VHF second Mic/handset + AIS

[Alita49DS]

Having done quite a bit of distance sailing, albeit a mere fraction of what many of the contributors to CHF have achieved, I am firmly of the view that the regulators ought to ban receive only AIS.

A moment's thought will show why. In the same way that you want to know where any threat lies the others want to know if you are one.

Further, I really doubt that the disparity in price between receive only and receive and transmit bears any relation to unit production cost. The case probably costs more than the components in it. Were the manufacturers, correction marketeers, deprived of the opportunity to screw money for very little additional outlay I suspect that the prices would tumble. Making life at sea safer and probably not impacting profits that much as more units came to be sold.

Just bear in mind that AIS, whilst enormously useful, is just cheap and primitive VHF technology. There is nothing cutting edge about it.

[Dr. D]

The "ban AIS receive-only sets" is way over the top.


A receive-only set will be cheaper since the simpler electronics (in a transceiver the transmitter is not used as the receiver) and no need for an external antenna (my radio with the antenna is the unit receives at an adequate distance).


The above comment about adding a transceiver and having the old unit declaring collision with one's own vessel is not true. When installing a transceiver, the AIS receive-only feature of the radio is turned off. The MMSI number is loaded into the transceiver as the MMSI number is assigned to the vessel, not the electronic unit.



Finally, you think if you have a transmitting AIS unit you are in a magic bubble? You will bet your safety that any vessel on a collision course with you has crew monitoring their AIS?



The cost of all these units is coming down. A few years ago even an AIS receive-only unit was costly. No doubt at some point the cost of transceiver or receive-only will be so close that receive-only may fade away. OTOH, the ease of installing the receive-only unit (no need for an external antenna) may keep sufficient demand for them that they will remain on the market.

[jspla1]

My Raymarine radio permits me to have a RAM at one of the helm stations.

Regarding AIS- In coastal water I find myself being hailed by the big boats more often than I hail them. Offshore, the reverse is true. I seen no reason to install a receive only AIS in order to save $300-500. Once you justify the increased safety, then its foolish to only receive.

[dennismenace111]

Standard Horizon has a remote mic arrangement as does ICOM. Both also have AIS receivers and GPS receiver's. It all depends on how much you wish to spend!

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by jspla1

My Raymarine radio permits me to have a RAM at one of the helm stations.

Regarding AIS- In coastal water I find myself being hailed by the big boats more often than I hail them. Offshore, the reverse is true. I seen no reason to install a receive only AIS in order to save $300-500. Once you justify the increased safety, then its foolish to only receive.

I disagree with this approach for one simple reason.

I think those with transponders tend to assume that they are being seen.

I assume that I'm not being seen.

While offshore at night, I monitor my receive only AIS carefully, especially in high traffic lanes. I take note at five miles out and monitor speed and direction to determine both our paths. If the target gets within 2 1/2 miles I reach out to them with a VHF call. More times than not there is no response. I then continue watching closely while continuing to call on VHF If we get closer than 1 1/2 miles without contact I make the necessary course and speed adjustments to pass safely. I also have a high powered search light that I will flash at the ship I usually get a return flash which is a welcome sight.

Jeff

[Calif.Ted]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

I'd be very keen for one that allows for a wireless mic/speaker combo at the helm, but corded down in the saloon...i can't seem to find any when searching the internet.
Thanks for your help!

Simrad RS35 (Radio) HS35 wireless handset, just been doing some shopping around myself.

https://www.defender.com/product3.js...952&id=5499116

[Snore]

A second radio versus a remote mic in the cockpit is a good and bad idea.

Good because the speakers built into the remotes are hard to heat when they get wet.

Bad because either the cockpit or main radio will be relegated to a separate antenna on the stern pulpit (less range).

Better solution is a radio that supports a remote mic and speaker. Logically, those go in the cockpit.

Comment on AIS- I purchased a receive only VHF when I sailed out of Hillsboro Inlet. That lasted 6 months until I realized I was safer with an AIS transceiver, so I purchased a Vesper. Save you money and wait till you can get a Vesper.

[Lost Horizons]

NEW - Ray63 Dual-Station VHF Radio with GPS | Raymarine - A Brand by FLIR - no AIS
NEW Ray73 - VHF Radio with GPS, AIS and Loudhailer | Raymarine - A Brand by FLIR - AIS receiver

Both work with remote wireless handset.

[alctel]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

I'd be very keen for one that allows for a wireless mic/speaker combo at the helm, but corded down in the saloon...i can't seem to find any when searching the internet.
Thanks for your help!

The one I have does this - corded Simrad RS35 down below, with the wireless handset being a HS35 that I have attached to the helm.

