VHF with AIS

[30boat]

I may need to replace my VHF and found this.Is this a good idea or would a dedicated AIS display work better?
http://www.cactusnav.com/standard-horizon-gx2100-fixed-with-built-p-11544.html

 

[prv]

Seems to me like a convenient arrangement to share one aerial. Some would point out that having a separate AIS aerial allows it to be used as a spare for the VHF, but you can always have the traditional emergency antenna in a locker.

The radio alone would provide basic alerting of a ship on a collision course, but I suspect the screen is too small to really get a picture of a more complex situation. If you have a plotter, the radio will feed AIS data to that.

Pete

 

[pvb]

The Standard Horizon GX2100 has been well-received generally. It's display screen is quite small though, and it will only show 10 targets, so could be of limited use in busier waters (and I don't think it's possible to filter out Class B targets). However, it will output AIS data to a plotter. One advantage of the GX2100 is that you can make a DSC call directly to an AIS target without having to mess about entering its MMSI number. It's also plug-and-play using your existing VHF aerial - no need for a separate AIS aerial or a splitter.

 

[Caer Urfa]

Seems to me like a convenient arrangement to share one aerial. Some would point out that having a separate AIS aerial allows it to be used as a spare for the VHF, but you can always have the traditional emergency antenna in a locker.

The radio alone would provide basic alerting of a ship on a collision course, but I suspect the screen is too small to really get a picture of a more complex situation. If you have a plotter, the radio will feed AIS data to that.Pete

Hi Pete

Interesting as I am also looking to upgrade sooner rather than later, BUT, is the AIS data received from the radio to a AIS capable plotter as good as you would get from a stand alone AIS reciever?

Surely there must be a differance in quality as some stand alone recievers are more money than the SH GX 2100 on it's own.

Mike

 

[sailorman]

I may need to replace my VHF and found this.Is this a good idea or would a dedicated AIS display work better?
http://www.cactusnav.com/standard-horizon-gx2100-fixed-with-built-p-11544.html

for £99.99 i bought a Belfield usb AIS + new dedicated vhf antenna on the stern rail ( will double as an emergancy antenna for the vhf).
it works as it said on the tin

 

[30boat]

for £99.99 i bought a Belfield usb AIS + new dedicated vhf antenna on the stern rail ( will double as an emergancy antenna for the vhf).
it works as it said on the tin

You'll need a laptop for a display won't you?

 

[sailorman]

You'll need a laptop for a display won't you?

Possibly

 

[Otter]

Digital Yacht do a very nice integrated plotter and AIS reciever which is how all plotters will be in a couple of years - remember when DSC radios had a seperate DSC add on module? The Digital Yacht unit is about £400 though.

The Radio and AIS unit is a good buy if you have a plotter you want to output GPS and DSC info to but the screen is pretty small for stand alone use. I can see it being of some help in fog, set the range to 5 miles and it will give you some warning and the ability to call up the named ship. In any busy sailing area it will be completely smothered by class B signals from yachts though

 

[pvb]

Interesting as I am also looking to upgrade sooner rather than later, BUT, is the AIS data received from the radio to a AIS capable plotter as good as you would get from a stand alone AIS reciever?

Surely there must be a differance in quality as some stand alone recievers are more money than the SH GX 2100 on it's own.

As far as I'm aware, the GX2100 has simultaneous reception on the 2 AIS channels, which is better than some cheaper standalone receivers (which switch between the 2 channels). As for the quality of the AIS data, why should it be inferior?

 

[maby]

Hi Pete

Interesting as I am also looking to upgrade sooner rather than later, BUT, is the AIS data received from the radio to a AIS capable plotter as good as you would get from a stand alone AIS reciever?

Surely there must be a differance in quality as some stand alone recievers are more money than the SH GX 2100 on it's own.

Mike

It is pretty cheap - though that Cactus price is heavily discounted. I guess that the point is that there is a lot of commonality between a VHF radio and an AIS - put them in the same box and you can share quite a lot of the electronics between the two. Also remember that the more expensive stand-alone AIS boxes include an aerial splitter to allow them to share the same antenna as your fixed radio - no need for this when it it built into the fixed radio. I really cannot see any reason why the AIS performance should be any worse than a dedicated box and Standard Horizon are a well thought of manufacturer of radio equipment.

