AIS anyone

K

kg4vgh

New Member
Dec 30, 2006
144
Hampton Roads, VA
Boat Info
340 Sundancer
Ratheon Radar, SH 1200C, SH 3500S, AIS,
Engines
T-350's with V-drive
Considering the purchase of an AIS transponder for the boat....Notice that there are two classes....A and B....information on either is sketchy...looking for some info on either and if possible...the difference between the two
I do recreational boating / fishing in the Hampton Roads area.....a lot of commercial traffic as well as Military
Any info would be appreciated
Thanks
Pete
 
When we bought the 58 I decided to play around with AIS, I ended up buying the most basic, cheapest AIS receiver I could find - the SR161 from Miltech Marine. It was only $189 so I figured I couldn't go too wrong.

I am very happy with the performance and absolutely love the ability to call ships by name. However, there are some limitations. First of all the SR161 is a single channel unit. I wish I have forked over the extra $200 for a dual channel receiver which would get info faster. The other problem - inherent with all AIS systems is that in congested areas there are just too many targets to be meaningful. In NY harbor we were tracking over 100 ships within a 10 mile radius. I am sure the same would be true in the lower Chesapeake Bay.

Now that class B transponders have been approved by the FCC I am thinking about installing one for next season. I think the class Bs have some limitations, but I am not sure I want to fork out the big bucks for a class A.

One of the best resources for information on AIS is Ben Ellison's Blog at panbo.com. He is the electronics editor at Power and Motoryacht magazine and is totally immersed in all things electronic for boats.
 
I'll second what Jeff said about panbo.com. Always a good read there. Do a search on that site for AIS.

Also, Class B and Class A transponders send and receive (that's why some products are called "transponders" instead of "receivers"). Class B is an effort to make them more affordable in the recreational area. The issues around Class B transponders have to do with some of the limited guidelines on what they transmit and weather anyone will see you due to older equipment only seeing Class A. Also, I'm not sure they ever came to a conclusion about weather Class B transponders would broadcast the boats name. The last I checked, Class B would only broadcast your documentation number or state registration number. That pretty much sucks. I'm not sure I would even answer a call if someone hailed me by my doc number.

I'm in the same area as you and was hoping a transponder would keep Mr. RIB Military Man from giving me private escorts with weapons drawn everytime I go by the shipyard, navy base, or silly little submarines.

Not sure what electronics you have either. My old RL80 CRC does't support AIS information display but I have Coastal Explorer on a nav PC which does.

At a minimum, if you get one of the newer Class B transponders, make sure it receives Class A and B info even if it only broadcasts Class B.

but... go check out panbo.com.

Edit: I went and looked at that uscg link and here's the position info a Class B transponder broadcasts according to that web site (if it's up to date).

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/enav/ais/AIS_Messages_B.htm

Also check out this:

http://www.navagear.com/2008/10/class-b-ais-no-boat-names/

for the boat name issue.
 
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ACR's Nauticast and Simrad's AI50 have both been approved for transmitting as well as receiving. These units are both affordable. To put the difference in A and B in very simple terms as it applies to us - Class A has priority over Class B. An AIS reciever might have... let's say 20 receive blocks every few seconds. If there are 20 Class A transmitters around you then your Class B transmitter will get bumped, so other boats might not see you. This will only be applicable in busy areas. You can also turn off the transmitter on Class B where with Class A its always transmitting. I am sure there is lots of detailed info that can be added to this description, but these are the major bullet points.
 
I'd like to add one to the Garmin 545 I have. Radar may be a better feature to have , but with no radar arch, AIS my be a viable substitute for the bigger craft.
 
Todd, I don't see AIS as a replacement for radar. Even my sub $200 receiver shows me the larger commercial vessels, but it has nowhere near the utility of radar.

My guess is that you already know this, but think about some of the things that radar can "see" that AIS won't: land masses, buoys, lobster/crab traps, rocks, birds, thunderstorms, and 99.9% of all of the watercraft on the planet.
 
WHY?

I see AIS as largely a locker room toy to support the "mine is bigger than yours" syndrome. Yes, its great for Port Control Authorities, DEA, Coast Guard etc. but to the pleasure boater is simply un needed. Why?

Well look at this way, if he's bigger than you and you're going to give way no matter what his name is.

If you can't see him with Binoculars then he's not a sail boat and he's going to give you sea way no matter what your name is unless you run over him at anchor ... or he's on your transom boarding you for a safety inspection anyway but then well you see my point.

If you do not have radar get one, learn to operate it and use it. In open water use the MARPA features and binoculars you'll have all ther collision avoidance toys you really need to transit commerical seaways safely.

If you have radar already, spend your money on a better sound system and a disco ball because chics like that stuff much more than an AIS receiver!

If you already have a great radar, and a disco ball, then maybe a stripper pole for the swim platform might be cool!

I wonder what the BOE CSR price for a stripper pole is?
 
We don't have stripper poles. I can look into it though :wow:

I see AIS as being useful for bigger boats that might want another lever of awareness for things like inlets, canals, locks, narrow channels etc. If you know a tug/barge is already in a channel you might slow down to make sure you don't get to the channel when the tug is there. Or useful on a river to see what is coming around the corner before you get there. Until such time that every boat on the water has AIS and you can literally keep track of every boat I don't see it as being a popular add-on to the typical rec boat. We do the outfitting for most of the Selene's that hit the Mid-Atlantic and NE, and most of these owners go for AIS. Makes sense for them as you can get your hands full quick when you encounter a tug in a narrow channel in a big single screw boat :wow:
 
An AIS receiver is way cheaper than a stripper pole and easier to install than a dsico ball. I have found that it greatly enhances my situational awareness at a low cost.

As for the class B transponder - my jury is still out.
 
Sea Gull said:
Todd, I don't see AIS as a replacement for radar. Even my sub $200 receiver shows me the larger commercial vessels, but it has nowhere near the utility of radar.

My guess is that you already know this, but think about some of the things that radar can "see" that AIS won't: land masses, buoys, lobster/crab traps, rocks, birds, thunderstorms, and 99.9% of all of the watercraft on the planet.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm aware of that. We rarely run in fog, if we do it's very limited or decent visability. The one thing that we do see frequently is maririme traffic in Puget sound and on the US-Canadian Border.
See here.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...28,-123.224373&spn=0.053269,0.153809&t=h&z=13

When the Oil Tankers, Freighters and Cruise ships run through here, many times you can't see them until you are running accross and in the middle of the channel. If we're cruising at 25 Knots and a big boy appears it would be nice to have some advanced warning.

Down south in Puget Sound it's the Frieghters and Ferries.
 
admin said:
Here ya go Todd, you can save yourself some money and view this on your Crackberry or Iphone: http://live.aisparser.com/
Click to expand...

Yeah I've used this on too, http://ais3.siitech.net/VTSLite/AView.aspx
but I usually don't have the laptop aboard and if so, never on while underway. It would be nice to see it on the GPS screen. Seeing friends on there via the DSC/VHF is a very nice feature so having the Commercial Big Boys on there automatically would be icing.
 
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