In article , Donal
wrote:

"Joe" wrote in message
m...
"Donal" wrote in message
...
There is a new system being fitted to ships. It transmits information
about
their course, speed, size and various other bits and pieces.


I believe that all boats greater than 20m loa in the States must have
this
system fitted.

Does anybody here have a receiver fitted?


Is it better than Radar? How well does it work?


Regards


Donal
--

It is for large ships only Donal. But it makes you wonder whats in the
future for us.

I'm thinking about the receiver. It should be cheaper to build than a
Radar. I suspect that in a couple of years (if not now?) we will be able to
buy a receiver that will connect to a laptop PC. It will show all ships in
the area, and their course and speed. This will mean that the laptop will
tell us if we are on a collision course. Radar sets that offer this
functionality cost a lot because a good Radar transmitter is an expensive
thing to build.

There is no reason why an AIS receiver should cost more than $100. The
necessary s/w will probably become available as freeware. So, I suspect
that in a couple of years we will all have receivers.


Got a question for you.

Do you think you can go anywhere on earth in a boat without big
brother watching?

If big brother wants to watch you, he can follow you anywhere.

In our office we have a satellite photo(of our area) that was given to us 12
years ago. You can clearly see individual cars driving along. There is no
way that they would have revealed what their real capability was - so I can
only assume that they had the ability to clearly pick out an individual 12
years ago.



I bet they watch every boat at sea everywhere.

I think that they are still limited by manpower. I agree that they have the
technical ability to watch every boat.



I know the whole Gulf
of Mexico is covered with DEA & USCG radar. Every inch of the houston
ship channel is on radar and closed circut TV. In the Gulf they use
big blimp mounted radars. Soon they will deploy unmanned planes that
can stay aloft for months at a time.

It's all done in the name of security!

Once upon a time, our forefathers dreamed of individual liberty. Now, we
cannot even sail upon the high seas without some small minded, uneducated,
bureaucratic "officer" interefering. Of course, these ignorant ****s tell
me that it is for my own good. Sod 'em.

And Navvie thinks this is a good idea! Soon you won't be able to sail
without approved instruction and the right pieces of paper.

Peter Wiley