AIS/VHF Radio

[Baker]

The Simrad RS100-B seems to ring all the bells when an HS-40 wireless handset is added. One last bit of info that I'm looking for. Does the microphone and the wireless handset show AIS targets on their little screens? Can one tap a target and communicate or only through a connected MFD?

$1,600 for the radio and $200 for a wireless handset. With tax and a bit of mounting hardware it comes to 2 boat dollars. Maybe for Christmas.

It appears you are in the market of the Cortex as well as far as price is concerned...and features for that matter. I am not familiar with the unit above, but one thing Vesper offers, whether you go with the Cortex or just their 800 series transiever, is WiFi! Vesper and Emtrak are the only ones that I know of that has WiFi out. I am not sure if that is important to you but it is awfully convenient to be able to be running software or an app on a stand alone device and have AIS information on that device. Just a thought!!

 

[Baker]

I have the Vesper Cortex and have been using it for a few months. It's an interesting product inasmuch as it combines a few things all together in a way that makes them easier to use. However, there are still gaps in the features compared to separate units (it's a first version product, after all) and it doesn't have the pedigree on the VHF side compared to the main manufacturers.

View attachment 111013

Having a touch screen + clicky things in a handheld and wireless package is very nice, though. I'm hoping to finish my write up on it within the next week or so. I'm also hopeful that what Vesper have done with the product energizes some of the normal VHF / AIS vendors to innovate a little more as well....

Plaese keep me posted on your full write up. I have been very interested in this product. My biggest concern is the "heartiness" of the actualy touchscreen/mic. I mean how many times have we all dropped that thing or banged it around. Millions it seems because we usually have the wheel in one hand and the mic in the other....and sometimes we must prioritize in a rapid fashion...

 

[Cigatoo]

“I am not sure if that is important to you but it is awfully convenient to be able to be running software or an app on a stand alone device and have AIS information on that device. Just a thought!!”

I agree. I wish I had purchased the wifi model. Also trying to look at a vhf screen to ID targets just plain sucks. You will want your transponder to push to your chart plotter. Or with the wifi to an iPad also.

 

[Sabre602]

In 2017 I installed a Camino 108S AIS and a Standard Horizon GX2200 VHF for a client, and then operated the system on the Ohio, Mississippi, Illinois rivers and Lake Michigan. If I was cruising my boat on inland rivers or busy harbors, I would install this system.

Hey, I have a question for you. I have the GX2200 on my boat and love it. The VHF feeds Coastal Explorer with GPS location and AIS targets...very cool. I'm planning on getting a full AIS transponder on a separate antenna (which is already there, used for a secondary VHF that is no longer installed). My question: do you have to turn off the AIS receive on the GX2200 if adding an AIS transceiver on a separate antenna? In other words, does the transmitter of the Camino overwhelm or otherwise confuse the VHF receiver?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ghost]

Any thoughts on AIS send-receive versus receive only for casual cruisers? I like the *idea* of a transceiver so that big boats can see me (coastal cruiser on Puget Sound). My beautiful bride's reaction to a transceiver: "I don't want everyone knowing where we are."

With a sufficient helm watch and radar, adding receive-only lets us take evasive action if needed. OTOH, I like providing our info to those big boats for their own peace of mind, sufficient time to maneuver if required, etc.

Thoughts from the group mind esp. wrt your experiences with AIS transceivers vs receive only?

Puget Sound area! Welcome to beautiful Friday Harbor.

Get a transceiver. When you are in close quarters in extremely poor visibility, getting others to see you is entirely the point. Especially vessels that are faster than you, which includes most commercial traffic. Ferry traffic in the islands is pretty prolific and in the past two years three times I’ve had close quarters passes with Ferry traffic in Thatcher Pass. The last time I was unable to transmit and I really missed it. Would not want to be without it.

I like my Vesper WatchMate very much, cuts down on the clutter. If you wish to remain anonymous you can tell it to stop transmitting, but In any kind of weather please have it on.

 

[oguidry]

The Simrad RS100-B seems to ring all the bells when an HS-40 wireless handset is added. One last bit of info that I'm looking for. Does the microphone and the wireless handset show AIS targets on their little screens? Can one tap a target and communicate or only through a connected MFD?

$1,600 for the radio and $200 for a wireless handset. With tax and a bit of mounting hardware it comes to 2 boat dollars. Maybe for Christmas.

The RS-100 B manual can be downloaded at https://downloads.simrad-yachting.com/ and I would highly recommend reviewing the manual before purchasing this radio or any other electronics. Page 41 of the manual says "A basic PPI on the right hand side of the LCD shows the location of the AIS targets relative to your position which is in the center of the plotter PPI."

