Solo Sailor - AIS - V60B Thoughts?

[ColourfulOwl]

Over the next 2 years i'm refitting my boat with a variety of equipment to turn it into a liveaboard as a solo sailor. The current sailing focused piece of kit I'm looking at is sorting out my VHF. The current VHF is a Navman 7200 and is in the cabin. Unfortunately this means I don't have a VHF in the cockpit, and it's quite a bit of a faff going down below to answer and send VHF calls.

I bought an Icom MD94 handheld VHF to solve this problem in the short term, but long term I want to replace my VHF with one that supports a secondary mic/command mic in the cockpit. The MD94 will stay as an auxiliary / ditch VHF. I'll sell the Navman later down the line.

My question, is is it worth getting a VHF with an integrated AIS transponder or buying them separately? B&G/Simrad/Lowrance offer an integrated one, the V60B which can be paired with a wireless mic. Financial it makes to go integrated, but does any know of any weaknesses in doing so? Has anyone got any experience with the V60B?

I want to put an AIS transponder on my boat because in a mayday/panpan situation I can provide the coastguard with my details and they can then track the vessels location without the need of constant location check in every 10-20 minutes. That free's me up to then try and tackle whatever the situation is. AIS in general would be pretty useful for the areas I intend to sail. My boat is currently in Fleetwood, and when I head southward, there are plenty of shipping lanes I'll have to deal with.

 

[Tranona]

The great value of AIS is the receive so that you know about the ships around you. Transmit is secondary as most ships rely on radar and your mayday/pan pan scenario is rare and if you are using AIS to aid your navigation unlikely you will ever need it.

So the key thing is how you are going to use and display the AIS information. The display on the radio is pretty useless on its own so the norm is to display it on your chart plotter. Separate transponder is more common with the signal feeding a network with display where you can best use it. So, before deciding which way to go think through the whole system. At one level you can buy an Onwa plotter with built in AIS which some use as a stand alone in the cockpit. at the other end of the spectrum you can have a fully networked system where you can view at more than one location, for example at the helm and at the chart table.

No simple answer.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

Hmm not sure I agree with Tranona. It’s an enormous comfort to us at night or in fog in shipping lanes to know that we are transmitting our AIS position. Receive only - better than none at all.

 

[Daydream believer]

If getting AIS you want to be able to use it to its full capabilities. Therefore, you want to be able to quickly check on vessels when they pop up on your chart plotter, not on the VHF , which you cannot see down below. Transmit is very handy & I have been contacted by shipping in the Dover Strait on a number of times. Same in the Thames estuary. They would not get my name etc from Radar.
I have also used my AIS to identify the purpose of a ship, ie survey etc & having that on the chart plotter is very useful. But of course it is no use if the plotter & controls are not to hand.
As for distress, I can quote an instance where I have seen it used, in the sunk sands crossing. It was used incorretly (MOB instead of aground) causing another boat to get into serious difficulties, when it thought it was going to the aid of the yacht.
But that is another story
I would not have a plotter with integrated AIS. I have had 2 plotters. In spite of the plotter going U/S I was able to keep the AIS & set it up on the new plotter. That saved some expense. It depends on what one wants . My AIS aerial is on a separate mast on the stern. This means it can double up with the VHF in the event of the main VHF aerial failing

 

[ColourfulOwl]

The great value of AIS is the receive so that you know about the ships around you. Transmit is secondary as most ships rely on radar and your mayday/pan pan scenario is rare and if you are using AIS to aid your navigation unlikely you will ever need it.

So the key thing is how you are going to use and display the AIS information. The display on the radio is pretty useless on its own so the norm is to display it on your chart plotter. Separate transponder is more common with the signal feeding a network with display where you can best use it. So, before deciding which way to go think through the whole system. At one level you can buy an Onwa plotter with built in AIS which some use as a stand alone in the cockpit. at the other end of the spectrum you can have a fully networked system where you can view at more than one location, for example at the helm and at the chart table.

No simple answer.

