"luc" wrote in news:1163465166.495131.5330
@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

A couple of weeks ago, I took a friend's boat to San Diego from Moss
Landing, and it had a new Raymarine radar and chartplotter. It worked
great, though my experience with radar is limited, by the time we got
to SD, I had a pretty good idea of the menus, and how the thing worked.



I know SD is a very busy place, visavis shipping. Another good idea,
even if you never consider a full transponder so YOU show up, is the new
AIS (Automatic Information System)receivers. In that fog, you would have
no trouble at all spotting all the AIS-equipped shipping, those monster
targets that insist on moving around, unlike a rock or bouy you can stay
away from. AIS lets you watch, and avoid the beasts that can just ruin
your cruise, with ease. There are several new AIS to NMEA receivers that
will plot the AIS targets right on your chartplotter, probably with
nothing more than a plotter firmware upgrade. If you'd like to see what
it can see and look at the plethora of data it can provide you, the best
place is the Irish Sea. Go to Liverpool's great:
http://www.aisliverpool.org.uk/index.php
Take a long look around. The site is live, now in realtime. Just move
your mouse over a target on any map, chart or satellite photo and you'll
read all about him. Click on him and it brings up each ship's personal
webpage with near-realtime photos, taken automatically the last time he
passed one of the AISlive cameras in Liverpool's harbor. It's an amazing
software.

Someday, America may even have similar software running and shore-based,
fixed obstacle AIS transmitters that will cause everyone's AIS to also
show the fixed targets we still have to look for on radar....(sigh)



Larry
--
My calendar must be wrong....
In all the stores, it's ALREADY Christmas!