Those cheap AIS Transponders... are they any good?

[Phil_boat]

I fancied the idea of adding AIS to my plotter and getting a transponder so we could be seen too, until I checked the price and decided we were fine without.

But now I keep getting ads pop up for £200 unknown brand transponders - are they any good? I'd like to display it on a Lowrance Elite 7 which I does NMEA 0183 & 2000 - I presume it would just connect up, change a few settings and away I go. I know I'd need a second aerial and a GPS antenna too which would bump the cost up.

Does anyone use one and have any feedback?

Cheers

 

[ducked]

I fancied the idea of adding AIS to my plotter and getting a transponder so we could be seen too, until I checked the price and decided we were fine without.

But now I keep getting ads pop up for £200 unknown brand transponders - are they any good? I'd like to display it on a Lowrance Elite 7 which I does NMEA 0183 & 2000 - I presume it would just connect up, change a few settings and away I go. I know I'd need a second aerial and a GPS antenna too which would bump the cost up.

Does anyone use one and have any feedback?

Cheers

200 quid doesnt sound all that cheap

This thing is less than 100 quid. (The add is apparentky misleading, since the price shown is for the cable)

Socotran ST-109M Marine Boat Use Fishing Net Position Meter Send AIS Location with Antenna IPX7 GPS Anti-lost Tracker Locator - AliExpress 202192403

Waterproof and self contained, since sold as a fishing gear locator. Dunno if its any good. Antenna must be pretty small but I suppose hoisting it up to the masthead would help.

Discussed in slightly broken English here.

https://www.thelowcostsailor.com/en/...for-your-boat/

Some hackery apparently required to get your vessel name details in, and I suppose you'd have to do reception and target display separately. He uses a Rasberry Pi

Reposted from an extended discussion of cheap AIS here, where cheap Chinese is disapproved of.

Cheap AIS on the market and it's features. - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

 

[Refueler]

Onwa .. Matsutec ... Xianju are known to work well ... (I have no commercial interest in any - other than a happy user of Onwa Plotter with built in AIS)

Like many things on the market ... big brand names such as Garmin .. Raymarine etc tend to stay on traditional paths and others such as Chinese explore the peripherals. Others such as Quark (UK) have also seen the advantage of the peripheral market.

I tend to believe that a lot of online comments are not truly user experiences and possibly posted to try bring people back to the 'fold' ..... sorry but that is my view.
Bit like don't buy Skoda ... buy Audi mentality.

 

[ylop]

I don’t think anything in the sub £300 price range is type approved to transmit. Does that matter? With a regulator as nonchalant as Ofcom perhaps not. I’m a bit surprised nobody has produced a “legal” version that just undercuts all the big names and sweeps up the majority of business from people who don’t want the risk or unknown ordering from Chinese sites or trying to decipher dreadful instructions for use.

 

[Rappey]

I don’t think anything in the sub £300 price range is type approved

Onwa b+ KS200A is £299 from aves marine, free set up, 2 year warranty and complies with eu legislation. Even free to get it reset for a different boat.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Onwa b+ KS200A is £299 from aves marine, free set up, 2 year warranty and complies with eu legislation. Even free to get it reset for a different boat.

Not a fair comparison, it's nearly £500 when you add the required antennas. Plus, it's NMEA 0183 only, most modern MFDs no longer support 0183, so you need to add a converter.

You're now getting close to the price of something like an Emtrak AIS, which has USB, 0183 and N2K, included GPS, splitter, multiplexer etc.

 

[Refueler]

Not a fair comparison, it's nearly £500 when you add the required antennas. Plus, it's NMEA 0183 only, most modern MFDs no longer support 0183, so you need to add a converter.

You're now getting close to the price of something like an Emtrak AIS, which has USB, 0183 and N2K, included GPS, splitter, multiplexer etc.

OOOHHH .... so out of date you guys !!

KS-200A+ AlS Transponder Marine AlS 5 Watt Klasse B+ AlS Transponder unterstützt Nmea 2000 mit WLAN - AliExpress 201355758

269 quid with N2K / Wifi etc.

I would still talk to Alan at Aves ....

 

[drude]

I used the following setup for a few years. Very reliable - no problems at all. Also the transmitter is very configurable and portable.

AIS receiver - QK-A026 AIS Receiver with NMEA Multiplexer + WiFi + GPS £144
AIS transmitter - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Locator-Precision-Receiving-Positioning-Waterproof/dp/B0BPD7G3X3 £65 approx

 

[PaulRainbow]

OOOHHH .... so out of date you guys !!