If getting AIS you want to be able to use it to its full capabilities. Therefore, you want to be able to quickly check on vessels when they pop up on your chart plotter, not on the VHF , which you cannot see down below. Transmit is very handy & I have been contacted by shipping in the Dover Strait on a number of times. Same in the Thames estuary. They would not get my name etc from Radar.
I have also used my AIS to identify the purpose of a ship, ie survey etc & having that on the chart plotter is very useful. But of course it is no use if the plotter & controls are not to hand.
As for distress, I can quote an instance where I have seen it used, in the sunk sands crossing. It was used incorretly (MOB instead of aground) causing another boat to get into serious difficulties, when it thought it was going to the aid of the yacht.
But that is another story
I would not have a plotter with integrated AIS. I have had 2 plotters. In spite of the plotter going U/S I was able to keep the AIS & set it up on the new plotter. That saved some expense. It depends on what one wants . My AIS aerial is on a separate mast on the stern. This means it can double up with the VHF in the event of the main VHF aerial failing

So I'm swapping my electronics in 2 phases - mainly because of the financial hole this all is.

I pulled together a map of what my network, if you can call it that, looks like:


With the plan to start changing over the navigation aid electronics by the end of August this year. Everything not relative to the B&G network / autopilot will get swapped out and look like this:


By properly connecting key devices together, I'll have a more unified navigational/planning set of tools at hand. As a solo sailor the ability to have a tablet style chartplotter with me 100% of the time is vital. It means I can always keep an eye on things, whether that be at anchor via anchor alarms, or on the move using AIS and so on in the future.

Ultimately it'll all be updated to equipment that supports and can run from a NMEA 2K backbone. But the cost of swapping all the instruments, displays and autopilot is a hefty one and I need to save some extra buck before I start that venture.



The main thing that will be driving my electronics is the Ocra Core. It's a precision compass and broadcasts a wireless network signal that you can use on any tablet or phone to view all of your instrument data, whilst also being a chartplotter etc. Ocra does support AIS, as does the chartplotter that I'll be keeping onboard, the Echomap 75. I have no issues with being able to digest the AIS information. It'd be little to no value if I was only using it to broadcast, and not receive and digest the data coming in via it.

The Samsung tab is currently my main driver for chartplotting as I prefer apps like Navionics and Savvy Navvy, but I'll always keep the redundancy of a actual chart plotter onboard - even if it is a bit dated.

My understanding of NMEA 2K is that any data transmitted into the backbone can be picked up and read by any of the other devices. I'm presuming the AIS data received by the V60-B would be readable by the Orca Core or the EchoMap 75, but need to do something digging and get some clarification on that.

 

[harvey38]

The great value of AIS is the receive so that you know about the ships around you. Transmit is secondary as most ships rely on radar and your mayday/pan pan scenario is rare and if you are using AIS to aid your navigation unlikely you will ever need it.

So the key thing is how you are going to use and display the AIS information. The display on the radio is pretty useless on its own so the norm is to display it on your chart plotter. Separate transponder is more common with the signal feeding a network with display where you can best use it. So, before deciding which way to go think through the whole system. At one level you can buy an Onwa plotter with built in AIS which some use as a stand alone in the cockpit. at the other end of the spectrum you can have a fully networked system where you can view at more than one location, for example at the helm and at the chart table.

No simple answer.

I disagree, if only everyone with with AIS were to receive rather than transmit, there would be nothing to receive. Better to have an AIS transceiver and even better, a radar too, assuming someone onboard is familiar with the equipment.

 

[Supertramp]

So I'm swapping my electronics in 2 phases - mainly because of the financial hole this all is.

I pulled together a map of what my network, if you can call it that, looks like:

View attachment 170398
With the plan to start changing over the navigation aid electronics by the end of August this year. Everything not relative to the B&G network / autopilot will get swapped out and look like this:
View attachment 170401

By properly connecting key devices together, I'll have a more unified navigational/planning set of tools at hand. As a solo sailor the ability to have a tablet style chartplotter with me 100% of the time is vital. It means I can always keep an eye on things, whether that be at anchor via anchor alarms, or on the move using AIS and so on in the future.

Ultimately it'll all be updated to equipment that supports and can run from a NMEA 2K backbone. But the cost of swapping all the instruments, displays and autopilot is a hefty one and I need to save some extra buck before I start that venture.