However my experience with the RS-90 as well as the ICOM 506 is that viewing targets on the microphone screen is not very helpful

 

[NorWyn]

Agree entirely with posts by Rgano and Ghost on the utility and benefits of a transceiver AIS.

I see it as the best $500 tech we have put into the boat...I am hoping the radar install later this month is as welcome!

I am a bit unclear as to why the op wants or needs it integrated with the vhf radio.

Our unit is about the size of a pack of smokes (though I quit many years ago) and is totally unobtrusive. It is connected into our Raymarine Axiom MFD which can be viewed on any device via wifi.

Our standard horizon ais receiver did not need to be disconnected. I found AIS on the vhf radio screen pretty useless overall as it was too small to be effective beyond identifying possible identities of boats nearby.

 

[VanIsleGB32]

I have an older Icom IC-M502 and like it. No chart functions but it is used in conjunction with a standalone Raymarine Lighthouse plotter/radar overlay.

 

[BobMc]

Does anyone have a combination VHF/AIS radio transponder that they like?

We put one on Sanderling to replace a VHF which didn't have NMEA 2K, and all with N2K were also with AIS. The AIS is virtually worthless, unless you're going to feed the data to a MFD or other device. Might be OK for feeding other devices if you didn't have a dedicated AIS, but the functionality of a VHF/AIS combo is very basic.

 

[Baker]

I am a bit unclear as to why the op wants or needs it integrated with the vhf radio.

It does allow "one touch" SELCAL to a station on the screen of the VHF. Some people do utilize that function. I never did....although on some occasions I probably should have.

 

[Flatswing]

The Vesper 8000Xb with the Vesper antenna splitter works very well for me. Nice feature is my Simrad nss evo2 did not have wifi. The Vesper transmits any info on the NMEA 2K network over it's wifi. The Vesper has a dedicated GPS antenna (as does any Class B transmitter) Its' anchor watch is really accurate and I use it regularly since I can power down the rest of my system - just leaving the Vesper and my tablet or phone on.
The only issue I found is the software for the momentary push button alarm silence is rudimentary & apparently the work around for that issue was pushed back getting Cortex approved and to market! I also found 8000XB would not remember my boat wifi router address after being powered down so I reverted to using the native Vesper Wifi address and that is stable & repeatable-just requires switching my phone and tablet to the correct network when needed.

 

[Olebird]

I was hoping an integrated VHF/AIS system would ultimately be more cost efficient but we haven't seen that yet in the latest offerings. When I upgraded "Starlite"'s com systems, I added a Standard Horison GX2200 VHF which has recieve only AIS, with a plan to add a stand alone AIS xcvr in the future. Still the plan.



Currently the GX2200 puts GPS and AIS data up on the Nema 0183 hi speed buss (N2k is not supported). My Garmin 942xs MFD has access to the N0183 bus and can be programed to use both the GPS and AIS data streams from that bus. The GX2200 GPS seems to acquire a fix faster and is more accurate/reliable than the Garmin MFD built in GPS (w/ no external antenna) Using a common GPS issures the DSC and Chart info are consistent. The radar is displayed on the 942xs so the AIS and radar overlays are consistent as well.


Wasn't sure all this fancy electronics would be useful on the Tennessee River but actually has turned out to be very handy. As the weather has turned colder, ground fog pops up earlier in the evening and almost every morning. The radar helps keep an eye on the "High Speed Bass Boats" blitzing thru the morning fog at 60knts. The AIS plots the Tugs & Tows moving the fall grain harvest up and down the river at all hours. These tows are so big the radar pictures looks like a moving mountain - not a boat. Helps to be able to communicate with these very professional crews by name.



Having everything - sonar/radar/AIS Position and info/ chart data - all posted on a readable 9" MF Display is the best of all worlds. Adding a AIS xcvr is definitely in the cards. Working with a narrow river channel, big tows, locks and ground fog requires every tool in the box.

 

[jeremy.st]

I purchased a Vesper Cortex about a month ago and so far happy with the product. I purchased an older boat with older electronics earlier this year so I needed most of the functionality it provided.

The existing VHF sounds great but doesn't even support distress/DSC. I had AIS and monitoring on the previous boat. I really missed AIS in the smoke and fog over the summer.

The Cortex provides.

1. VHF
2. AIS Transponder
3. Antenna splitter
4. NMEA to wifi gateway
5. Basic monitoring when away from the boat using built-in cellular.
6. Anchor watch and similar functionality provided in other Vesper products.

