[PUP] AIS Transponder

[John Marshall]

That's remarkable range... I have a FA-150 Furuno unit and can  
routinely see ships in the 40-50 mile range, occasionally 60 miles.

It was noted by my electronics  installer that some installers use a  
shorter antenna for AIS to limit ranges to closer to 20 miles,  
otherwise there is a fear that the system will saturate in busy  
areas. The shorter antenna's are recommended for exactly this purpose.

In contrast, my boat has extremely long whip antennas on both VHF and  
AIS, and I was told that is the primary reason for my consistently  
longer range. Even when operating through the LA and SF areas, not  
mention Puget Sound, I'll have no more than 20 or so targets, and  
that's manageable.

John Marshall
N5520-Serendipity



On May 31, 2007, at 5:35 PM, Truelove39@aol.com wrote:

> Hey, Dave.
>
>
> I think we might have set a new record for AIS. Just last  year,  
> all we could
> get was about 20 miles, but just yesterday when abeam of  Cape  
> Charles I saw
> a ship off the Delaware Bay entrance - 76  miles!
>
> Then this morning a bit further north, Penny saw one at an  even  
> 100 miles!
> Incredible! I think it must be new gear on the ships as we  haven't  
> changed
> anything on the boat.
>
> Best,
>
> John
> "Seahorse"
> off Little Egg and looking forward to dawn in the Big  Apple!
>
> PS we could use your ART tonight!
>
> G'day all, just installed the newly arrived CB200 AIS transponder.   
> Arrived
> at 2 PM and was up and transmitting at 3 PM. Not a bad "out of  box
> experience" for a change.
>
> Its sensitivity is at least as good as  the SR161/2 units as I've  
> logged one
> ship at 47.42 nm already which is the  best that I'd ever gotten on  
> the
> SR161/2. We are using the same antenna and  cables and connectors  
> just so we
> all know that our installation is clean  ;-)
>
> Confirmed our signal with several nearby ships already. First time   
> any of
> them have received a class B AIS signal!
>
> We need to work on the  way it can transmit distress signals i.e.  
> Mayday with
> your name, call sign  and position. Seems there is a lot more  
> hidden in the
> lousy manual about what  it actually might be able to do both as a  
> nav tool
> and also as a safety  device.
>
> We have also seen a few more of the AIS signals transmitted from  land
> locations. We'll see if there are even more on our trip back down  to
> Venezuela as they are helpful "beacons" with a high degree of  
> accuracy as  to
> their location.
>
> It is interesting as once set up it just sits here  xmitting our  
> information
> for others to use or not as they see fit. No user  interaction (or
> distraction) is required.
>
> I expect you'll be able to  get them with FCC approval sooooooooon.  
> This one
> is EC/EU stamped and was  under $1200 landed with freight and duty  
> with an
> active GPS  antenna.
>
> As always YMMV........
>
> Cheers
>
> Dave &  Nancy
> Swan Song
> Roughwater 58
> Caribbean Cruise '07
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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