View attachment 170400

The main thing that will be driving my electronics is the Ocra Core. It's a precision compass and broadcasts a wireless network signal that you can use on any tablet or phone to view all of your instrument data, whilst also being a chartplotter etc. Ocra does support AIS, as does the chartplotter that I'll be keeping onboard, the Echomap 75. I have no issues with being able to digest the AIS information. It'd be little to no value if I was only using it to broadcast, and not receive and digest the data coming in via it.

The Samsung tab is currently my main driver for chartplotting as I prefer apps like Navionics and Savvy Navvy, but I'll always keep the redundancy of a actual chart plotter onboard - even if it is a bit dated.

My understanding of NMEA 2K is that any data transmitted into the backbone can be picked up and read by any of the other devices. I'm presuming the AIS data received by the V60-B would be readable by the Orca Core or the EchoMap 75, but need to do something digging and get some clarification on that.

My boat had old but working instruments and plotter when I bought it. I have added a freestanding AIS transceiver (Vesper) with its own display but also able to share via NMEA or WiFi. I use a tablet with Navionics most the time with the old Raymarine for back up. I am getting a second tablet so I can display "proper charts" and Antares without needing to switch from Navionics.

I don't find I need integration, even for the autopilot although it can be done. If I replace anything I will look for WiFi or Bluetooth capability rather than hardwiring.

But mine is just one opinion!

 

[Tranona]

Hmm not sure I agree with Tranona. It’s an enormous comfort to us at night or in fog in shipping lanes to know that we are transmitting our AIS position. Receive only - better than none at all.

It might give you comfort but that relies on ships using AIS as its source of positions of other vessels whereas commercial vessels tend to prefer the use of radar.

I still stand by the notion that using AIS to improve your navigation to avoid getting into a situation where you have to rely on other ships picking up your signals is the primary benefit.

Pre AIS ships did a pretty good job of avoiding yachts, but yachts were not so good at keeping out of the way of shipping.

 

[Roberto]

is is it worth getting a VHF with an integrated AIS transponder or buying them separately?

FWIW, I have a vhf with integrated AIS **receive only** capabilities and I find it very very useful while sailing offshore: a. when my plotter/pc is not necessary I switch it off and remain on AIS rx watch through the radio, I would be on vhf watch anyway; b. the tiny radio ais targets display is enough to understand what goes on most occasions, in case of doubt I turn the plotter on to have more details; c. the radio CPA/TCPA alarm buzzer could wake up a dead person; d. having the MMSI of other vessels allows to make an instant individual call if need be (it actually removes the danger related to wrong identification indicated by MGN 324).
If coastal sailing all equipment is turned on and AIS alarm generally disabled, where I sail there are too many targets it rings all the time, besides there are many other vessels without AIS so nothing can replace visual/radar watch.
I also have a separate stand alone ais transponder black box, I occasionally use its feed to the PC too; to be honest I do not trust AIS much, but that's a personal opinion.

 

[ColourfulOwl]

FWIW, I have a vhf with integrated AIS **receive only** capabilities and I find it very very useful while sailing offshore: a. when my plotter/pc is not necessary I switch it off and remain on AIS rx watch through the radio, I would be on vhf watch anyway; b. the tiny radio ais targets display is enough to understand what goes on most occasions, in case of doubt I turn the plotter on to have more details; c. the radio CPA/TCPA alarm buzzer could wake up a dead person; d. having the MMSI of other vessels allows to make an instant individual call if need be (it actually removes the danger related to wrong identification indicated by MGN 324).
If coastal sailing all equipment is turned on and AIS alarm generally disabled, where I sail there are too many targets it rings all the time, besides there are many other vessels without AIS so nothing can replace visual/radar watch.
I also have a separate stand alone ais transponder black box, I occasionally use its feed to the PC too; to be honest I do not trust AIS much, but that's a personal opinion.

What VHF/AIS did you go for? I'm still debating if paying the extra £300ish pounds is worth it for having a transponder or not.

