New AIS Installation

[YPSILANTI]

I am about to install a new AIS. I intend installing the Class B receive and transmit unit. My chart plotter and other equipment is Raymarine so I am considering purchasing the Raymarine 650 and installing it such that the images will appear on my chart plotter as apposed to obtaining a stand alone unit with a separate screen. I intend purchasing the Raymarine splitter to connect to my existing VHF aerial.

Is the above the right way to go, considering all the makes , models and new technology out there? I appreciate that the opinions may be subjective and that I'm naming brands on the forum but I've yet to not gain value and benefit from the opinions and experience shared on this forum.

I do recall a comment that the amount about vessels received by the Raymarine units was set to a maximum of 100 ???? compared to others, OpenCPN I think, which offered much more vessels being picked up by the AIS receiver. I may be mistaken as this was some time ago. Is the Raymarine not the best choice, considering that I have their equipment on board? I wasn't even aware the OpenCPN also had AIS functionality.

I will also be purchasing a Samsung Tablet next week and will be installing OpenCPN as my secondary navigation system, hence my limited knowledge on the system. Should I not just use the OpenCPN system instead of purchasing the Raymarine. Thank you

Comments, suggestions etc will be appreciated.

[smac999]

any of the AIS units should be able to send data to your plotter. if you have a newer ray plotter with seatalk ng port, the raymarine will be the easiest to connect though. you'll need to buy and set up a seatalk NG backbone if you don't have one already.

if you want to use your tablet for nav as well. it might be better to look into the vesper units with wifi. then it can show ais on both

I don't think any receiver will limit how many it will pick up. some screens will limit how many they can show. but it'll show all the closest ones. you might be missing the ones 40 miles away. not a concern.

telling us which ray plotter you currently have will help

[s/v Moondancer]

8 years ago I fitted a West Marine generic to my Raymarine plotter system...it has worked flawlessly since then. Raymarine technical services talked me through the installation.

The only time 99 plots could not handle the traffic was anchored at the entrance to the Panama Canal and 80 of the ships were anchored. At sea the maximum we ever received was 24...you would not get more than 100 targets if you sailed through the US Pacific Fleet and then they would be the 100 nearest targets.

[Dockhead]

There were compatibility issues some years ago with NMEA2000 transmission of AIS data. I think those are long gone now so if your plotter is capable of displaying AIS targets at all, you should be able to use any black box AIS set.

Displaying AIS targets on the plotter screen is generally much more convenient than a separate display. Finding space for a separate display is also very difficult on many yachts.

Note that the original Class "B" specification is a bad compromise due to a technology licensing issue. There are some new Class "B" sets already using the new specification, which is usually called something like "SOTDMA Class B". The new specification sets are more powerful, are capable of transmitting more frequently, and get better message priority due to using the same message/channel organization as Class "A". Read about it here: https://www.panbo.com/archives/2015/...iddle_way.html

I would most certainly not buy a Class B AIS set using the old system.

[Lantau]

It's popular to have things integrated, but I'm old-fashioned, so I prefer separate units when possible. As you plan it, if your display dies, there goes your AIS. It's not a big deal, probably (not least because the AIS is probably still transmitting just fine), but the whole point is that you want to see other AIS-transmitting boats. It's just something to consider.

Maybe get one of those AIS devices that can integrate with plotter and can also connect to a tablet, so you'd still have it if (when) the plotter dies.