Simrad AI50 AIS 'safety alarm' problem

[Lantau]

My Simrad AI50 AIS produces a 'safety message alarm' several times per hour. The system indicates that the alarm is from vessel '200000009' and includes the word/message 'TEST'.

I have checked with the local authorities and they insist that no such alarm is sent out. There is no such 'vessel' and nobody else I talk to receives this alarm. From this I assume that the problem lies with my boat or specifically my AIS.

After talking to Simrad tech support, I have reset the system, tried it with the antenna disconnected, tried again with transmit disabled. I have done this with everything else on the boat turned off (so no stray signals). Nothing stops the alarm. It's a pain to have to go to the AIS each time to clear the alarm from the screen and to stop the alarm sounding. The latter drives me crazy.

Otherwise the AIS works just fine: I can see other boats and they can see me. But the alarm is so annoying that I leave the unit off unless in traffic separation schemes.

Has anyone reading this experienced this problem? If so, how did you fix it (if you did)?

[Rusty007]

1/ Which region are you in?
2/ What is the MMSI number programmed into the AI50?
3/ Do you have any other AIS transmitters?
4/ Do you have TCPA/CPA alarms activated?

Sorry you may have been asked all those questions already

[chrysm]

Monthes ... ago ... How did you solve this problem ?

[Lantau]

Originally Posted by Rusty007

2/ What is the MMSI number programmed into the AI50? The boat's MMSI is entered, correct and correctly detected by AIS receivers.
3/ Do you have any other AIS transmitters? No.
4/ Do you have TCPA/CPA alarms activated? No, all off.

Sorry you may have been asked all those questions already

The problem persists, so I have stopped using the AIS.

[Lantau]

Originally Posted by chrysm

Monthes ... ago ... How did you solve this problem ?

No solution. I gave up. The manufacturer has no solution. I reset the whole system without any effect. I think has got to be some kind of stray signal from a local source or possibly from an antenna on the boat, but I cannot figure out what it is. The local marine authorities at first said they also received the signal, then said they didn't, so I'm a bit lost on that.

[chrysm]

AFAIK Navico technical support is very bad nowadays... Locally here they even don't know the products we use (mine are very old : 2 years ago they were brand new).

I hope to find people with much more knowledge inside this company ...

[Lantau]

Originally Posted by chrysm

AFAIK Navico technical support is very bad nowadays... Locally here they even don't know the products we use (mine are very old : 2 years ago they were brand new).

I hope to find people with much more knowledge inside this company ...

Yup. That's my experience. I have reached a conclusion about my next major purchases of marine electronics: buy the absolute cheapest I can find. Even the best stuff is not designed to last long, and if any instruments/electronics are integrated, they won't understand anything you add after a few years (despite repeated promises that the latest versions will 'talk' to everything else for ages). I don't think there's a technical reason for this; it's a business decision not to make the new stuff understand the old stuff.

I've been considering a bigger boat. It has very fancy and costly 12-year old electronics. The owner insists it's all perfect. I don't have the words to politely get him to understand that it could all be junk the first day the next owner goes offshore, and that fixing the piece that breaks just won't be possible. In other words, any smart buyer is going to figure in the cost of replacing all those electronics within the first year. But try making a boat seller agree with that.

This problem with soon-to-be-obsolescent electronics is no different than home stuff these days: I just had my two-year-old washing machine fixed (costing more than half the price of a new one). The problem was, of course, a circuit board. The first thing the repair guy said was "don't bother to fix it next time; just buy a new one." Everything is throw-away nowadays, which makes a sailor who likes to fix things weep...

[smac999]

Can you try the ais somewhere else? Take it 300 miles inland. If it still picks up same mmsi then bad unit??