AIS Transmitter Only

[Parisnice]

Hi
I have a VHF Navcom RT650 which has an AIS receiver (antenna top of mast). I need an AIS Transmitter only, to be seen, and for anti-theft purpose as well. Who knows the best one? Thanks!

[Nicholson58]

We love our Watchmate 850 but it is both a send & receive. Only uses 3 watts and is stupid simple to use.

[continuouswave]

Originally Posted by Parisnice

...I need an AIS Transmitter only, to be seen, and for anti-theft purpose as well....

It impossible to find a ship AIS transmitter-only. All ship AIS transmitters must have a receiver. If you understand how AIS works, this would be obvious: they use a self-orgnizing network. Every transmitter has to have a receiver included so it can listen to the traffic being sent and select an appropriate time slot for its entry into the self-organized network which is a time-sharing network where all devices transmit on the same frequencies, just at different times.

Here is a short list of Class-B AIS transponders that compares basic features:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/AISB.html

You will also (most likely) need a ship station license and an MMSI from your country's maritime radio authority.

[IslandHopper]

The only "transmit only" AIS units are Type 1 AtoN'S, but unless you are a lighthouse or some other Aid to Navigation these are of no use to you at all...

As above, research Class B Transponders.....

[continuouswave]

By the way, not only will a ship AIS not be just a transmitter, a ship AIS transceiver will have more than one receiver. For a Class-B ship AIS transceiver, there will be two receivers. The receivers will listen to the two AIS channels and also time share to listen to the DSC channel (70). See

Automatic Identification System on Wikipedia

I believe that the need for a DSC receiver in an AIS transceiver is to provide a means of listening for telecommands sent via DSC to ship AIS transceivers. I believe the telecommands can change the transmitting frequencies for the AIS transmitter, which might be done to utilize some local or regional AIS channels instead of the normal ones.

See

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=AISFAQ#19