On 9/22/05 8:32 AM, in article , "Larry"
wrote:

-Name Withheld For Security Concerns wrote in
:



How many people here think AIS is a good idea?

If it saves one sailor's life, if it saves one ship from a collision, it's
got my vote. The ability to see the ship in the channel around that bend
up ahead on a busy waterway, alone, is more than enough incentive to have
it.



Me's be thinkin thar be some mighty happy pirates.


I've thought of that, too. What a great way for terrorists to target a
ship, having all this information about it right on their laptops. The
....


You make some good points Larry. I was mainly thinking of the piracy angle,
but I guess the master could just turn off the transponder in areas where he
has to be concerned. I thing the self organizing TDMA is kind of neat. I
had no idea that HAMs created the system's. Prices will come down.

-Regards