"Holger" wrote in message
...

During recent good propagation conditions I have decoded targets a good
350 nm away - with a receiver in Norway right across the North Sea to
the Scottish coast and along the coast of Belgium. Equally impressive
where stations received across 200nm of land -right across Sweden....

The use of repeaters sounds interesting, anyone knows some details?

I finally decided to go to the source (regarding AIS repeaters in the San
Francisco area), so I sent email to the Training Director at the S.F. Vessel
Traffic Service. He tells me that there are currently no AIS repeaters in
the Bay area, nor are there any virtual aids to navigation at this time. I
asked nicely, and he offered to give me a tour of the VTS facility! I will
report back on any AIS info I learn from the visit.

Here is a link he sent me about AIS as used he
http://www.uscg.mil/d11/vtssf/Training/ais_main.htm There isn't much new,
but one of the documents listed contains the dock codes for the various
facilities around here. Now, if I see a destination like "US OAK 58", I
know where it is.

-Paul