KS-200A+ AlS Transponder Marine AlS 5 Watt Klasse B+ AlS Transponder unterstützt Nmea 2000 mit WLAN - AliExpress 201355758

269 quid with N2K / Wifi etc.

I would still talk to Alan at Aves ....

In which case, it's £429 plus an antenna or splitter. Still a good price, but double the grey import price.

 

[Refueler]

In which case, it's £429 plus an antenna or splitter. Still a good price, but double the grey import price.

Hang on a mo ... whatever guys does - he will need either additional antenna or splitter ...

 

[Rafiki]

I fancied the idea of adding AIS to my plotter and getting a transponder so we could be seen too, until I checked the price and decided we were fine without.

But now I keep getting ads pop up for £200 unknown brand transponders - are they any good? I'd like to display it on a Lowrance Elite 7 which I does NMEA 0183 & 2000 - I presume it would just connect up, change a few settings and away I go. I know I'd need a second aerial and a GPS antenna too which would bump the cost up.

Does anyone use one and have any feedback?

Cheers

Oh, I like this question as I also have a Lowrance Elite 7, but in my case I have AIS receive via a Lowrance VHF, which works well enough without the need for another aerial or GPS. Let me know wheat you decide and how easy it was to get it to work with the Lowrance plotter. There are some good points here about all the other bits and pieces of equipment needed.

 

[Refueler]

I've been 'googling' Elite 7 and connecting an AIS Transponder ... and I cannot be certain - but it appears the Elite 7 can TX NMEA 0183 GPS data out - which the AIS Transponder will use in its transmissions out .. the Elite 7 has RX NMEA data in - which the Elite will use to plot the targets received ...

If this is correct - then all that's needed is the transponder and a VHF antenna or a splitter if antenna already fitted for VHF radio.

 

[HunterWanderer]

The matsutec ah-102 works fine with a gps antenna with a bnc connector (about £50) and a vhf antenna with a pl259 plug. (about £50 )
Output is a serial port rs232 so you may need a converter .
Total cost less than 300.

 

[PaulRainbow]

I've been 'googling' Elite 7 and connecting an AIS Transponder ... and I cannot be certain - but it appears the Elite 7 can TX NMEA 0183 GPS data out - which the AIS Transponder will use in its transmissions out .. the Elite 7 has RX NMEA data in - which the Elite will use to plot the targets received ...

If this is correct - then all that's needed is the transponder and a VHF antenna or a splitter if antenna already fitted for VHF radio.

You cannot send NMEA GPS to an AIS transceiver for outgoing AIS, it has to have it's own, GPS for that.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Hang on a mo ... whatever guys does - he will need either additional antenna or splitter ...

Plenty of AIS transceivers with built in splitter.

My point was, posting prices of budget AIS and quoting the most basic price isn't a fair comparison, when the more expensive models have built in GPS, built in splitters, USB/0183/N2K, multiplexors etc. It may still work out cheaper even after you have bought the extra bits, but it's still a skewed comparison.

 

[ducked]

200 quid doesnt sound all that cheap

This thing is less than 100 quid. (The add is apparentky misleading, since the price shown is for the cable)

Socotran ST-109M Marine Boat Use Fishing Net Position Meter Send AIS Location with Antenna IPX7 GPS Anti-lost Tracker Locator - AliExpress 202192403

Waterproof and self contained, since sold as a fishing gear locator. Dunno if its any good. Antenna must be pretty small but I suppose hoisting it up to the masthead would help.

Discussed in slightly broken English here.

https://www.thelowcostsailor.com/en/...for-your-boat/

Some hackery apparently required to get your vessel name details in, and I suppose you'd have to do reception and target display separately. He uses a Rasberry Pi

Reposted from an extended discussion of cheap AIS here, where cheap Chinese is disapproved of.

Cheap AIS on the market and it's features. - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Add also consistently displays in Hebrew for me, no idea why, though I suppose If I Was A Rich Man (Zih zih zi zih zih zhi zhi zhi zhi zhi zhi zum) I perhaps wouldn't all day long be be-de-be-de-bumming on AliExpress.

