AIS ??

[Frank]

 I have met 3 people cruising that love AIS. The 1st couple, by memory, said it worked off their handheld GPS (??) and wasn't too expensive. Craig told me about it as well. Anyone know how,what,where and the all important "how much"?

[CapnK]

Receivers, at least, are getting pretty cheap - I know that at least one radio manufacturer - Standard Horizon IIRC - is building an AIS receiver into some models of their VHF radios now. I think I would like to have it, as a 'poor mans' or 'free' semiradar - and yes, I acknowledge there are limitations, it would be just one more aid in staying out from under ships. :)

[Godot]

I have the Standard Horizon unit. It's pretty slick. I don't know why all VHFs don't have this feature (probably patents given the way the world works).

A pretty affordable tool. Not terribly useful for me so far in the Chesapeake (although fun to play with). I expect to to come in handy on my trip this year. I picked it up at one of Defender's annual warehouse sales, I think, at a very reasonable price.

Receive only...just in case there is any confusion.

[DavidCrosby]

I have done three major ocean passages as crew on three different boats (none were sailfar category). The first boat had radar in the cabin and was very seldom used. The second boat had the radar display out at the helm. The third boat did not have radar, but did have AIS. I became a believer in AIS on that trip.

My practice while on watch was to always do my 360 scan of the horizon and then when finished with the visual scan, I would then look at the AIS. Every time except once, I saw the "other vessel" before looking at the AIS.

AIS provides a lot of information about the vessel. The most useful being the call sign and ship's name of the other vessel. The second most useful is a quick, no calculation , determination if you are on a collision course or not and the closest point of approach.

I have found that ships typically do not respond to blind VHF calls. However if you call the ship by name or better yet, by their radio call sign they appear to answer every time. If you talk to each other on the radio, then you have confidence that they know that you are there.

In the one time that I did not first visually see the other vessel, when I looked at the AIS, I saw a ship dead ahead with a closest point of approach of 0.0 nm.  I immediately punched in a course correction to starboard  on the auto pilot and then grabbed the radio and haled them and received an immediate response. They said, "Ooh! Yes, we see you now, we will alter course to starboard."

With the boat that had radar at the helm, we were approaching the coast in fog. The radar told me there was a ship out there that was going to cross very close to us. I could tell with radar that we were probably OK. However, I had no idea what I was dealing with until a rather large Coast Guard cutter materialized out of the fog. With AIS, I would have known the name of the vessel. Their radio call sign. The size of the vessel. The speed they were traveling at. Where they were going. How close we were going to pass.

I am not saying that you can't do without AIS. However, it is a good tool. I personally would spend my money on AIS before radar. I would probably just go for the receiver.

[Grime]

I have AIS on my tablet. Only problem it requires cell tower. I've not had the chance to use it yet. Around here say from Corpus to NOLA is the heaviest tow and barge traffic in the nation.  Just calling (example) east bound tow this is west bound sailboat.  They have no idea who the sailboat is calling. Now I can call them by name. 

Then there is always the Houston Ship Channel or the Mississippi River at NOLA. Nice to know what is coming at you.

[Frank]

Adam....what model do you have? Price was about??    THANKS

[CharlieJ]

Yep- have to agree and am looking at AIS myself. In the ICW, with tow boats, the part between Galveston, and New Orleans is THE busiest section for commercial traffic of the ENTIRE ICW all the way to Norfolk.

My last trip, Miami to Norfolk I actually saw 5 tows. Here we often have that many on sight at once

We see more tows in a day than the east coast does in a week. And as Grime has mentioned before, they don't like to respond to blind calls any more- ALL the tow boats run on AIS.

At least on the gulf ICW, it would pay to have AIS capability. I want to be SURE this guy and I know what is happening

[Godot]

Adam....what model do you have? Price was about??    THANKS

Standard Horizon GX2150. I also bought the command mike which lives in the cockpit. I don't recall what I paid. Defender currently has it on closeout for $299 (I'm certain I paid less than this...well, pretty certain).

The new model is the GX2200 which Defender currently has for $349.99 and includes an integrated GPS, so there is no need to slave it into an external unit (why isn't this done more?).

[s/v Faith]

Frank,

  Yes, I do like AIS.  So much I now count it as an "almost mandatory" offshore accessory. I can go into several accounts of times it made life so much more easy and safe.

  Such a recommendation I don't issue lightly, and as this thread says I had real reservations about the nature of the system.

http://sailfar.net/forum/index.php/topic,3579.0.html

  Having used my 2150, and installed and used a raymarine 650 (transponder) on board Emerald Tide, I think the transponder might be worth the tiny bit of juice it takes.  Being hailed by name in a shipping channel by a big ship to ask my intentions lowers the stress level considerably.  Fog is a present  danger, and no sound signal is going to protect you like having that little triangle show up on someone's display.

  AIS does not replace good seamanship, and that is the biggest danger with systems like these.... But it does augment it in a valuable and reasonable way.

  For receive only, the sh 2150gx is likely the best value going...  It uses the same vhf antenna for both voice and AIS and does not cost much extra over a standard vhf.

 

[Frank]

Thanks guys....just the type of info I was hoping for!!!

[CapnK]

Steve Craig - do you have the 650 hooked into a plotter/whatever from another manufacturer, or into a Raymarine unit? Wondering how well it plays with others...

[s/v Faith]

Steve Craig - do you have the 650 hooked into a plotter/whatever from another manufacturer, or into a Raymarine unit? Wondering how well it plays with others...

It is wired into the Raymarine plotter (C-90W) but it is connected via the 0183 buss... Just like it would be with any other plotter, computer, or handheld.

It has a USB plug, which surprisingly will even power the unit! 

There are other brands, I might go with another less expensive one if I had it to do again...  Vespers watchmate has some pretty nice press... And a dedicated low power display.

[Frank]

I ordered a Standard Horizon 2200 today. Best price I could find was $339. I felt it was worth the extra with integrated GPS. I look forward to playing with AIS.

The price was at "Marine Electronics Unlimited"

[Chris]

Very useful and informative posts! Thanks all!
Another idea where there is heavy shipping traffic is to make use of any traffic control assets such as those crewed here in L.A. Harbor by USCG. I went up to visit that station just out of curiosity. They have excellent radar and ASI coverage with "participants" along with a vantage point that overlooks both the LA and the Long Beach entrances as well as the precautionary zone outside the harbor. One question I had was if they minded coms with recreational boaters and they said of course not and that it would be a good thing in reduced visibility given the volume of traffic in and out of this port. They can tell a boater what is coming in or leaving and if you give them a course they can let big ships know you are out there. It would be irresponsible to bug them unless necessary but they proved to be really handy once.
I always scan 14 (traffic control) and sixteen and once I got caught out in some thick fog coming home from Catalina.  I had already crossed the separation zone  and as I closed on the precautionary area outside Angle's Gate, gave them my coordinates,speed and course then asked about conflicting traffic at the Gate and in the main Chanel. They found me then reported that that there was no conflicting traffic inbound or out at the time. I enjoy listening in on traffic as these folks are always so professional and on top of things including warnings about heavy whale traffic that get taged onto all their communications.

Recently I to got an app that shows me commercial and recreational traffic, a great tool for getting in and out of the harbor but as above, Dependant on Wi-Fi/cell coverage area.