Is AIS in the house?

[hardee]

After some increase in AIS interest and discussion I thought I would bring this thread back up and bring in some updated information. I have had my Standard Horizon GX 2150 VHF with AIS Receive on board and working for almost 2 years now. The AIS receive function has been flawless, informative and helpful, especially when used in conjunction with the radar in the islands during low visibility navigation. Yes there are times when the Alarm seems a pain, but I would rather have it coming on than miss seeing something I should have to avoid an incident.

Here is a link to information from a new article on AIS published in the BoatUS OctNov 2013 magazine.

AIS What it is and how it works. (USCG and Dept of Home;land Security)
TYPES OF AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS (PER ITU-R M.1371 AND IEC STANDARDS)
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=typesAIS

Doesn’t look like I will be able to get the full article here though.

Guess that is why the BoatUS membership is worth it.

HERE is another interesting and informative AIS article, (Slide show) done my Millitech Marine out of Tacoma. This was presented at the Seattle Boat show, last January.

http://www.milltechmarine.com/customer_center/AIS-Presentation-2013.pdf

Hope this can help someone looking into this device system.

Harvey
SleepyC

[thataway]

Practical Sailor has a section on the Vesper Watch Mate and Icom 500 TR transponders. Both of these have dedicated screens for the AIS, sort of like a Radar. These are both Class B transmitters. The separate screen keeps the chart plotter, with Radar overlay from becoming too cluttered.

Versper: http://www.vespermarine.com

Icom: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/marine/ais/ma500tr/default.aspx

[hardee]

Thanks for those links Bob. I have been loooooking at the Vesper Watch Mate for a couple of years. I like the idea of a stand alone, redundant type feature of the Watch Mate. The screen is much like a radar pattern, my boat in the center and the AIS hits placed around the center point in relative position to my boat. The Watch Mate also has some nice filtering features, (like being able to take out of the display any active AIS that is not a concern in a meeting or crossing situation.)

The newer version from Vesper is called the Watch Mate Vision, and too, has built in GPS, but also has coastal outline on the screen. I am not sure of how detailed, but I know it is only outline, no chart plotter function like nav aids, depth, or may not even have naming, but with the outline there, it would be helpful in determining positioning on the stand alone screen. Useful in determining that the triangle on the screen represents a ship that is around the corner and over the hill from the pass that I am in currently.

Harvey
SleepyC

[hardee]

Thanks for those links Bob. I have been loooooking at the Vesper Watch Mate for a couple of years. I like the idea of a stand alone, redundant type feature of the Watch Mate. The screen is much like a radar pattern, my boat in the center and the AIS hits placed around the center point in relative position to my boat. The Watch Mate also has some nice filtering features, (like being able to take out of the display any active AIS that is not a concern in a meeting or crossing situation.) It also has the capability of being an active transponder or switching to the receive mode only.

The newer version from Vesper is called the Watch Mate Vision, and too, has built in GPS, but also has coastal outline on the screen. I am not sure of how detailed, (as in how small does an island have to be before it does not show up on the screen,) but I know it is only outline, no chart plotter function like nav aids, depth, or may not even have naming, but with the outline there, it would be helpful in determining positioning on the stand alone screen. Useful in determining that the triangle on the screen represents a ship that is around the corner and over the hill from the pass that I am in currently, especially when we are used to looking at land masses on the plotter.

Harvey
SleepyC

[hardee]

Thanks for those links Bob. I have been loooooking at the Vesper Watch Mate for a couple of years. I like the idea of a stand alone, redundant type feature of the Watch Mate. The screen is much like a radar pattern, my boat in the center and the AIS hits placed around the center point in relative position to my boat. The Watch Mate also has some nice filtering features, (like being able to take out of the display any active AIS that is not a concern in a meeting or crossing situation.)

The newer version from Vesper is called the Watch Mate Vision, and too, has built in GPS, but also has coastal outline on the screen. I am not sure of how detailed, but I know it is only outline, no chart plotter function like nav aids, depth, or may not even have naming, but with the outline there, it would be helpful in determining positioning on the stand alone screen. Useful in determining that the triangle on the screen represents a ship that is around the corner and over the hill from the pass that I am in currently.

Harvey
SleepyC

[thataway]

Hardee, the Watch Mate Vision is a very crude base line chart--sort of like the Garmin which do not have charts. One real value is that it will send the AIS data to an I phone, I pad or Android and display on the device--I like that it would display on INavX, which has free US charts.

The other option--which I would probably go for is I have the SH VHF 2150 already on one of the chart plotters, and just turn that on when I was dealing with blind corners. On the ICW this is not too much of a problem, because if there is a boat with AIS broadcasting, you know can rapidly figure about how far away it is by the scale on the Vesper Watch Mate screen. I can see it being an advantage in a crowded harbor, or like a situation we had with the Straits of Messina in the middle of the night, a thousand lights and barges with railroad cars crossing ahead.

[hardee]

Question: Is anyone here running an AIS transponder and using a VHF with AIS receive at the same time?

Reason: Is it possible to run that way and have the receive unit NOT be continuously putting out a "Dangerous Target" warning and alarm?