I've only taken the boat out twice since it's the off season and happy so far. The handset can display a lot of info besides the number 16. I have been using it to display AIS targets. I do need to get a new antenna designed for both standard VHF and AIS so don't forget to add that to the overall price.

The single component is very easy to install compared to all individual components. I'll be keeping the old VHF for redundancy.

 

[DaveGibson]

I used all Simrad and integrated everything. Radio, AIS, radar, etc. Whatever you need all in one place.

 

[MichaelD]

Transponder is the key

View attachment 110981

As far as I know, the only full transponder integrated with a VHF radio so far is the SIMRAD RS-40B. I recently installed one, and it is great. Normally, I would have just added an AIS transponder, but the radio was old and inferior and needed replacing anyway, so this was a good option. It did not include the antenna splitter which I had to add. There are transponders with splitter included. And, the comments on the Cortex unit seem spot on. It looks amazing.

I recommend the expert at https://milltechmarine.com Doug Miller. He sells all these things and has a nice comparison matrix on his website.

 

[Marco Flamingo]

Normally, I would have just added an AIS transponder, but the radio was old and inferior and needed replacing anyway, so this was a good option.

I recommend the expert at https://milltechmarine.com Doug Miller. He sells all these things and has a nice comparison matrix on his website.

That's the position I'm in. My radio is +30 years old, so I'm looking for a upgrade bundle. The Cortex offers a lot, including VHF radio, but it has things that I'm not sure that I would need (Wifi) and is $300 more than the Simrad. Plus, an extra Cortex wireless handset is $600 instead of $150 for the Simrad.

I probably should talk to Milltech Marine since I'm in Port Orchard and they are just down the road.

 

[AKDoug]

As far as I know, the only full transponder integrated with a VHF radio so far is the SIMRAD RS-40B. I recently installed one, and it is great. Normally, I would have just added an AIS transponder, but the radio was old and inferior and needed replacing anyway, so this was a good option. It did not include the antenna splitter which I had to add. There are transponders with splitter included. And, the comments on the Cortex unit seem spot on. It looks amazing.

I recommend the expert at https://milltechmarine.com Doug Miller. He sells all these things and has a nice comparison matrix on his website.

That was the reason for my upgrade as well, 30 year old radio and the microphone switch quit working. I had no idea all of the things the iCom would do on the MFD screen and how cool it would be until I hooked it up. I also replaced the antenna since it made no sense to use a likewise 30 year old antenna on a new install.

I would consider a transponder if I lived in a higher traffic area, but where I operate there is very little vessel traffic. I installed G3 radar for my transit up the Inside Passage due to being overtaken by high speed ferries and the common coastal fog. It's pretty poor radar, but adequate for collision avoidance and anchoring in the dark and operating in low visibility conditions.

 

[Surboum]

Combined VHF with AIS Transmit And Receive Transponder

Look at the Standard Horizon 6X6500 Quantum

 

[Olebird]

Don't think its actually been released for sale in US. Prototypes have been seen but I can't find one for sale!!

 

[Duane Z]

Question about the Vesper install

I added a Vesper XB8000 AIS transmit and receive to the boat and kept the existing Raymarine VHF. I did add a separate AIS antenna as well. Works well, and offers WiFi so it connects to my Laptop, VHF, and 2 IPads. It also has a built in anchor alarm function.

I was looking to add this unit as well. We currently only have AIS receive, through our Standard Horizon VHF. I was looking at the Vesper installation instructions, and it says not to have the unit’s AIS or GPS antennas in the path of the radar signal, or it can be damaged. I’d place both on the port side of the fly bridge, so they’d be forward of the radar, but perhaps a little below the radar signal. Think that’d be a problem? The unit’s WiFi connectivity sounds great.

 

[DDW]

It will depend a great deal on the power of the radar, and the distance between antennas. I have a 2KW 18" dome, the AIS antenna is about 6' away and directly in line, Vesper XB8000, so far no problems. More power is obviously of more concern, however the received power is a D^2 thing, so twice as far away means 1/4 the power.

 

[Duane Z]

It will depend a great deal on the power of the radar, and the distance between antennas. I have a 2KW 18" dome, the AIS antenna is about 6' away and directly in line, Vesper XB8000, so far no problems. More power is obviously of more concern, however the received power is a D^2 thing, so twice as far away means 1/4 the power.

Thanks! Our radar is a newer Raymarine Quantum, which I believe is fairly low in power compared to older ones.

 

[Nick F]

+1 for having the transmit feature. Once you have sailed with it you will not want to be "invisible"again.

Nick

 

[Duane Z]

+1 for having the transmit feature. Once you have sailed with it you will not want to be "invisible"again.

Nick

Thanks. It makes sense to me to not be invisible!