I'm currently debating between Three options:

Cheapest: AIS Receiver
Standard Horizon GX2400GPS/E (£399.95)
RAM 4 Wired (£167.95)
Total: £567.9

Mid Tier: AIS Receiver
Icom IC-M510 (£699.95)
HM-195GB CommandMic (£194.95)
Total: £894.94

Expensive: AIS transponder.
B&G V60-b (£999.95)
Wireless Handset H60 (£259.95)
Total: £1,259.9

All three of these have pro's and con's. I'm currently leaning more towards the Standard Horizon set up. The cost difference is substantial and from what I've heard it's a pretty solid unit but I don't have any hands on experience with SH products. Icom I do, and I know are highly rated. The B&G in all fairness feels rather expensive as a VHF (they offer an none AIS version of the same model) but with the AIS transponder integrated in, it's not badly priced. At current market prices, an AIS transponder would likely set me back another £580, require more wiring, power consumption etc.

The plan isn't to replace a visual watch. I think anyone solely relaying on AIS has a bit of a deathwise xD It's more for night sailing and dealing with area of lots of commercial traffic. Liverpool, English channel etc. I don't have a Radar, nor is it really on my agenda to get one.

 

[Roberto]

What VHF/AIS did you go for?



Cheapest: AIS Receiver
Standard Horizon GX2400GPS/E (£399.95)
RAM 4 Wired (£167.95)
Total: £567.9

Very similar to the above, it's the older model GX2100E, it was without GPS at the time; actually one of the first units which arrived in Europe, I had "booked" one with the very helpful guy at JGTech, he sent it just after the official type approval was obtained by SH.
regards

 

[KeelsonGraham]

It might give you comfort but that relies on ships using AIS as its source of positions of other vessels whereas commercial vessels tend to prefer the use of radar.

I still stand by the notion that using AIS to improve your navigation to avoid getting into a situation where you have to rely on other ships picking up your signals is the primary benefit.

Pre AIS ships did a pretty good job of avoiding yachts, but yachts were not so good at keeping out of the way of shipping.

OK, let me put it another way. Why would you NOT avail yourself of the technology when the difference in cost between a receiver and transceiver is not great. No radar set in the world will tell a super tanker than name of my yacht - allowing it to call me. It just doesn’t make any sense not to install it.

 

[Tranona]

OK, let me put it another way. Why would you NOT avail yourself of the technology when the difference in cost between a receiver and transceiver is not great. No radar set in the world will tell a super tanker than name of my yacht - allowing it to call me. It just doesn’t make any sense not to install it.

The difference in cost is greater than you suggest (receive and display can be very low cost) - but it is not the cost that is the issue, but the lack of evidence that ships actually rely on seeing your AIS signal as their means of identifying you. You may feel better because it is transmitting your position but you have no idea whether anybody is looking for it. Nor have I seen any evidence that AIS positions is commonly used as a mechanism for instigating calls between ships and yachts.

Collisions between ships and yachts or even yachts and yachts is extremely rare and always has been. Radar has been in use for most of the time that large numbers of small boats have shared busy waterways with big ships and that is what they use to identify and avoid you if necessary. The major value of AIS is that it puts you in a position of knowing where (most) other ships that might be a danger are in relation to you so that you can plot a safe course.

Not sure whether you have experience of sailing in busy waters pre AIS, but as one of the early adopters of the system the big attraction was in making me far more confident of where ships were and how they were progressing in relation to me so that I could plot a safe course. Plenty of evidence that ships in general have little difficulty in identifying even small yachts using radar. AIS adds little in this respect and was never intended to.

 

[KeelsonGraham]

“Not sure whether you have experience of sailing in busy waters pre AIS,“

Plenty.

Let’s agree to disagree. I wouldn’t be without the transmit function in busy shipping areas. I particularly like the collision avoidance zones calculated for transmitting ships.Very useful at night in busy shipping lanes.

 

[Daydream believer]

If you just want to be seen then buy an echomax radar transponder. That increases your radar signal considerably. As I have said before , I have been contacted by ships regularly. It may be that they have easily picked me up on radar, then seen the AIS info as well & used that info to call me.
The coast guard has sometimes called me in various places round the UK ( well the lower part for the "you did not circumnavigate proper" brigade) & they would never have known who I was without my AIS. Even the French, Cross CG has used it to contact me to check if I was Ok in rough Channel weather.

 

[Roberto]

If you just want to be seen then buy an echomax radar transponder. That increases your radar signal considerably.

