charter plotter suggestion

[zuunami]

Steve Baum, so if we don't want to initially connect the Garmin to the radio (in order to receive AIS from the radio to the Garmin), there is no reason to connect the two devices at this time, hopefully? lol

prior Steve comment: The vhf with the AIS receive, is connected to the external vhf antenna. The radio has several small wires and one of these are connected to the matching wire on the Garmin. The wire on the radio and the plotter were not the same color, but the installation manual of each, shows the wire color for that function.

[srbaum]

The radio will display the AIS contacts on its screen. Unfortunately, the screen is so tiny, that it is difficult to see. Connecting it to the chart plotter provides much more visual detail, as well as visual track lines of where and when a possible collision could occur.

[thataway]

With the GX 2400 you can bring up all targets in range in a list form, and then get information on each target. Agree that the screen is small, but in the list form it works well. We had a separate 5" older Garmin chart plotter to display the targets visually. Some ports it is really a pain, since many large yachts in marinas or at anchor will have their AIS transmitters on.

[zuunami]

I think we'll hook the two up eventually, but we'd like to get them in use, I was just thinking they HAD to be connected like our current setup, but that doesn't seem to be the case. We don't have much traffic around here, but we got stuck in some unexpected fog recently and it would have been nice to see if anything was around

[srbaum]

Zuunami,
My experience, on Osprey, with the small screen and the scrolling ability has not been great. My homeport is a high commercial traffic area and things can get dicey quickly. The Garmin 9” screen, with the AIS overlay, makes identification and the decision process much easier. The images are clear, red in color (if active) and has a trackline, plus an alarm. Touch the screen, on the contact and you have the vessel’s name and other critical data, clearly in front of you.
Last week, while sailing my trimaran, I ran into a situation, that would make you a believer. I was sailing at about 13 kts, inbound, on the red side of the channel. I couldn’t go outside of the channel in that area, because of rocks. About 1/4 mile behind me was a tug, inbound, pushing barges. Ahead to starboard, was a Navy oiler, with two tugs, getting ready to get underway and both tugs were pushing the ship against the pier, creating a huge amount of turbulence. Then there was an outbound bulk cargo ship, forward, to port. Because of the wind shadow, from the ships, my speed dropped to 3 or 4 kts, then the turbulence of the prop wash from the tugs had an impact on my heading.
I needed to talk the the tug behind me, because my speed had temporarily dropped. If I had the AIS data in front of me, this would have been a lot smoother, because there were so many tugs near me and there was lots of activity on VHF channel 13.
I have a Garmin plotter on the trimaran and Friday, I ordered an AIS, which I received Sunday. I installed the AIS yesterday and will have a bit more help, next time that I am sailing.

[hardee]

The two primary critical pieces of information from the AIS screen are:
1. CPA = Closest Point of Approach, which is the distance you will be from the target in . . .
2. TCPA = Time to Closest Point of Approach. Minutes and Seconds until you are at CPA

and then the other important piece of info

Contact info, Vessel Name, MMSI Number, so you can either use DSC or Voice call on VHF.

I also boat in a fairly heavy commercial area at times and I have had the best luck in contacting them by name on 13 (over a DSC call) next best is voice call on the VTS channel, BUT only if it is not busy.

Harvey
SleepyC