AIS alarm
 

I had a close encounter of the Ass Boat on our way to Placencia at nite around 11 pm. It was a wake call for me, since then I have been searching a way to improve my survival at sea.

I found this:

- Home

It is not most ideal, but it is better than relying on myself 24/7.

Re: AIS alarm
 

Radar? Not all boats carry AIS of any sort.

Re: AIS alarm
 

Yes, absolutely. Redundancy is a must.

Although that evening it was really weird and I let my guard down. After the dinner, I was getting very comfortable as the hard part of the voyage is done. Later I found both VHF and radar were off. It was my first time and will be my last time I hope. :(

Re: AIS alarm
 

Are there radar units that will power up at intervals, take a look, check for traffic, then go to standby? Or must they be left on all the time?

Re: AIS alarm
 

The problem is that there are no technical solution that will replace proper lookout.

You can have an AIS with a alarm set for CPA.
You can have a Radar with ARPA, automatic target acquisition and CPA alarm.

But both systems are imperfect
There are boats w/o AIS transponders.
The ARPA system can miss some targets.

Re: AIS alarm
 

Hey,

Why not just get the Standard Horizon Matrix or Matrix+?

Welcome to StandardHorizon.com

It decodes and displays AIS information, can send that data to a PC, and also includes a CPA alarm.

The price is pretty cheap too, $330 or so.

Good luck,
Barry

Re: AIS alarm
 

AIS is a great safety invention


http://ourlifeatsea.com/temp/ais.jpg

Check the range of those ships. The red range rings are 10nms apart... So the second ring is 20 nms from me.

Not only can you see them, they can see you and you are being recorded in their Black Box so they can't deny you weren't there.

Oce you have it you won't sail without it.

Re: AIS alarm
 

True

My standing orders ask for 360 horizon visual sweep every 10 minutes and a horizon sweep (visual and radar) before altering course.

Re: AIS alarm
 

If you're already using a laptop with nav software, for about $50 bucks more than the DIY alarm system, you can have a ACR's AIS receiver. If using with OpenCPN (what I'm using), you not only have an alarm, but a graphical interface similar to the illustration in Mark's post above.

Re: AIS alarm
 

Hey, Rockdog, I just had a look at that website you posted in the original post. Those alarms are not what you want. They will beep with EVERY signal sent on the AIS frequency. There can be hundreds of boats about, most never coming near you. Each ship send out a signal every 10 to 30 seconds... S you don't want the thing going off all the time, just when a boat is gunning for you.

So you need a propper bit of kit. A receiver only, or a transponder. The Transponders start at $500. They are excellent. A receiver is only half what you want and if you are asleep the ship can't avoid you. With a transponder they will see you and divert or ring you on the VHF.