dAISy

[TheOffice]

It will work short range with an emergency antenna. For better range I went with a splitter from the masthead antenna

[jacrider]

Originally Posted by TheOffice

It will work short range with an emergency antenna. For better range I went with a splitter from the masthead antenna

Many thanks. Any suggestions for which splitter?

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by jacrider

Many thanks. Any suggestions for which splitter?

I own a Vesper splitter. Great bit of kit.

[RHarriss]

We added a second VHF antenna, just on the stern rail. It works amazingly well. We're seeing AIS targets 20 miles away, which is plenty for us. Of course if we mounted the antenna at the mast head we'd see even further, but this was a much easier test of the system.
Piggy-backing on a single VHF antenna requires either a full switch, to toggle between receivers, or one of the sophisticated active splitters ($$$). You don't want to simply cut the signal in two. We went to the separate antenna because we wanted the AIS on full time, and so far it works quite well. It also showed us how one of the larger integrated systems would be nice, too.
Hope that helps.

[seandepagnier]

What is the reason to pick up ais target more than 3 miles away? For this rtlsdr is more than sufficient, however I'm sure daisy uses a lot less power.

[RHarriss]

Well that would be up to you, wouldn't it? I'm simply reporting the performance we saw with a stern mounted antenna. Now, if we mount the antenna on the masthead it would be "out of the way," and it would work better around corners and among the islands where we sail. Line of sight actually means something.

[hoolie]

We have had a stern rail mounted antenna linked to an AIS receiver without problems. As stated it picks up traffic out to 15 miles or so.

But I've just bought an active transponder with an active splitter for mast-head use. I reckon, possibly misguidedly, the higher antenna will give longer range for the minimal power output of the AIS.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by jacrider

All: I am interested in adding AIS to my setup based on a RaspPi3 and OpenCPN.

I like the look of the dAISy HAT for the RPi.

My question is what are people using for the antenna? A splitter on the VHF antenna? A dedicated antenna? Trying to understand the required installation.

Many thanks.

There's another option just out as well -
Introducing OpenPlotter hats!!!

[bcn]

The OpenPlotter HAT here in my hand:

[SV-WhiteWitch]

So is the openplotter hat pictured for sale now? Could you post a url for purchase info, so I can purchase one?

[hoolie]

A bit pricey - more than the sum of the separate parts. The AIS data rate of 9600 is not only non-standard but might not even work in some scenarios. Maybe it's configurable?

[petter5]

I would like to stress that for good reception, a quality antenna and a good antenna cable is prefeerable. If possible, avoud antanna splitters - almost all of them have significant signal loss, and the few ones that dosen't haver significant loss is 3 times more expensive than a decent antenna. Yes, you will see AIS targets with about any antenna or splitter, but sensitivity is fair better with a good antenna and cable. I have very good experience with the Comrod AV15 antenna. http://www.comrod.com/getfile.php/13...arine/AV15.pdf

Originally Posted by jacrider

All: I am interested in adding AIS to my setup based on a RaspPi3 and OpenCPN.

I like the look of the dAISy HAT for the RPi.

My question is what are people using for the antenna? A splitter on the VHF antenna? A dedicated antenna? Trying to understand the required installation.

Many thanks.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by hoolie

A bit pricey - more than the sum of the separate parts. The AIS data rate of 9600 is not only non-standard but might not even work in some scenarios. Maybe it's configurable?

Can you get just an ais receiver alone of same specs for that price?

9600 baud is you surrounded by an awful lot of boats before you get near running out of bandwidth, might be better looking out the window..

[petter5]

Daisy HAT is 38400 baud - I'm running several of them at that speed.

Originally Posted by conachair

Can you get just an ais receiver alone of same specs for that price?

9600 baud is you surrounded by an awful lot of boats before you get near running out of bandwidth, might be better looking out the window..

[hoolie]

Originally Posted by conachair

Can you get just an ais receiver alone of same specs for that price?

9600 baud is you surrounded by an awful lot of boats before you get near running out of bandwidth, might be better looking out the window..

I don't really want to get into lot of to and fro arguments, but the Quark A026 is about the same price as the Moitessier HAT and provides NMEA 0183 interfaces and WiFi connection as well. I don't have one but I gather it works quite well.