the solar arch (about 3m above waterline) and chopped off a centimeter or thereabouts (bit of math will work it out for you) to tune it to 162 MHz. Works well, and in case of rig failure (hope not!) gives us a backup antenna that I can just plug into the radio instead (or the more likely failure of cable/connectors from the mast). Range of reliable reception is quite sufficient (6 miles or more), although of course you often get AIS packets bouncing in from much further out too, or from senders with high antennas and powerful transmitters, such as big ships or the coastal radio stations that transmit virtual AIS.

If you decide you'd rather go with a splitter, the package deals (emtrak etc.) seem to be good value.

The other thing is to choose one that matches your instrument bus, so you don't have to convert around. That'd be either NMEA0183 output or NMEA2k (some units have both, if you're planning to upgrade the rest later).

Here's OpenCPN displaying the bay of Gibraltar in May:

gibais.png
 
Salty John said:
Good VHF antennas have 7 MHz band width, 156MHz to 163MHz. centre-tuned. They carry their low VSWR across this bandwidth. This is the best antenna to choose for combined radio and AIS.
AIS antennas are often just VHF radio antennas with a 2" shorter whip which moves the tuning point up to 162MHz. Some have a different coil characteristic to maintain good performance at the lower end as well.
I would always recommend a good quality VHF antenna with 7MHz bandwidth for both radio and AIS use. A dedicated AIS antenna should be selected only if you never intend it to be back-up for the radio antenna, and never with if you use a splitter.
Click to expand...

john can you expand on that , I got the metz from you as a stand alone AIS antenna which works fine but I kept my VHF antenna separate. If you are saying both are better from the single metz how is this achieved pls?
 
The Metz Manta VHF antenna is good for both radio and AIS, so if you're using a splitter it's the right choice. Also, if you have separate antennas for AIS and radio but may want to use the AIS antenna as back up for the radio, then using two Metz Mantas is the best choice.
The Metz AIS antenna is tuned to 162 MHz so you'd only choose it for AIS, although it will function for radio if required. In other words, you wouldn't select the AIS antenna as your primary radio antenna whereas you could choose the Manta for AIS.
By the way, antennas for AIS are VHF antennas.
 
Salty John said:
The Metz Manta VHF antenna is good for both radio and AIS, so if you're using a splitter it's the right choice. Also, if you have separate antennas for AIS and radio but may want to use the AIS antenna as back up for the radio, then using two Metz Mantas is the best choice.
The Metz AIS antenna is tuned to 162 MHz so you'd only choose it for AIS, although it will function for radio if required. In other words, you wouldn't select the AIS antenna as your primary radio antenna whereas you could choose the Manta for AIS.
By the way, antennas for AIS are VHF antennas.
Click to expand...
thank you for your reply, I will have to check which metz I have if its a manta what splitter for Ais/dsc radio would you recommend pls?
 
Dan Tribe said:
For everyday navigation I tend to use an Android tablet with MX Mariner, works well for me. For longer offshore trips I also run a Yeoman plot, just in case.
I had intended to fit a Vesper XB 8000 as I understand that it will communicate with the tablet via wifi [so the man at a boat show said].
The em-track B100 looks like a good device but how does it connect with a tablet? I've tried to read the manual but my electronic knowledge has large gaps.
Click to expand...

With my Vesper XB-6000 I can connect a USB lead to an Android tablet. The em-track has a USB socket.
I have also just fitted This NMEA to WiFi, and wired in the AIS, which gives me the same functionality to the tablet wirelessly.
https://vela-navega.com/index.php/nmea2wifi
 
Dan Tribe said:
The em-track B100 looks like a good device but how does it connect with a tablet? I've tried to read the manual but my electronic knowledge has large gaps.
Click to expand...

The em-trak outputs NMEA 0183 and 2000. I take the 0183 output through a NMEA to USB converter into a Windows 10 tablet computer running Opencpn. Opencpn then re-transmits the data via an old wireless router to a tablet. There are lots of NMEA to Wifi transmitters available if you don't have a chart table computer.
 
DJE said:
The em-trak outputs NMEA 0183 and 2000. I take the 0183 output through a NMEA to USB converter into a Windows 10 tablet computer running Opencpn. Opencpn then re-transmits the data via an old wireless router to a tablet. There are lots of NMEA to Wifi transmitters available if you don't have a chart table computer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. What could possibly go wrong? That sounds a bit complicated for my luddite brain, I was hoping for something a bit more plug & play.
By the time I've bought and installed all the extra gadgets the Em Track doesn't seem such a bargain compared to the Vesper XB 8000, which I believe will transmit via wifi direct to the Android tablet.
Perhaps I'll just stick with my astrolabe and lodestone system.
 
pvb said:
The link you posted says "currently unavailable"....
Click to expand...
Go direct to Huayang = Susan is very helpful sales003@huayang-tech.com

The HP-33A is the basic AIS transceiver only
The HP-6/8/12 28A are the full chart plotters.

I started with the HP-628A and last Autumn replaced this with the HP-1228A. It is simply brilliant and about 1/3 the price of a Garmin or similar 12" plotter.
 
DJE said:
The em-trak outputs NMEA 0183 and 2000. I take the 0183 output through a NMEA to USB converter into a Windows 10 tablet computer running Opencpn. Opencpn then re-transmits the data via an old wireless router to a tablet. There are lots of NMEA to Wifi transmitters available if you don't have a chart table computer.
Click to expand...

Dan Tribe said:
Thanks for the explanation. What could possibly go wrong? That sounds a bit complicated for my luddite brain, I was hoping for something a bit more plug & play.
By the time I've bought and installed all the extra gadgets the Em Track doesn't seem such a bargain compared to the Vesper XB 8000, which I believe will transmit via wifi direct to the Android tablet.
Perhaps I'll just stick with my astrolabe and lodestone system.
Click to expand...

I'm confused. Surely the em-trak has a USB output like my Vesper XB6000? You can just connect a lead to this for a PC input, no need for a nmea to USB converter?
 
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