Ais

I don't understand the comments that receiving without transmitting is selfish. It makes no sense to me. Remember, the majority of boats out there have neither.

I simply was adding a new radio when one with an AIS receiver was on sale. But I will likely add a transmitter at some point fairly soon....once I stop shooting the money gun at other stuff. We have pretty busy waterways around here. The Houston Ship Channel intersects the ICW and the Galveston Ship Channel and the Texas CIty Ship Channel all in the same spot!!!...aka Bolivar Roads.

psneeld said:

...AIS does not add another layer of safety....

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If it helps you see other vessels, and other vessels to see you....how can that be considered not adding safety ??

Benthic2 said:

If it helps you see other vessels, and other vessels to see you....how can that be considered not adding safety ??

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I think we are getting into semantics here and what exactly is considered a "layer of safety". I don't think anyone would argue that it doesn't add safety.

psneeld said:

That's the equivalent to saying that looking at highway traffic info without you constantly feeding the system is wrong.

Even if all you do us travel back roads, avoid major highways, refuse to call in the once and a great moon big issue, etc...etc...

Please, as a commercial small vessel guy....saying AIS is a good thing is great...saying you are a taker and not a giver is way out of wack with the system the way it is.

My exception may be Western Rivers which I dont have experience in.

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See, I said it wasn't always a welcome view

I think AIS is quite different from your traffic example. For traffic reporting to work, all that's needed is a sampling of cars traveling a route. Once you have some level of sampling, there is little to no incremental gain by getting more samples, i.e. having more participation

WesK said:

I don't understand the comments that receiving without transmitting is selfish. It makes no sense to me. Remember, the majority of boats out there have neither.

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If one has receive only, they have benefited only themselves by utilizing mine and other people's transmitted AIS reports. They have not provided any benefit back to anyone else. If one is going to utilize the data that others and I have provided, it would be nice if they reciprocated and provided useful data back about themselves so the rest of us can benefit too.

Baker said:

I think we are getting into semantics here and what exactly is considered a "layer of safety". I don't think anyone would argue that it doesn't add safety.

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I think AIS enhances safety. However, as more and more recreational vessels have AIS transceivers, it becomes easier to pay more attention to the plotter than looking out the window. The same is true with Radar.

I also have a Vesper XB-8000. I wanted the ships and tows to see me as well as me seeing them. I've only had it about 8 weeks but I've traveled the intracoastal from Galveston to Mobile during that time I will tell you that the captains of the ships and tows like you having the transmit capacity. They radioed me frequently requesting vessel type and discussing vessel placement in the channel. Its good to be seen by them.

GreySky said:

I have the Si-Tex MDA 1 Class B Transceiver. New they are just over $500 and can integrate with NMEA 0183 or NMEA 2000. Works nicely with my Garmin chartplotters and tablet with Coastal Explorer.

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I have this unit too and it works well with Coastal Explorer. SiTex retailer set it up for me as required but it came with the ProAIS software that they used to set it up. This software program also allows me to set the unit on silent mode and stop broadcasting, such as at anchor or in a marina. I like that feature.

WesK said:

Some brands seem to have an internal GPS antenna.

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That is correct, I recently installed a Si-Tex MDA-1 Class B AIS Transceiver with a built in 50 channel GPS, internal antenna and a socket for an optional external antenna. It is located in an overhead electronics box and operates perfectly. It has its own Galaxy 14' antenna.

It was connected to an otherwise all-Garmin suite via N2K, and was instantly recognized by all other devices. AIS targets are visible on all plotters.

I have a Garmin VHF200 radio that is also connected via N2K. Touch an AIS contact on any plotter and you automatically have the option to directly initiate a call over the VHF. This is a really useful feature. I like it!

Remember the saying: "Tis better to give than to receive".
With AIS, perhaps they are equal.

My understanding is that any class B AIS must be programmed by the vendor/reseller. That was the requirement of both the municipality and the Em-Trak vendor here in Qatar (the gov't mandated AIS a couple of years ago, even in my little center console which is locally registered).

The mandate here for small boats is driven by the needs of State security, not vessel traffic like the USA. Honestly I've always hated the Big Brother mentality, but I have to admit that having it virtually eliminates the constant visits/harassment by Coast Guard.

So I think that if I were to bring a trawler here to the Persian Gulf that it would be worth having a class A, whereby you can program departure and destination ports and therefore provide better communications. Remember, when transiting this area one is being monitored by forces from Qatar, UAE, Oman, USA, UK, Iran, and even Saudi when down the eastern coast of Oman into Yemen.

However, certainly don't want to get too close to Iranian waters if the AIS is proudly displaying an American flag

Baker said:

..... I don't think anyone would argue that it doesn't add safety......

