I decided to buy an AIS system, to enhance safety in poor visibility and other difficult conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. This is a relatively rare occurrence (I don't go out if it is foggy) but it happens; in some of our violent thunderstorms you can barely see beyond the ends of the boat.
Question is what AIS should I buy.
So far, I have made some decisions but I would appreciate help from the competent people on this forum for some others. Here is what I have decided:
-- It will be AIS-B (duh)
-- It will be an active system, not just a receiver
-- It will have its own antenna, not a splitter. This is based on the arguments by SVAuspicious on S/N, among others. Eventually the antenna may end up on the spreaders, for the time being probably on the pulpit
-- It needs to have an audible alarm, or a connector where I can connect one (I presume that all models have this, but just to make sure...)
To make clear what I do NOT know yet, here is the situation. We are talking a 32' sailboat with somewhat minimal electronics. I have a rather old (90s) VHF (no DSC or anything). And a nearly equally old GPS, a Garmin GPSMAP 162 (black and white, with a screen smaller than my current cell phone). Both work OK for what I do, which is daysailing and occasional overnighters in the Chesapeake. I don't really see a need to replace them, they do all I need. But if there is a good reason to replace them with something else, I have gotten a lot of mileage out of them and would be not be sad to see them go, either.
So, on to the AIS. It seems to me there are three options:
1) Buy a stand-alone system, a transceiver with a dedicated screen for the AIS
2) Buy a 'black box' transceiver and interface it with my existing GPS
(which talks NMEA 0183)
3) Replace the old GPS by a new Multi Function
Display and interface it with a black box AIS transceiver
(is there another one that I overlooked?)
I imagine that (2) is cheapest, (1) is intermediate and (3) is most expensive. I am a cheap person but I hesitate a little bit to add more clutter to the tiny b/w screen on the existing GPS. And I am not really looking forward to messing with 20 year old electronics. So at this point, option (2) is at the bottom of the list.
I am not sure how big the differences really are between the three solutions. And, in general, I appreciate quality products, and if I can get a markedly better product for not much more money, I will take it.
So, my questions to the experts here on S/N:
a) Towards which of these solutions (1, 2 or 3) would you steer me?
b) What are good models for each of them?
This has taken on some urgency since I see that the first announcements
of fall boat-show rebates are out, e.g. Defender:
Marine AIS on Sale
I want to take advantage of the off-season and probably buy this pretty soon.
Muchas gracias for any information!
Question is what AIS should I buy.
So far, I have made some decisions but I would appreciate help from the competent people on this forum for some others. Here is what I have decided:
-- It will be AIS-B (duh)
-- It will be an active system, not just a receiver
-- It will have its own antenna, not a splitter. This is based on the arguments by SVAuspicious on S/N, among others. Eventually the antenna may end up on the spreaders, for the time being probably on the pulpit
-- It needs to have an audible alarm, or a connector where I can connect one (I presume that all models have this, but just to make sure...)
To make clear what I do NOT know yet, here is the situation. We are talking a 32' sailboat with somewhat minimal electronics. I have a rather old (90s) VHF (no DSC or anything). And a nearly equally old GPS, a Garmin GPSMAP 162 (black and white, with a screen smaller than my current cell phone). Both work OK for what I do, which is daysailing and occasional overnighters in the Chesapeake. I don't really see a need to replace them, they do all I need. But if there is a good reason to replace them with something else, I have gotten a lot of mileage out of them and would be not be sad to see them go, either.
So, on to the AIS. It seems to me there are three options:
1) Buy a stand-alone system, a transceiver with a dedicated screen for the AIS
2) Buy a 'black box' transceiver and interface it with my existing GPS
(which talks NMEA 0183)
3) Replace the old GPS by a new Multi Function
Display and interface it with a black box AIS transceiver
(is there another one that I overlooked?)
I imagine that (2) is cheapest, (1) is intermediate and (3) is most expensive. I am a cheap person but I hesitate a little bit to add more clutter to the tiny b/w screen on the existing GPS. And I am not really looking forward to messing with 20 year old electronics. So at this point, option (2) is at the bottom of the list.
I am not sure how big the differences really are between the three solutions. And, in general, I appreciate quality products, and if I can get a markedly better product for not much more money, I will take it.
So, my questions to the experts here on S/N:
a) Towards which of these solutions (1, 2 or 3) would you steer me?
b) What are good models for each of them?
This has taken on some urgency since I see that the first announcements
of fall boat-show rebates are out, e.g. Defender:
Marine AIS on Sale
I want to take advantage of the off-season and probably buy this pretty soon.
Muchas gracias for any information!