Hypothetical: Running a Standard Horizon 2150 AIS receive with output to the chart plotter and then have a stand-alone AIS transponder with output to a separate backup monitor running at the same time. Would the active system trigger the "Dangerous Target" alarm or is there a way to have the receive only system not see the active transponder running right along side.

Just wondering Redundancy...............

Harvey
SleepyC

[thataway]

No problem running a AIS B transponder and a separate receiver. You are going to want to have a separate antenna for at least the active unit--the SH uses the radio antenna for reception. You can turn the Standard Horizon receiver off in the chart plotter. I know of a number of boats which run that way. You can also turn the class B transmitter off. (you can also turn the Class A transmitter off). If I add a transponder, I will keep my current system. I will probably go with the Vesper Watch Mate, with the separate screen up over head. Many of the bigger yachts will have two AIS--as they have redundancy of all systems.

[hardee]

Thanks Bob. One of the venders I have been talking with said that since the receiver (SH 2150) and transponder (Watchmate??) have the same MMSI#, they would cancel out the alarm. I would like to find a way to confirm that independently rather than just take their word for that. I DO WANT to be able to have both on and running at the same time.

Harvey
SleepyC

[Alexander]

I'm a new member so I hope I don't screw up this reply. We have been using 2 apps from MarineTraffic.com for about two years and it works well for us on the east coast of Florida and when I'm the shore contact for my son in Boston who lives on his trawler and cruises to Cape Cod and Nantucket regularly. The marinetraffic app is used for watching other boats and can be used from anywhere as it doesn't transmit. I also have the marine traffic app on my laptop and can watch boats in any area from home. The "iais" app transmits your phone's location as you travel and is not to be used unless you're travelling on the water. I only use it from my phone on the boat with the phone plugged in. Possibly not quite as real time as real AIS but close and it's FREE. I checked it by opening a window with the live streaming beachcam at Coast Guard Beach on Cape Cape Cod and watching my son go by live on cam as I compared his position on marine traffic. It was right on the money.

[hardee]

Alexander,

Thanks. I cannot speak to that particular app, but from my experience, the phone clones are not equivalent to real time, sometimes by as much 5 plus minutes. That could be the time it takes for that 900 foot container ship to runnover you in the fog and he would even see your AIS signal go away

I have used an AIS app but can't see relying on that for any navigation. I do sometime check it when land based and wondering what ship I am seeing. The real life spotting does sometimes vary, but then at that point, I am not worrying about them running into me.

Harvey
SleepyC

[journey on]

I bought an AIS receiver and plugged it into the laptop on which I run OpenCPN. Last month we went to Santa Cruz Island from Ventura, Ca. This crosses the Santa Barbara Channel which is used by a large number of container ships and tankers going/coming from LA. They travel fast and their bow wake is higher than the mast on a sailboat. Our goal is to not get near them.

Usually when crossing the channel, it's a guess as to the speed and crossing routes between Journey On and the shipping. Judy errs on the side of caution, so we slow down, change course and work our way across. This trip, OpenCPN tracked the shipping, displayed corresponding icons and showed the point of closest approach, which reduced the anxiety level and corresponding dithering.

I cannot imagine not using AIS that is integrated into a charting program in the future. I assume PCs are ubiquitous, OpenCPN is free and the receiver is ~$150. While cell phones don't operate everywhere (Santa Cruz Island is an example,) AIS is where the shipping is.

Boris

[thataway]

Alexander, Welcome aboard. Tell us a little about yourself and your boat/boats, past on the Welcome to new members. Come up to the Apalachicola gathering the end of Oct.

The problem with all of the "Apps" is that they rely on volunteer monitoring stations. Some are better than others, but there are large areas where there is no coverage. For example the ICW near where I live is not covered. Also some of them do not show the class B transponders because of the lower power (2 watts) vs 12.5 watts for A. The apps may be fun to watch, but they are just not designed for navigation. You have to be in range of a cell tower (there are lots of places which are not), you don't have your boat on the display (unless you have an AIS transceiver--and then you don't need the app.)

Harvey I am not sure what you mean by alarms canceling out. If you are tracking on a chart plotter or computer, you just turn the alarm off. I doubt that there is anything in the software which will recognize your MMSI number, and keep it from alarming in the SH 2150.

I did notice that the vesper watch mate was/is North up--and that the techs are working on putting "course up" as an option.

One of the reasons to go with a display for the transponder, is to keep that clutter off the chart plotter--also to apply filters, which the SH does not have. There may be times when you want the AIS on the chart plotter, (and at least on mine) it takes a couple of key strokes to take it off or put it on.

[Alexander]

Please let me know which forum is the proper place for newbies to check in and say howdy, I didn't see a heading for that and didn't want to hijack somebody else's thread to do it. (Like this).

[Alexander]

This app is dependant upon cell phone gps location and of course it has holes where there is no cell coverage but it is live and very good in coastal and harbor areas and you can track vessels in real time on a cell phone or wifi at home too. Also tells you name,what type of boat and in many cases shows you a picture of it if you click for more info. Bob

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/