McMurdo AIS

[Celestialsailor]

Sent a question to the person making the dAISy which was...

"Great price on your AIS receiver. Is there any chance in the near future, your unit with a built in antenna splitter? I know the higher the antenna, the better the results. But I'd rather not buy an expensive splitter. So I am looking at putting a 5ft. VHF antenna on my stern rail, resulting with a total height off the water of 8ft. Would this work adequately?

His response..."I currently don't have plans to build an integrated or separate antenna splitter.
As for the 5ft VHF antenna: This will definitely work and give you a range of a few miles. My best guess for range would be around 5 NM, but a lot depends on antenna position, noise from nearby electronics, weather etc. Whether that's adequate depends on your expectations and requirements.
Regards,
Adrian"


For reason of range, I will seriously look at the McMurdo Smartfind M15S...S for splitter. That way I have a mast antenna high enough that I can receive a greater distance.

With a freighter traveling at 20

knots, I would have as little as 15 minutes for collision avoidance vs. over an hour with 25 possible miles of distance with a mast mounted antenna.

[Celestialsailor]

Another question for the AIS Guru's... I went ahead and ordered the McMurdo Smartfind AIS M15S from Landfall. It should arrive in a few more days. I could not find the McMurdo 15SW which was the AIS unit with WiFi.
So my question is this...can I use a 12 volt separate WiFi connected to the USB port and somehow have it transmit the signal to my laptop, over-laying ships traffic to my OPNCPN?

[Tymadman]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Another question for the AIS Guru's... I went ahead and ordered the McMurdo Smartfind AIS M15S from Landfall. It should arrive in a few more days. I could not find the McMurdo 15SW which was the AIS unit with WiFi.
So my question is this...can I use a 12 volt separate WiFi connected to the USB port and somehow have it transmit the signal to my laptop, over-laying ships traffic to my OPNCPN?

Yes, with one of my Madman Marine NTWB2 WiFi bridges, except that it connects to the NMEA0183 port rather than the USB port. Feel free to send me a pm for more info or have a look at the video on my website.

[Celestialsailor]

Looked at the website. Could not find a cost associated with it. Yours looks like it uses a terminal block. The M-15S has a USB attachment port.

[Tymadman]

The McMurdo also has NMEA0183 wires which will connect straight to the NTWB2 terminal block - you don't need to use the USB connector to do what you want to do.
I have a limited number of NTWB2s available at a discounted price and am currently only selling to those who contact me directly (mainly previous customers so far).


Neil
www.madmanmarine.com

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Another question for the AIS Guru's... I went ahead and ordered the McMurdo Smartfind AIS M15S from Landfall. It should arrive in a few more days. I could not find the McMurdo 15SW which was the AIS unit with WiFi.
So my question is this...can I use a 12 volt separate WiFi connected to the USB port and somehow have it transmit the signal to my laptop, over-laying ships traffic to my OPNCPN?

You could do that with a raspberry pi mini computer costing a few dollars plus a wifi USB dongle. It's a little bit technical to set up but really not that difficult.

[Celestialsailor]

So the raspberry would plug into the AIS via USB and the dongle on my laptop?

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

So the raspberry would plug into the AIS via USB and the dongle on my laptop?

If the ais sends nmea AIS sentences down the usb then it should work. The Pi doesn't have built in Wifi so needs dongle. Then log on to the network created by the Pi and create a new connection in OpenCPN.

I use an Xperia android tablet in the cockpit running OpenCPN getting GPS & AIS data over wifi sent from a Pi.

Here's how to set up the Pi. I've heard openplotter works OK on a Raspberry Pi zero (but struggles with opencpn) but haven't checked it myself.

https://boatdatasystems.wordpress.com/

[Celestialsailor]

Just an update...I received the McMurdo Smartfind AIS M-15S from Landfall Navigation. Good price and good customer service. Unfortunately, the Software CD had a crack 1/2 way across the disc. Had to have happened at the factory since the box is came in was unscathed.
I found the whole CD thing to be rather antiquated. My SSD laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive and I'll go out on a limb here and state, most new smaller laptops and tablets also do not. It has been my experience in the past that you merely download the driver from the company's website. I contacted them via email looking for that. The response was ...
"The software & drivers can be installed via a memory stick. At the moment we do not supply these. We are trying to make the software & drivers available on line but this is proving difficult at the moment."
I will ask for the software & drivers to be put in a drop box so it can be downloaded. I’ll let you know when I have the link."
I have to say, this kind of pisses me off. To release a new product and not have decent download options is inexcusable. In a second email, they gave me a link to "Drop Box" and there were 6 different downloads. All with computer geek jargon. I asked if I was suppose to download all the listed downloads and now there tech support in England have gone silent.
Landfall Fedex'd me another CD. Now I have ordered an external USB CD/DVD reader, I hope will install the software.
Now in the past here is how I have bought items requiring software in...you plug a unit in and it automatically installs software...usually off a companies website. I mean "proving difficult at the moment"? Give me a break! Everyone else seems to be able to do it. It makes me think twice about the capabilities of this company as a whole. I will attempt to install it in a week or so and let you know what I find.

[Strait Shooter]

Wow....thanks for the update, you just saved me some trouble.

Sorry you had to go through that.

[MarkJ]

What a pain in the neck!

[Bill4]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Just an update...I received the McMurdo Smartfind AIS M-15S from Landfall Navigation. Good price and good customer service. Unfortunately, the Software CD had a crack 1/2 way across the disc. Had to have happened at the factory since the box is came in was unscathed.
I found the whole CD thing to be rather antiquated. My SSD laptop does not have a CD/DVD drive and I'll go out on a limb here and state, most new smaller laptops and tablets also do not. It has been my experience in the past that you merely download the driver from the company's website. I contacted them via email looking for that. The response was ...
"The software & drivers can be installed via a memory stick. At the moment we do not supply these. We are trying to make the software & drivers available on line but this is proving difficult at the moment."
I will ask for the software & drivers to be put in a drop box so it can be downloaded. I’ll let you know when I have the link."
I have to say, this kind of pisses me off. To release a new product and not have decent download options is inexcusable. In a second email, they gave me a link to "Drop Box" and there were 6 different downloads. All with computer geek jargon. I asked if I was suppose to download all the listed downloads and now there tech support in England have gone silent.
Landfall Fedex'd me another CD. Now I have ordered an external USB CD/DVD reader, I hope will install the software.
Now in the past here is how I have bought items requiring software in...you plug a unit in and it automatically installs software...usually off a companies website. I mean "proving difficult at the moment"? Give me a break! Everyone else seems to be able to do it. It makes me think twice about the capabilities of this company as a whole. I will attempt to install it in a week or so and let you know what I find.

Thanks for your post. I needed a laugh. I think this company might be one to avoid!

[Celestialsailor]

Thanx for the reply's. I thought maybe it was my ineptness in regards to software that was the problem. I am convinced though that a product related to boating and not the realm of computer software should be close to plug and play.
I'm hoping for a positive outcome. One where the unit does as it says and I can merely turn on OpenCPN and like magic everything works. It's enough for me that I have to adjust radar parameters, set up windvanes, autopilots, keep the engine running, rigging straightened out and so on. The list is almost endless. People have always wanted products that are reliable and hassle free.

BTW...here is a picture of the CD

[Celestialsailor]

Just an update...thanx to a member of CF (and not Mcmurdo), managed to get everything functional, including the McMurdo AIS. It's pretty cool and look forward to getting back down to the boat to try things out.