"Brent Geery" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:49:59 -0500, Larry wrote:

While an AIS receiver is a great toy at this time, I'd wait until the
yachtie versions of the full AIS transmitter/receiver/display units come
down in price to something reasonable and buy that, instead. Just
receiving will do you no good when you're at sea and the containership is
bearing down on you at 15 knots. Having the transmitter makes you stand
out just as big as the next 950' containership!

Don't be foolish. Although future affordable class-B transponders
will be great, currently available cheap receive-only units are still
great assets. Detecting the big ships 20-40 miles out, and having
accurate collision warning is very valuable. Not to mention the ship
name and MMSI number making radio contact easier and more likely to be
successful.

Agreed, a receive-only collision alarm is *much* better than nothing. Even
though the big ships will be much more likely to notice you by AIS than by
radar (if you have an AIS transponder), my plan is to assume they don't see
me and stay out of their way. For the other smaller boats with receive-only
units, having a transponder is obviously a better choice. Of course, many
smaller boats will have no AIS at all.

While I am waiting for the class-B "yacht" transponder, I will definitely
have the receive-only unit on-board. Regardless, you still need to keep a
visual/radar watch going.

The SeaLinks RADARPLUS SL162B transponder may be the ticket, but I don't
think it has been released for sale yet.

-Paul