AIS receiver vs. Marinetraffic.com

[Captains Cat]

This is fascinating stuff but I have yet to see anything on either site from Virginia Beach to St Augustine. I can only assume there aren't any base stations in these areas? This seems hard to believe given there are some major ports along this coast line. I contacted Marinetraffic.com requesting the equipment to set up a base station in my area. According to the website they will supply you with the equipment free if you met their criteria. My neighbor who is and offshore tug Captain for Crowley for what ever reason doesn't speak very highly of the system. He says it's pretty hit or miss from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico where he cruises.

Marvin, I sent them a request about a month ago and have yet to hear from them....

Charlie

 

[lloyds]

I'm with Mike, to a point. I don't have, or even desire, to have a lot of gadgets but if I was tied to a buoy in the fog out at Blake Island and wanted to know my chances of crossing to Belltown in the fog I would at least fire this thing up. It is a pretty cool site.

 

[Matt Gurnsey]

The thought occurs: if everybody gets an AIS transmitter does the information become saturated and thus worthless?

This is a concern, which is why AIS type B was created, so in theory the big ships could "ignore" AIS B signals. Of course, that kinda defeats the purpose.... :roll:

At one point the Coast Guard was going to require AIS on all vessels as a homeland security measure. But the realization that the number of targets would be unstrackable, and terrorsits could steal a boat with a legitimate transponder makes the system worthless for security.

There is a way to signal if a vessel has been taken over (by pirates or terrorists), which can be handy.