Portable AIS

[boatman61]

Okay.. maybe a dumb question but...
My next job does not have AIS.. so.. it has crossed my mind a portable set-up might be a good idea.. have looked on line and the commercial portable costs a bomb and is pretty bulky..
I've found a transponder on line with GPS areal and is a receiver as well when hooked up to a VHF areal with a splitter... its not that bulky either.. and less than £500..
So.. my question for the electronic engineers is..
Is it feasible/how hard to fit a system temporarily job by job.. splitting the VHF is no big deal and the rest..??
I already carry my own Notebook CP with Nimble Navigator which has an AIS facility.. also H/H VHF etc etc... so another lump is not gonna affect my load much..
Is the trouble worth the investment..
Cheers guys...

[atoll]

just get yourself one of these,for a transponder you need a mmsi number and a ship station licence

http://www.cactusnav.com/nasa-radar-system-p-783.html

or one of these if you want to use the laptop

http://www.cnfoutdoors.co.uk/nasa-ma...L8jxoCs_fw_wcB

[boatman61]

Awesome... seems you've a better search engine..
Thanks..

[roetter]

The em-trak AIS R100 has a USB connector to connect to your laptop.
https://em-trak.com

For transmittion you need a MMSI of the boat and you can only program the unit once. For receive only you are good to go. Receive is better than no AIS at all. Great to see the collision vectors display on you chart, especially at night.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by roetter

The em-trak AIS R100 has a USB connector to connect to your laptop.
https://em-trak.com

For transmittion you need a MMSI of the boat and you can only program the unit once. For receive only you are good to go. Receive is better than no AIS at all. Great to see the collision vectors display on you chart, especially at night.

True but... if I did it under eg; my own boats name then only used it on boats with no AIS..??
Is that a problem..
The unit Atoll came up with.. seen loads of sailboats with little or no info other than a name.. often its just 'sailing vessel'

[atoll]

Originally Posted by boatman61

True but... if I did it under eg; my own boats name then only used it on boats with no AIS..??
Is that a problem..
The unit Atoll came up with.. seen loads of sailboats with little or no info other than a name.. often its just 'sailing vessel'

probably totalyillegal lol
but no reason why you could not get a ship station licence for your imaginary yacht,then apply for a mmsi number for it lol

please don't quote mewhen applying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE7m18MRT3w

suggest using "ss lollipop" as your vessels name

[donradcliffe]

The ship's aren't going to care if the name on your transponder matches the vessel. However, if more countries join Singapore and Thailand in requiring AIS transponders so they can track your whereabouts, they aren't going to be happy about it.

I agree that the receiver alone gives you 80% of the benefits of AIS.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by atoll

probably totalyillegal lol
but no reason why you could not get a ship station licence for your imaginary yacht,then apply for a mmsi number for it lol

please don't quote mewhen applying

Well... with all the imaginary residents with SSR figured its possible..
Ahh well.. once a duck n diver.. always a duck n diver..

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by boatman61

True but... if I did it under eg; my own boats name then only used it on boats with no AIS..??
Is that a problem..
The unit Atoll came up with.. seen loads of sailboats with little or no info other than a name.. often its just 'sailing vessel'

It's a problem of misidentification rather than a problem of not having AIS.

Imagine you already have a receive-only AIS-equipped VHF, like my Standard Horizon GX2200. Assume you have an MMSI that identifies that unit as belonging to "S/V Boatman Phil", an eight metre bilge keeler from Gosport.

This only matters if you need to make a DSC call to some other vessel in the middle of the Atlantic on your 12 metre delivery. Even then, you can explain, if needed, why you seem bigger in real life...

But if you do not make that DSC call, you get the benefits (even with a simple "emergency antenna" of the "Signal Mate" kind in the back of the VHF) of AIS, which are a sort of watchkeeping/CPA/TCPA facility without actually making your vagrant MMSI known. If you see the possibility of collision, you can call 12 or 16; if you need to do Ch. 70 because things are getting tight, you can use a DSC-equipped handheld, which is allowed, nay, expected to "roam". And if you absolutely must call DSC on your own base VHF, you are in "emergency" mode and all is forgiven under COLREGS, no?

I have just a flat two-foot whip in the back of my VHF inside a steel pilothouse and regularly get 10 NM AIS contacts from my dock.


If I bothered to put a tuned AIS fibreglass whip on the rail leading to the base unit, I'm sure I would do much better.

[MarkJ]

Hi Phil,

When I was setting up my Raymarine AIS650 i needed to test the antenna with one of those portable, emergency vhf antennas. It worked a treat!

The AIS just has a normal 12 volt poer and USB plug to go straight into a laptop. It comes with its own GPS antenna that can be set up below, it doesnt need to be on deck as it can see through fibreglass.

With the MMSI have it for your own boat.

Change the name simply with ProAIS2 laptop software to whatever boat you are on.

No one is out there floating around checking boats are transmitting the correct MMSI. And ships dont call DSC they just ring you on 16.

Its a great idea to have your own