Anyone use AIS transponders?

[SteveM]

I've been reading up on AIS transponders.
It seems like a nice piece of equipment,....As long as everyone else is using it!
Curious if many of you use AIS units.
Or if it's mainly for communicating with large ships, coast guard, etc.
I could see how people in fishing tournaments would find it useful.
But for the everyday person, not sure if it would get much use. Let me know if I'm missing something.

[mike ohlstein]

I have one. Icom. It interfaces with my Icom VHF and adds my position to any distress signal that I would send (one button push). It also tells me if I'm on a collision course with a ship that might be hidden behind an island or a point, or in heavy rain that my radar can't see through. Nice touch, really. Also allows you to place a radio call to a specific ship, but I haven't done that.

[SteveM]

Thanks Mike. I have an Icom VHF as well and we reading about their AIS products to add on to it. Also says you can interface it to your NMEA chartplotter too, which would be cool if you were a competitive fisherman so you could see exactly where people hook up, etc.

[IRGuy]

A couple of summers ago we spent 18 days on a friend's 40' trawler while they were doing the Great Loop. He had an AIS receiver tied into his chartplotter. Several times while I was on the helm I could see a tug approaching us from around a bend.. often these guys were pushing rafts of from two to as many as 12 barges, occasionally more. We would always call them and ask how they wanted us to pass them.. a "one whistle pass" or a "two whistle pass"? They would answer as to how they wanted us to move.. one captain thanked me for the call.. saying he had to set up his move to go around a bend in the river with his raft about a half to three quarters of a mile ahead of the bend.. and often recreational boats would get in his way and cause him a lot of concern when he was forced to squeeze them against the river banks. If I was navigating in close and potentially dangerous waters I certainly would have an AIS.