AIS Shipping Warning

[holmek]

Hey, you salty dogs, Anyone know of an apparatus that will warn of shipping in the vicinity. ? You can't fool me, I know that electronics has no place on a boat and am not interested in equipment that interfaces/connects/or in any way expects my VHF to talk to my GPS and sends a message to my PC which phones home and asks my aunt to tell the fire dept that my uncle has a feeling that I should get off my butt and look out the hatch 'cause there might be a ship on the horizon. Is there a simple piece of equipment that will just beep when a ship shows up so's I can pop up and have a look for myself and decide for myself whether there may be a problem. Is there a single electronics engineer that has heard of KISS. ?

[Bash]

Honestly, I'm not concerned about you colliding with ships. I'm concerned about you colliding with me. The way to avoid that is to maintain a proper watch.

There are any number of simple electronics devices that assist in keeping a proper watch. The first among these is called "radar."

[kevkal]

AIS WatchMate might be just what you need... try vespermarine.com

[svjobeth]

To second what's already been said: there's no substitute for a proper watch.

AIS is a tool; albeit a very useful tool, but it's no replacement for a standing watch.

I will say that after speaking with a very experienced friend of mine about his AIS experiences while on a recent trans-Atlantic delivery, I intend to put one aboard
Jo Beth as soon as is practicable.

And this friend, with 2 1/2 circumnavigations and a half dozen or more transatlantic crossings under his belt, always pokes his head out o' the hatch for a look around. Always.

[Sunspot Baby]

Radar with an alarm zone and AIS add to what you can see with the naked eye. Lets the Admiral worry not only about the ships we can see but the ones we can't :-)

George

[David M]

A proper watch is the law, its not an option. Prairie dogging through the companionway hatch is not a proper watch.

There are plenty of things out there other than ships with AIS transceivers that can hit you.

Its easy enough to interface an AIS receiver with a laptop.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by David M

Prairie dogging through the companionway hatch is not a proper watch.

...if we kept half as good a watch over our course of travel as a prairie dog keeps over its colony, the seas would indeed be safer.

(But David M's point is well taken, once one forgives the unfortunate anti-prairie-dog sentiment.)

[FSMike]

Originally Posted by David M

--- Prairie dogging through the companionway hatch is not a proper watch.

OK, I'll bite. Just what exactly is "a proper watch"?

This ought to be interesting.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by FSMike

OK, I'll bite. Just what exactly is "a proper watch"?

Not being hit by someone else.

AIS means didly squat. I would be dead now if yesterday.... we were running poled out dead down wind when a large oil tanker on my left side changed course to intercept. We were clearly going well in front of him - I could see the coast behind him - and he clearly changed course. After radioing twice with no response I had to swing the wheel to windward, put the genny aback and go under his stern.

So AIS don't matter didly squat.

[holmek]

Slow down guys, Sure we all understand about watchkeeping, the point is you're singlehanding, don't tell me not to do THAT,you gotta sleep sometime, can't afford chartplotters/PC's/Enabled GPS's, or the power they draw, or you're mid ocean and your electrics fail, whatever. Wouldn't it be nice to have just a BEEP to say there's some shipping in the area. It would be better then to pop up and have a look than to stay down below moving cursors around a screen and playing at computer games while you should NOW be on deck sailing your to safety.

[blu]

holmek,
Not sure what you're after here? You've been given straight answers and you're slagging them. Maybe you should let someone else take the helm. We'd all feel safer then. Radar 's the simplest/cheapest if you know how it works!

[FSMike]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Not being hit by someone else.

Right on Mark.

[FSMike]

holmek -

If i recall correctly there is a device called a C.A.R.D. (sp?) which sets off an alarm if there is a radar operating in the area. I believe it also gives the direction of the radar.
Of course there has to be a radar and it has to be on.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by holmek

..... the point is you're singlehanding, don't tell me not to do THAT,you gotta sleep sometime, can't afford chartplotters/PC's/Enabled GPS's, .

I think this is the bit of technology that would suit you best holmek

Navigation Lights - Vessels Not Under Command

try LED bulbs...

[Paul Elliott]

holmek,

I'm surprised by the amount of slagging you are getting here. Let's just pretend that we've already had the "singlehanding/proper watch/AIS/RADAR/eyeball" mudfight, OK?

There are two products that I am aware of which will do what you are asking:

NASA Marine "AIS Radar", also sold by Si-Tex: Si-Tex Marine Electronics AIS Radar

And the Vesper "Watchmate": Compare AIS WatchMate and AIS WatchMate-RX

The "AIS Radar" is a little primitive, but from what I hear it works well enough. The power drain is low.

The Watchmate has two versions -- one with a built-in AIS receiver, and one that needs an external receiver. I believe that the user interface in the Watchmate is more advanced than the "AIS Radar". It consumes 3 Watts (about 0.25A @ 12V).

Either of these units will need to be connected to a source of NMEA-0183 GPS data.

Finally, you might want to look at the newest generation of VHF radios. Standard Horizon has their GX2100 -- Welcome to StandardHorizon.com -- this includes an AIS receiver, a small AIS display, and AIS proximity alarms. This also requires GPS input. The GX2100 draws 0.55A @ 12V when not transmitting or receiving.

MarkJ, AIS is *much* better than didly squat. What did you think it was going to do???