[PUP] AIS

[Robin Roberts]

I'll jump in on John's question about what exceeded equipment 
expectations - AIS.  The AIS receiver allows us to see the big guys at 
great distances so we can focus the radar (more of the time) in closer 
to see the little stuff better.  We still scan in and out with the radar 
range on a regular basis during watches, but AIS allows us to keep the 
radar range shorter - great for limited visibility situations.  We spent 
the summer cruising in Maine and Nova Scotia, and the use of the 
AIS/Radar as I've described made all those pea-soup foggy miles much 
less stressful.  (We have an AIS receiver only.)

I don't intend to offend anyone, but IMHO pleasure boats have no good 
reason to clog the airwaves an AIS *transmitter*.  Busy harbors fill the 
screen with AIS targets and VHF 13 or the local VTS is swarming with 
traffic, and the LAST thing people need to see is one more target.  The 
commercial folks are out there because they have to be, and their 
tonnage and draft grossly exceeds the pleasure boat crowd.  It's our job 
to stay away from them, and not make their task more complicated and 
dangerous by cluttering up their screens with 50' pleasure boats.
We're seeing a disturbing trend of more small (relative to commercial 
ships) pleasure boats getting AIS transmitters and it's not a good 
thing.  Stick with the receivers only, please!

Robin Roberts
MV ADVENTURES - DeFever 49 RPH