The only thing to consider is the interface to your chartplotter - assuming that you want to connect the two together. I'm on the point of buying an AIS receiver and am going for the Garmin device because it supports NMEA2000 as well as NMEA0183. This will make the wiring much easier since I have an NMEA 2000 backbone in the boat already. The NMEA0183 interface on my plotter is already in use, so I would have to buy a multiplexer to connect via that path and would lose any price advantage of the SH unit.

 

[prv]

Interesting as I am also looking to upgrade sooner rather than later, BUT, is the AIS data received from the radio to a AIS capable plotter as good as you would get from a stand alone AIS reciever?

Why not? Range in VHF (which AIS is) is mostly about height of antenna. The AIS data itself is the same, it's sent out by the ships. Hard to see what other measure of "as good" you might use.

Pete

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

I have a Standard Horizon GX2100E DSC AIS Radio linked to my Raymarine plotter, it is brilliant, it really is worth linking it to a plotter.

The AIS data sent to the plotter is in a NMEA format and I would be surprised if the data was different in any way to that sent by other AIS receivers, however be careful, which NMEA standard is used NMEA2000 or NMEA0183.

My Raymarine C80 was not directly compatable with the more up to date radio so it cost me extra to fit a multiplexer. See above post from "mayby", other comments so far are also relevant.

It maybe expensive but when it is all working you will be pleased you have it. Good sailing, George.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I have a Navicom RT650 which receives AIS data, combines it with GPS data, and then feeds it all to a rather fetching AIS plotter

 

[pvb]

My Raymarine C80 was not directly compatable with the more up to date radio so it cost me extra to fit a multiplexer. See above post from "mayby", other comments so far are also relevant.

Standard Horizon have fixed this issue with the newer GX2150, which has user-selectable baud rates so that it can receive GPS data from the plotter at 38400 and output DSC and AIS data at 38400, getting around the C-series problem of only one NMEA port. Needless to say, it's not legal to use this in Europe....

 

[ditchcrawler]

I have this radio and it ticks the boxes for me.It does only list the nearest ten AIS signals but you can check CPA and TCPA for each one very quickly as well as giving name ,speed,course and bearing for each one.I have the fist mike at the helm as well.As others have said you can make a direct call to any ship shown by the press of a button.You can of course set alarms for distance approach of a target or time approach or both.

 

[prv]

I have this radio and it ticks the boxes for me.It does only list the nearest ten AIS signals

For the avoidance of doubt - it does presumably output the full list on NMEA to display on a plotter?

The limit to ten on the radio itself seems a fair compromise on a small screen.

Pete

 

[Kerenza]

I too have the 2100e which works really well.
One point, when I first connected it, due to the complicated nmea structure I have, it was constantly crashing due to non gps message overload. (Particularly autopilot info). Fixed by providing a separate gps dongle, just for the radio, a system I quite like anyway.

Can someone tell me if the data stream protocol provides for constant (repeated messages ?) transmission?
When there are no targets in range or they are at anchor and thus transmitting at longer intervals, navmon pc reports no signal from the radio. Or is this a fault / feature of this set?

 

[dgadee]

I have a Navicom RT650 which receives AIS data, combines it with GPS data, and then feeds it all to a rather fetching AIS plotter

I have too. Works well. Only thing was the fiddly bit of wiring it up where my skills are less than those of Angus.

 

[G12]

I own a GX2100E and it's linked to a Standard Horizon CP300E plotter. Apart from all its AIS capabilities, it's a cracking radio in it's own right. It's very useful to be able to select an MMSI of a vessel and call them directly without having to mess about entering numbers. I'd recommend the set to anyone.

 

[richardm47]

I too have the SH 2100, and find it works well without a plotter. You soon get used to looking at the list of CPAs and TCPAs etc. You do need to do it in the cockpit though, not down below at the chart table, so you probably need the remote mike/display. The screen is small - but still manageable.