Looking for Garmin Ais 600 Setup Software

[jabaraco]

I guess my question should be directed to BitNissen.

Did you have any luck reprogramming the MMSI? I know that the Garmin install prod lit and ProAIS says no, but someone else on another blog said that was CYA hooey because of US FCC requirements. Can you confirm that it worked?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Tomm0

From the user manual of ProAis2:
"Once programmed the MMSI number cannot be changed."

Never believe the user manual

[smac999]

on the pro ais2 software. the mmsi is grey once it's put it. you can change boat name and lengh / width etc.

[OceanStateTunin]

Did you guys have any luck programming it? The link for the software does not work anymore, does anyone still have it? I am looking at buying one from China also.

[jabaraco]

Originally Posted by OceanStateTunin

Did you guys have any luck programming it? The link for the software does not work anymore, does anyone still have it? I am looking at buying one from China also.

I can confirm that the AIS 600 MMSI CANNOT be reprogrammed without resetting the unit with a Garmin factory reset. There is a code that has to be entered by Garmin that does that. About $50 at the factory or any authorized dealer outside the US may be able to do it; don't know about that.

[westsailwill]

The MMSI number can only be entered one time. If you screw it up the first time, then the unit must be sent to Garmin and reset with your personal MMSI number.
There is no software available to do this yourself.
Likewise, if you buy a unit secondhand it must be sent back to Garmin to have the existing MMSI number, that the previous owner had programmed into the AIS, changed to your government issued number.

[navyguy2837]

do you still have the setup software?

[smac999]

Originally Posted by jabaraco

I can confirm that the AIS 600 MMSI CANNOT be reprogrammed without resetting the unit with a Garmin factory reset. There is a code that has to be entered by Garmin that does that. About $50 at the factory or any authorized dealer outside the US may be able to do it; don't know about that.

it can be reset using the normal AIS600 software using a password. but I forget it. there is a hidden click box that brings up a password prompt on the boat size page near the "A" for boat lengh. I think above it. I just tried to reproduce it but couldn't. maybe the prompt only comes up when connected to a device, which I am currently not.

[Davidhoy]

Slightly off the topic of setup software, but rather about the AIS-600 itself. For those of you who have been using one for a while, would you recommend it? I have an all new Garmin electronics package with N2K network on my boat (had to replace the older Furuno gear due to a lightning strike) and am considering the AIS-600. Is is a good unit? What are its good points, and what are the bad?

Thanks,
David

[galacticair]

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

Slightly off the topic of setup software, but rather about the AIS-600 itself. For those of you who have been using one for a while, would you recommend it? I have an all new Garmin electronics package with N2K network on my boat (had to replace the older Furuno gear due to a lightning strike) and am considering the AIS-600. Is is a good unit? What are its good points, and what are the bad?

Quick answer from me is yes it's a good unit, but you also have other choices. After all the AIS-600 (and other AIS transmit/receive boxes) are mostly a black box that takes care of the AIS send/receive part and sends out the processed data out to your other electronics via N2K, so you don't have to limit yourself to the Garmin brand for your purposes...

Pros of AIS-600:
- It does the basics well: it sends/receives AIS signals, no problems
- Internal splitter is a nice feature, so you can combine AIS and VHF signals on one antenna (masthead antenna in our case). Saves on install costs.
- Has silent mode feature that allows you to switch to receive-only mode (pretty standard but good to have for racing, or pirate regions should you go there)

Note however you will see a fair amount of debate online about whether using one antenna is "good enough" (an ideal setup would have two antennas to avoid conflicts between the VHF and AIS), but in practice you are not using the VHF in transmit mode much, so a splitter seems to work fine in my experience.

Cons of AIS-600:
- Fairly expensive: not out of this world, but certainly not the cheapest AIS transmitter/receive money can buy
- No dedicated screen (which can be useful when you want to turn off your energy hungry plotters offshore for power savings). We worked around this by connecting the AIS-600 output to a Standard Horizon AIS-enabled fixed VHF (which just plots AIS data from the AIS-600), so we can in theory turn off our Garmin plotters and still have AIS proximity alarms on offshore.
- One minor quirk on ours: AIS transmit only turns on when we flip our electric switchboard switch on-off twice (just turning it on once is not sufficient). This is a minor bug, probably with our installation more than with the receiver.

I give it an A generally, but you may want to consider other AIS boxes depending on whether you want other features (e.g. dedicated screen) or a lower price.

[Davidhoy]

Originally Posted by galacticair

I give it an A generally, but you may want to consider other AIS boxes depending on whether you want other features (e.g. dedicated screen) or a lower price.

Thanks for the feedback, galacticair!

I can get one of the Garmin units for around $775 - when you consider that it has a built-in antenna splitter, this is a pretty compelling price point. The other unit I've been looking at is the highly regarded Vesper XB-8000 which sells for $799 but requires an external splitter to the tune of another $249. And then you also have to run power to an additional box, which adds a little to the complexity of the system. Fortunately, I have two VHFs installed on my boat, each with its own separate antenna. I can easily install the AIS box below decks next to my backup Icom VHF, sharing its antenna. Both antennas are masthead mounted, one on the main the other on the mizzen.

I already have a receive-only AIS capability, built into my Standard Horizon GX2150 VHF. This currently sends AIS target info to my chart plotter, but also shows that info on its own display. So not having a display on the AIS unit itself is not a big deal - I have two separate ways to view AIS targets.

One strange thing, that seems common to class B AIS transponders, is that they require their own dedicated GPS and antenna. My boat already has two independent GPS receivers installed and connected to the NMEA 2000 network, but the AIS-600 will not use position information from an outside source, nor will it share its position data with other devices on the network. Is that some weird regulatory issue?

Sounds like the AIS-600 may be a good unit for my purposes, and the price is actually quite reasonable due to the internal splitter. I really appreciate your input, better to hear from someone who's actually used one :-)

Regards,
David

[AedanC]

Originally Posted by Davidhoy

One strange thing, that seems common to class B AIS transponders, is that they require their own dedicated GPS and antenna. My boat already has two independent GPS receivers installed and connected to the NMEA 2000 network, but the AIS-600 will not use position information from an outside source, nor will it share its position data with other devices on the network. Is that some weird regulatory issue?

It is a regulatory requirement for an AIS transceiver to get its position from its own dedicated source. There is no requirement not to share it, my Vesper-6000 does and it's my main source of position information to my network.

Aedan

[RH112]

Originally Posted by Tomm0

Another member here PM'd me and was very helpful in giving me a copy of the CD I could download (not identifying the person as it was a PM).

I'm happy to give it to anyone who needs it. (It's ridiculous it's not on the Garmin website in the first place!)

I've dropped it on my server here:

http://privatei.com.au/downloads/Gar...600SetupCD.zip

Hi Tomm, I know it had been a while since your post, but could I get a copy of the setup CD? Also I have a garmin AIS600 but no CD anymore. You should save my day.

Many thanks in advance, Robert

[DeepFrz]

Interesting that Garmin has the setup software for the AIS 800 on their site.

[KeelMe]

Send her in. Or take her to your local marine electronics dealer.