Works both ways, with an additional advantage: the RTE alarm allows to realize the number of offshore ships and fishing vessels which only use radar and (for whatever reasons) do not use AIS; probably not in the very controlled Channel waters but elsewhere it's quite common, I came to trust my RTE a lot more than the AIS txr.

 

[rotrax]

Hmm not sure I agree with Tranona. It’s an enormous comfort to us at night or in fog in shipping lanes to know that we are transmitting our AIS position. Receive only - better than none at all.

I agree with Tranona.

Not that interested in transmit, all the information from those transmitting is on my screen-what more do I want?

I take action, as we are just over 12 metres, to avoid them. Always someone on watch at the helm who knows how to respond to situations or call me.

Transmit, I fear, might allow a false sense of security.

 

[GHA]

Over the next 2 years i'm refitting my boat with a variety of equipment to turn it into a liveaboard as a solo sailor. The current sailing focused piece of kit I'm looking at is sorting out my VHF. The current VHF is a Navman 7200 and is in the cabin. Unfortunately this means I don't have a VHF in the cockpit, and it's quite a bit of a faff going down below to answer and send VHF calls.

I bought an Icom MD94 handheld VHF to solve this problem in the short term, but long term I want to replace my VHF with one that supports a secondary mic/command mic in the cockpit. The MD94 will stay as an auxiliary / ditch VHF. I'll sell the Navman later down the line.

My question, is is it worth getting a VHF with an integrated AIS transponder or buying them separately? B&G/Simrad/Lowrance offer an integrated one, the V60B which can be paired with a wireless mic. Financial it makes to go integrated, but does any know of any weaknesses in doing so? Has anyone got any experience with the V60B?

I want to put an AIS transponder on my boat because in a mayday/panpan situation I can provide the coastguard with my details and they can then track the vessels location without the need of constant location check in every 10-20 minutes. That free's me up to then try and tackle whatever the situation is. AIS in general would be pretty useful for the areas I intend to sail. My boat is currently in Fleetwood, and when I head southward, there are plenty of shipping lanes I'll have to deal with.

A bit more info would be useful to answer better - mostly about power. If you intend to live mainly off the grid reliant on solar then every milliamp becomes of interest. I have an Icom GX2100 combined vhf receiver/ ais receiver and remote mic for the cockpit which I really like but it draws up near 0.5a wich is just too much to leave on 24/7 so use the handheld vhf just to receive offshore & also have a little ham handheld uv5r which is used just as a receiver & draws next to nothing. There's also a nasa ais engine which is a pretty basic machine but works & draws little power. Zoomed out a bit on power, I suspect well in to the majority of cruisers nowadays just run navionics and/or opencpn & don't bother much with a power sucking MFD. If you are heading off into the deep blue unknown opencpn is well worth investigating as an addition even just to get easy access to satellite images as charts.


Plus hnads up, I don't have an AIS transmitter.... yet, high on the list.
Personally think it's just a bit bad manners not to transmit, it makes everyone else's life much easier & takes a tiny bit of stress out of another sailors day,

 

[dgadee]

I used to ignore the shipping lane off the Mull of Kyntyre. AIS transmit would have maybe got me prosecuted.

My excuse was it was usually empty and I received AIS to let me know what was coming.

I am a great fan of AIS receive but only transmit when it is on someone else's boat I am keeping an eye on.

 

[Thresher]

What VHF/AIS did you go for? I'm still debating if paying the extra £300ish pounds is worth it for having a transponder or not.

I'm currently debating between Three options:

Cheapest: AIS Receiver
Standard Horizon GX2400GPS/E (£399.95)
RAM 4 Wired (£167.95)
Total: £567.9

Mid Tier: AIS Receiver
Icom IC-M510 (£699.95)
HM-195GB CommandMic (£194.95)
Total: £894.94

Expensive: AIS transponder.
B&G V60-b (£999.95)
Wireless Handset H60 (£259.95)
Total: £1,259.9

All three of these have pro's and con's. I'm currently leaning more towards the Standard Horizon set up.

I have the Standard Horizon VHF with receive only AIS and find it does the job but I have never had to step down from using a full colour screen AIS display. I appreciate it when other small boats near me are transmitting and wish that I could do so in return.
I have fitted my unit to the ceiling just inside the companionway obviating the need for a cockpit mic or speaker.