Digital yachts AIT2000

[Sailor George]

Hi,

Thinking of purchasing this AIS transponder for my 36 ft sailboat. I like the option for an external antenna so I don’t have to worry about where I mount the unit. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks

[tkeithlu]

I like keeping all my instruments separate - the AIS and the old Garmin 162 that I use as an electronic compass both have nav capability. BUt, I'm at one end of the spectrum of thought on instrumentation.

Keeping everything separate takes up space, and lots of boats, particularly monohull sailboats - don't have the space. Keeping the screens separate requires you to integrate information in your head, and some people don't do that well. I'm OK on both counts. Keeping things separate means you cannot be left with nothing when the single big glass monitor emits a small puff of noxious smoke. It means you can replace instruments piecemeal and across manufacturers. You don't have to buy a system and then post questions on Cruiser's net about how you get this X to talk to that Y. You plug each unit in and mount the antenna/sensor. I've got five GPS antennas.

So, if you want a separate AIS, good for you. The antenna does not have to go high up. On a rail is fine. Put the screen where you can see it at night, particularly. Only the US and Norwegian Navies have a record of running into large ships in broad daylight. And, finally, you do want a transponder, not a receiver. You want the mega container ship to know that it is running over you, on the off chance that they are keeping a watch.

Good luck with it.

[Sailor George]

Dear TKEITHLU,

Thanks for your response. I had installed the Digital Yacht AIS100 receiver which shows the AIS targets on my Garmin 7607 gps and also on my iPad with the Digital Yacht WLN 10 Wireless NMEA Server. I did this about 5-6 years ago when the price differance was large between the receiver and transponder. Also, at that time I was only sailing in the San Francisco Bay in good weather and most times in day light and didn’t think I need to be broadcasting my position. I just wanted to see who is coming my way. A nice feature of my Garmin gps is if there is a boat with AIS crossing my projected path it shows a sunken ship at the intersection! A nice wake-up call.

Now I’m planing more coastal cruising and need to upgrade the system. So, I will probably go with the AIT2000 from Digital Yacht unless I get some negative feed back. Hopefully, I can sell the AIS100 on eBay, who knows. Thanks for your comments.