T&T: AIS Class B

[Michael Porter]

I can't believe that anyone would want to not see who's out there, 
whether stand-on vessel or not. We installed a Class B unit in Barbara 
last winter (I told my Port Supply rep I wanted the first one they were 
allowed to ship), and it made a big difference coming back from the 
Caribbean and cruising on the Maine coast this summer.

There has been a lot of discussion of AIS on Panbo this year (one 
example: 
http://www.panbo.com/archives/2009/04/class_b_ais_filtering_a_meme.html

Michael Porter
60' Live-Anywhere Boat "Barbara"

PS -- the big boys have to follow the rules too -- I have often seen a 
ship change course to avoid us in the open ocean -- but don't forget the 
  "General Prudential Rule" which can be translated as "don't do dumb 
stuff", and getting in the way of a ship in a tight channel is dumb.



Hello all
It seems that here on the west coast Class B AIS transmitters are showing
up. This makes for a very confusing situation as all AIS contacts to this
point have been commercial and therefore pretty much had "right of way".
Besides that they were in a class by themselves because they could kill you.
Not intentionally of course but try messing with a large container ship in
the shipping channels.
Now we have all sorts of contacts showing up, mostly boats that need to
follow the rules of the road. Recreational sail and power. They are very
frustrating and I do hope that AIS receivers soon have a way to tune them
out - I am quite sure the big guys do that right now.
The value of AIS has been diminished.
Anthony
San Fransisco Bay & West Coast




-- 
Michael Porter Marine Design
www.mp-marine.com