 

[Phil_boat]

Cheers all. Some things to think about. If I’m getting close to £500 then I’m probably just as well changing the plotter to an Onwa with AIS built in. Not sure what they are like to use vs the Lowrance but I haven’t been putting any route into it because it’s so much quicker & easier to use Navionics on an iPad. An easy to use plotter might change that.

I’ve only just got the boat so there’s no rush to change everything too soon.

Oh, I like this question as I also have a Lowrance Elite 7, but in my case I have AIS receive via a Lowrance VHF, which works well enough without the need for another aerial or GPS. Let me know wheat you decide and how easy it was to get it to work with the Lowrance plotter. There are some good points here about all the other bits and pieces of equipment needed.

The Lowrance has an AIS menu with some options in, I’ve assumed that once I feed an NMEA into from the AIS it will give options on how to display it.

I've been 'googling' Elite 7 and connecting an AIS Transponder ... and I cannot be certain - but it appears the Elite 7 can TX NMEA 0183 GPS data out - which the AIS Transponder will use in its transmissions out .. the Elite 7 has RX NMEA data in - which the Elite will use to plot the targets received ...

If this is correct - then all that's needed is the transponder and a VHF antenna or a splitter if antenna already fitted for VHF radio.

It sends the position to my radio over NMEA but I guess what Paul says means it will still need a gps antenna (or built in antenna).

You cannot send NMEA GPS to an AIS transceiver for outgoing AIS, it has to have it's own, GPS for that.

 

[fredrussell]

I’ve got the Matsutec HA102 (I think) transceiver. Hasn’t missed a beat in 3 years. Very good. But note you need to connect it to a PC (not a Mac) with an antiquated serial lead to enter your boat’s info. No biggie, and easy to do.

 

[Refueler]

If I’m getting close to £500 then I’m probably just as well changing the plotter to an Onwa with AIS built in. Not sure what they are like to use vs the Lowrance but I haven’t been putting any route into it because it’s so much quicker & easier to use Navionics on an iPad. An easy to use plotter might change that.

I still have my Lowrance Global 5. I had AIS receiver via PC that I used - but it could not display on the Lowrance ...

When I started Baltic trips - I wanted more - so looked around ... the Onwa caught my eye and I have to say that it has never missed a beat ... it just works.
The big selling point for me - was the built-in AIS ... Alan at Aves offered me a discount on the 39A unit .. it was the previous model where it was upgraded to B+ but still at the older 2W ... the next version being B+ and 5W.
When I bought the 38ft racer - it had the Garmin 92sv unit ... but no AIS capability. Because my 25ft boat will stay on the river - the Lowrance can go back on her - I had already drawn and vectorised river charts for it). The Onwa then moved to the 38ft.

It sounds hotch potch setup - but in fact works superbly and gives so much ... for actually not so much cost.

Onwa KP39A Plotter with K Charts and built-in AIS transceiver.
Onwa passive VHF / AIS antenna splitter.
NMEA2WiFi multi plexor that accepts all NMEA 0183 / ST / WiFi / USB input and combines to output as 0183 / ST / WiFi / USB
Garmin 92sv as cockpit plotter with Navionics


The AIS from Onwa is fed to the NMEA2WiFi unit - which then propogates it out to anyone on board who wants it (WiFi)... plus to the Garmin 92sv and PC via USB / WiFi depending on the program in use on it.

Given that the smaller Onwa unit can have AIS built in as well .. its not a bad deal to buy and use it as a chart table unit as well as supplying the AIS data out .. the only extra needed - the splitter for VHF antenna.

 

[Dockhead]

. . . I guess what Paul says means it will still need a gps antenna (or built in antenna).

Note ANTENNA. The GPS receiver is built-in, at least, the standard requires that. All the B and B+ transponders I've seen have a connector for an external antenna, but the unit has both receiver and antenna built in, which always worked OK on my boat. Whether this will work for you depends on where you mount the unit -- whether it will get satellites from there.

On the original question: I have bought so many stupendously good Chinese electronic devices in the last few years that I wouldn't hesitate to give one of those a try if I were in the market. My advice to the OP, however, is to insist on B+ and not the obsolete B standard, for reasons thoroughly discussed in other threads.

What concerns 0183 -- there is usually some device in an N2K network which can accept an 0183 connection and translate and retransmit 0183 data over the N2K network. My Zeus 3S lacks 0183 ports, but my Zeus 3 at my nav table does have. My pilot computer has 0183 ports, as does my H5000 sailing computer.

But I guess it won't be too hard to find an AIS transponder with N2K.