bertram31.com

The recent trip aboard the Mary P. was my forst encounter with the Automatic Identification System where every AIS equipped vessel within a fairly large area around you shows up on the chart plotter and radar with its name, type of vessel, MMSI number, etc. I understand the prices have come way down and its a device I gotta have. To me it would be invaluable for overnighting offshore as well and just general manuevering around other vessels - call them by name rather than fumble around with trying to decrible where they and you are.

Any of the Faithful have any recc's on brand, etc. that are not too expensive, but good?

Heading to the camp so won't be back til Sunday, but I'll look at the responses then.

Thanks,

UV

Check this : http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/pt/default.aspx
Its direct on the pc as long as you have an internet conection.

Or you can have a AIS receiver connected to your VHF antena and to your laptop. Its very easy and not expensive to have this on any boat as long as you have a laptop and the receiver. Or you can have it conected to your chart ploter also. I use the laptop cause its a better vision screen then the chart plotter.

All the best

UV, This is my first year with AIS. I went with the Raymarine class B, as I upgraded all electronics to the touchscreen E series. I think they all are the same function wise. Just the difference between class A and B. A is recieve only, B is transmit and recieve.

Its an invaluable tool in my chest. For many reasons.

Last summer my wife and I spent 18 days on a friend's boat while they were on an 18 month trip doing the great loop. We spent most of the time on the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, which have lots of commercial boat traffic. It was not unusual to see a raft of 12 or 15 barges being pushed by a tug. We had the AIS system that did not transmit anything about us but allowed us to identify other boats with AIS transmitters, which most commercial boats had.

It was great to be able to identify a commercial boat with a raft of barges around a bend in the river and be able to call them by name and negotiate a passing before we could see the raft.. often the tugs have to position themselves and commit to a course and speed half a mile away or even further to be able to negotiate a bend in the river, and small recreational boats get in their way.. a dangerous situation for all concerned. On a couple of occasions the commercial captains thanked us for contacting them before we could even see each other.

AIS systems may be pricey today, but like all things high tech the prices come down fairly quickly. Definitely there will be one on my boat when the prices come down in the hopefully near future!

The AIS stuff is still something I have to look forward to but I can get a poor man's version on my laptop or iPhone. http://my.pinkfroot.com/ offers apps for mobile phones as well as http://shipfinder.co/ for a laptop-computer. Coverage can be spotty as their contributing sites do go down from time to time but my experience with Narragansett Bay has been excellent.

I'd have to have the time to actually leave the dock to justify this. Sunday, I'll leave the dock for a local competition. Third time to leave the dock this year. Unfortunately working for a living and staying alive gets in the way of justifying this. Not complaining, just saying......And then you can argue that "one of these days you're going to wake up dead". Haven't heard that justification in a while. (:-))

Thanks, guys....Terry, I feel's yo' pain, but I'm at least half a let up on ya, I quit working for a living several years ago and highly recc. it.

The AIS is a gadget I really........need?...want...yep, want. My Garmin 2010 color chartplotter and Raytheon 41X radar both take NEMA 0183 data inputs so need to find an AIS that will talk to them...and I want the Calss B that trasnmits too, nice to let people know who & where you are.

UV

Except when you're on your secret fishing hotspot.

walterk wrote:Except when you're on your secret fishing hotspot.

That's why William J. Newton invented the toggle switch....

You can go to silent mode on the Raymarine Class B:

http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail. ... oduct=4293

UV, here is radio w/ AIS for short money.
http://www.boemarine.com/Standard_Horiz ... _-GX2150W/

They actually have a cheaper unit...

http://www.sailsmarine.com/ItemDetail.aspx?c=42109

Pretty slick....I'll check it out and see if it will perhaps display on a chart plotter...no way I'll be able to read that tiny screen.

UV

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=10275

A budy used another one like this that was pretty cheap, i dont think it was this one though i will find out