Talk to me about AIS.

[Al]

I met with our fire department chief who is also a part of the local search and rescue squad operations. We discussed the situation that I have addressed on the forum. Here is what we are going to proceed with. On my next trip to Wrangell through my normal route which is an area that the rescue squad has not had opportunity to route any communications. They are as interested in the results as I in taking one of their loaner SPOT instruments. The rescue squad has a number of SPOT units that are offered to hunters, or tourist venturing out into the outback.
This is an opportunity to test the SPOT, confirm whether the unit will work in the area providing a closure to tempting the weather in advising home of my intentions going forward,

Now comes my recent introduced boating forum member, “Willies Tug” Herb. His confirmation of other comments regarding the use of Delome unit. While the wife and I do not text as a means of communications (Slow and seemingly too large fingers!!) however the ability to do so plus the ability to start and stop the service has merit for our considerations.

Al

 

[Lutarious]

I'm a commercial captain and I never leave the dock without the transceiver on. I find it especially useful for predicting traffic issues, like ferries coming out of SF, or crew boats moving around behind ships in the anchorage. When I see a potential issue on the overlay on my MFD, I scroll over the icon and it tells me which vessel I need to hail to resolve the problem at hand.

I have also used the AIS alarm feature on ocean deliveries. Set it to make some noise when a target is within a certain range, and you can rest that much easier on night watches. I've even set it while single-handing so I could sleep.

Necessary equipment in my mind.

 

[ulysses]

Lutarious: Absolutely correct for single-handed operations. I can rest much better on long crossings at night. AIS was developed for collision avoidance and now is morphing into an added aid to navigation with virtual beacons very helpful in that task also. As far as installing one for the sole purpose of someone on landing "following you" it is very limited. That may change as more shore stations are developed and repeaters on ships but one should not rely on it for purposes that were not intended.

 

[PatMac]

Hello. Interested in the Garmin 6000. Did you use a dedicated antenna or, use the integral splitter? Have read interesting stories about the effectiveness of the splitter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Capt.Bill11]

Use a dedicated antenna.

 

[cardude01]

I used this AIS splitter with an amplifier.



Had to do a quick install before bringing boat back to Tx so didn't want to fiddle with running another antenna cable. AIS worked fine. VHF seem to still work fine.

 

[freshalaska]

ais transponder license fee

What is it going to cost me to get the FCC to give me MMSI number, I think it's called, so I can operate internationally. How do they send you the number by email or snail mail or both.
Thank you all.

 

[questionmark]

What is it going to cost me to get the FCC to give me MMSI number, I think it's called, so I can operate internationally. How do they send you the number by email or snail mail or both.
Thank you all.

I did mine a few weeks ago and it was $215. The license is issued via the ULS system, the FCC will notify you of the successful grant via email then you can look up the license online.

That was for the ship's station. You'll need a separate license for each radio operator aboard (no test but another fee) to operate outside of the USA waters.

 

[freshalaska]

Thanks questionmark exactly what I was looking for.
Now one more gadget to buy, does it ever end? Not.

 

[stubones99]

Another option for over the horizon tracking is the Iridium 9575 satphone. It has a built in GPS and an SOS button in the event of an emergency. Unlike SPOT uses Globalstar satellites, Iridium uses iridium satellites which are available everywhere on earth.

Globalstar satellites have a specific footprint which has low spots, and sometimes none at all. If you're talking north america, no problem, but south pacific or south atlantic, big problem.

The 9575 is water proof, dust proof, and impact resistant. It is smaller than the 9505 and 9555 iridium phones and has a longer battery life. It does require clear sky view, so if you have a metal boat, you'll either need an external antenna, or step out on deck for it to work. It works well under a fiberglass roof.

The cost is around $1250-$1300 depending on bare phone or phone kit. You can get prepaid service that lasts a year, cheaper than month-to-month.

I deployed them in the middle east with far fewer problems than previous models and like the new design.

Stu