Honestly, it's not a great unit and I had a lot of issues with it for a long time (although most have been fixed with firmware upgrades). The wireless handset can be hard to hear sometimes and it seems to garble my transmissions a bit. Though it does work. I have a lot of simrad kit I really like, this VHF unit is not one of them.

If I did it again I'd probably get a different one (ICOM or Standard Horizon) that allowed a 2nd remote mic on a long cord to mount at the helm.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by Mikado

+1 for the Standard Horizon GX2200 with AIS. Awesome unit for $300. I also purchased the optional Ram3 ($110) remote microphone. The nice feature on the Ram3 is it also has a small screen that allows me to be able to view the AIS target area from down below.

+2 for this setup. I got this to replace my ICOM 502 when it went down in Alaska last year. Quite happy with it.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Alita49DS

Having done quite a bit of distance sailing, albeit a mere fraction of what many of the contributors to CHF have achieved, I am firmly of the view that the regulators ought to ban receive only AIS.

I don't think they will ban receive only as there are a number of applications where transmit is not needed, having said that there are far fewer manufactures of receive only units these days. Many only offer Transceivers now and i can see that been the norm in future as the number of jurisdictions that require an AIS Transceiver in there waters is only going to increase rather than decrease, the market for receive only units is slowly but surely getting smaller....

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by Scrimma

... can't seem to find one that acts as a transceiver, only a receiver. So if I went the route you're talking about, id still need a radio with a wired and a remote hand unit, which I should be able to find from the few people have listed above. Then for AIS, I will need a VHF splitter and a transceiver plus associated cabling of course. Is that all that is required? I realize that's still quite expensive, but at least install should be DIY right? Can you recommend a good decent priced way of going about that? I currently have a relatively new (within the last 5yrs) raymarine chartplotter that's AIS ready, so as far as I can tell, that's all I'll need...?

I have heard that there's a radio with AIS transceiver combination available, or soon to be available, but it isn't allowed in the US. Apparently there are some details in the requirements which are problematic for the manufacturers. So a separate AIS was my only option.

But my Vesper XB-8000 is so much more than just an AIS. It sits on the NMEA 2000 network and broadcasts a bunch of NMEA data over WiFi. It'll also handle NMEA 0183. Today, for example, I was playing with the new version of the Navionics app on my cell phone underway, and was seeing AIS targets and depth on the screen, via WiFi from the Vesper. This has got to be one of the best bits of electronic gear I've ever bought.

Yes, it needs an antenna. I went with a dedicated AIS-tuned antenna, rather than a splitter. Vesper does make a splitter, and apparently it's pretty good, but I chose redundency, especially since I tend to use the radio more than most.

I did the install myself. None of this is terribly difficult. You do want a data connection to your chartplotter. Ideally, NMEA 2000. It's pretty much plug-and-play. But NMEA 0183 works fine too, if that's all your chartplotter supports. If you're new to NMEA 2000, you'll need a backbone cable, some connectors and a power insertion connector. You may or may not need a terminator for the end of the run.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by Greg Mason

Scrimma, my Horizon GS 2200? has a wired remote that echoes the main unit including GPS, AIS, DSC and all channels. The GPS has waypoints also.

I Second that, its a great unit. Output of AIS info is NMEA0180 on ours. That is ok since we run the AIS data to our chart plotter's 0180 input.

[Cpt Mark]

Vesper has a great rep and all and offers so many features. But those features I already have on my chart plotter and open can so why pay for them? I went with the cheapest box, NMEA 2k output which goes out the router to the tablet etc.

That mythical radio available elsewhere than the U.S. I believe is Std Her and has been pending distribution for at least 2 years now with no anticipated release date I've heard of. hurry up and wait.

Re 2 separate vhfs. yep, 1 will have it's own antennae mounted low so not as much range which I don't care about. When I need that one it is because things are close and I want the radio to sound great and not have to run inside. Long time ago, total electrical failure on my boat and the faithful gen that always started wouldn't. I was 70 miles off the CA coast and easily raised the Coast Guard on my handheld. Because I couldn't charge it we went to a 4 hour check in until I got in to the nearest harbor 2 days of handsterring later by myself. Handhelds have almost no power.

[Redline452]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

If you think you're going to join the big boys and get an AIS transceiver at some point anyway, you may find that you have to turn off the AIS receiver in your VHF at that point. On some radios, like the V50 mentioned above, it'll see your AIS transceiver signal and alarm because you're about to collide with yourself

FWIW, I had my Standard Horizon GX2100 VHF/AIS receive prior to adding a full AIS transponder, and neither the radio nor the Raymarine MFD had any problem with seeing our own MMSI. The radio is programmed with our MMSI for DSC, so it obviously can tell that the AIS signal is our own.



It has to be a sufficiently common scenario that I can't imagine a vendor not allowing for this in software (shame on the V50 if that is indeed the case).