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I think Psneeld would, as he said: "AIS does not add another layer of safety,"

Comparing boat traffic to highway traffic is apples to oranges. Cars on the highway always follow a set route. Boats are continually changing course. Transmitting an AIS signal alerting other AIS-equipped boats of potential situations is one more way I can make my vessel & crew safer.

Benthic2 said:

I think Psneeld would, as he said: "AIS does not add another layer of safety,"

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Safety is how you do things, not just information.

If you are tweaking your AIS and run over a kayaker, are you a safer boater because if AIS?

Like RADAR for most of us recreational guys who purposly don't go out in bad weather or at night, it may be used a lot, but rarely needed. While AIS is different, in my mind it is so far down the list, after the novelty of everyone talking about it, I stopped thinking about it. Not hitting things or not getting run over is easy enough without AIS....even in New York harbor. Try leaving the AIS alert on there if you never had.

I have said that if I ran river systems or the ICW where tows were common, different story.

If it was another layer of safety, then where is that same arguement from probably all the same people who say look out the window more in discussions like the destroyer accident where all the electronics in the world and trained crews still screwed the pooch.

boomerang said:

Comparing boat traffic to highway traffic is apples to oranges. Cars on the highway always follow a set route. Boats are continually changing course. Transmitting an AIS signal alerting other AIS-equipped boats of potential situations is one more way I can make my vessel & crew safer.

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My point wasnt about traffic, but traffic reporting.

At least you state that it is you making your vessel and crew safer, not AIS.

There are many things we can do to make things safer.

I guess that for most of my boating which includes nearly 3000 of snowbirding, it is such a small incremental need, that even the receive only portion of it I barely use.

Many boaters might benefit more from spending that money on training than AIS to make them safer in the big scheme of things.

Hamrow said:

Another vote for the Garmin AIS 600 if you're already using Garmin MFDs. I have this setup and the nice thing if you stick with Garmin is that when you ever go to update software; you plug in one SD card and it updates all of the Garmin devices on the network.
I definitely love the transceiver. It augments radar and just adds another layer of safety. In NY harbor you will be in a target rich environment and it'll come in handy.
Also as you mention; its very cool that friends & family can track your progress, it is sort of like a real-time float plan if you've ever sent one to someone before a big cruise.

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It seems the Garmin uses the existing VHF antenna so that greatly simplifies the installation. But it does use and external GPS antenna and that complicates it.

And of course, the price goes up (but you don't have to install a $100+ antenna).

I think the "safety" comes in when the alarm sounds and says that if neither you or that ocean going cargo ship change course, there's going to be a collision in five minutes.


I've been up and down the AICW several times and cruised some rivers and only wished I had AIS a few times. I've never really "needed" it. It would have been nice to be able to call a ship by its name but "Northbound tanker at red 67" usually works. In these situations, both boats are going the same or opposite directions. It's when vessels are going many different directions at many different speeds that I get concerned and this is where AIS makes it safer by doing the calculations for me.

Rebel112r said:

Mine is Vesper XB-8000. Has wi-fi, so can be controlled by mobile device.

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Another vote for the Vesper XB-8000.

Mine is connected (via NMEA 2K) to a Garmin MFD. Works flawlessly. Love the WiFi connectivity options it provides. Firmware updates via WiFi from the smart phone app. Anchor alarm and other helpful features built in to the unit and the app. Competitive price. Very good manufacturer support.

There are splitters that let you use an existing VHF antenna. Vesper sells one; read the information on their web site before you go this route. I wanted a separate antenna for the redundancy, and because I didn't want either function to diminish or interfere with the other.

CaptTom said:

Another vote for the Vesper XB-8000.

Mine is connected (via NMEA 2K) to a Garmin MFD. Works flawlessly. Love the WiFi connectivity options it provides. Firmware updates via WiFi from the smart phone app. Anchor alarm and other helpful features built in to the unit and the app. Competitive price. Very good manufacturer support.

There are splitters that let you use an existing VHF antenna. Vesper sells one; read the information on their web site before you go this route. I wanted a separate antenna for the redundancy, and because I didn't want either function to diminish or interfere with the other.

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Good splitters are not cheap. On the other hand, the Garmin AIS 600 is $300 more than some of the other good AIS units.

I'm trying to figure out where to mount an additional antenna where it won't look out of place and where I won't have to remember to lower it going under bridges.

Transievers tell the bad guys where your boat is, I'll never use one.

No law about setup.

what_barnacles said:

Transievers tell the bad guys where your boat is, I'll never use one.

No law about setup.

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What "bad guys" do you run into where you boat?