Which AIS to Buy?

[Unbalanced]

Ais, to my limited knowledge is good for 20 to 30 miles max. No professional, with full lights on, would care if another boat would see it fishing. And they do not stand still. None that I've seen.
And most ,I would think, would be glad that others know where they are. And they have always missed me. Secret fishing spots are for amateurs.

[Jbaffoh]

Originally Posted by Unbalanced

Ais, to my limited knowledge is good for 20 to 30 miles max. No professional, with full lights on, would care if another boat would see it fishing. And they do not stand still. None that I've seen.
And most ,I would think, would be glad that others know where they are. And they have always missed me. Secret fishing spots are for amateurs.

That's hilarious. In the halibut and black cod long lining fisheries, and king and tanner crab pot fisheries, 35 years ago before guaranteed quotas, we guarded our secrets with everything we had. Location, depth profiles, bottom consistencies, migration information, feeding patterns, etc. It was worth millions of dollars per year, and the fisherman knew far more than the controlling government agencies back then. We were all disseminating disinformation to steer everyone away from our secrets. Some people knew what they were doing, and the rest were trying to find out.

Secret fishing spots are for amateurs--hah! Dude, we're talking $millions per year per boat for my families' two boats. And once someone spots our lights, you're right--we can't hide it (but we don't broadcast our identity, either). But it's a huge ocean, and you rarely see someone in the same fishery in the same place. If you do, your catch is drastically reduced because they're territorial fisheries.

Maaaan, you have NO idea what you're talking about. None whatsoever.

[Daveineugene]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I'm still waiting for the new Vesper Watchmate Vision: ciao! Nick.

Got it and love it.

Dave

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Daveineugene

Got it and love it.

Dave

I recently installed the Vesper XB-8000. Works great with the (Wifi) iPad/iNax. It kept me out of trouble a couple times running out the Sound at night.

[marting]

I also have a Vesper XB-8000 ais and think it is great. Vesper Marine also provide excellent customer service and backup.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Unbalanced

Ais, to my limited knowledge is good for 20 to 30 miles max.

I receive Type "A" AIS reliably from 40 or 50 miles, and often from 80 or 90 miles. Type "A" AIS uses higher power (12 watts versus 2 watts) and commercial ships will have much more serious antennas.

Type "B" varies -- probably because of varying quality antenna installations.

[chuckr]

a couple of comments from a cruiser -- we are from the usa and put it on before heading out -- and now we love it
in the med a lot of the fishing boats have ais on and turned on -- we run ais full time and try to work around the fishing boats - at night we love to be seen -- a sail 2 nights ago we were headed from sardinia to tunisia and were completely surrounded by big boats going to and fro and fishing boats -- we spent a lot of time on the radio with various boats who wanted us to turn to port or starboard just after we agreed to turn that way for another boat who was over taking us -- it was a very long night but without ais - i could only imagine the problems - and yes they all saw us so it was easy for them to

our biggest concern that every tom dick and harry will get one for christmas and the most they sail is 2 hours from the harbor so the chartplotter screen would be unreadable if that happens --

just my thought and opinion
chuck patty and svsoulmates
in port yasmine tunisia for the winter