I have had miles of wire and tons of electronics on my small sailing boat
for quite some time, but only recently hooked up an AIS receiver (Smart
Radio 162 feeding Capn 8.3)). After only a few sessions with it (and those
while moored in a small cove in a small bay here in NJ), I must admit that
it opens a whole new chapter in safe boat management. I was able to pick up
commercial vessels well over 35 miles away, and the system seems simple
enough that I don't expect much trouble keeping it going. Any thoughts from
folks using similar gear?

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare

"Armond Perretta" wrote in news:-
:

I have had miles of wire and tons of electronics on my small sailing boat
for quite some time

Wow! MY KIND OF CAPTAIN!....(c;

Just order the full transponder......You KNOW you want it....

.....we'll find room, somehow for the wires for it....(c;

"The system is not complete until all wireways are packed."

You would like my new 81' research vessel.

http://www.umces.edu/vessel/

I was just up to see it and they told me it has 18 MILES of wiring in it.

The DPS system is such that you could easily mount a web camera in the
pilothouse and drive it via a wireless internet connection through a laptop
from your shore office like those guys who drive to work somewhere in the
southwest and kill terrorists (well civilians mostly but I'm sure they get
an occasional terrorist along the way) with the drones.

--
Roger Long

On Aug 1, 5:57*am, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:
I have had miles of wire and tons of electronics on my small sailing boat
for quite some time, but only recently hooked up an AIS receiver (Smart
Radio 162 feeding Capn 8.3))...

I am in the middle of hooking up my new AIS system. I have an
AISWatchmate hooked up to an SR 161 and have a pile of wire, solder
and DB9's on my desk. As soon as I deconstruct the furniture and pull
the wire I should have a computer link. Meanwhile I have the
Watchmate working. It was picking up 89 targets last night out to 80
miles while sitting at the dock here on the East shore of SF Bay. The
combination of the antenna splitter, 161 and watchmate take so little
power that I can't detect it over the noise with my clamp on amp
meter. All in all, it seems pretty cool on first blush.

-- Tom.

On Fri, 1 Aug 2008 09:09:01 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Aug 1, 5:57*am, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:
I have had miles of wire and tons of electronics on my small sailing boat
for quite some time, but only recently hooked up an AIS receiver (Smart
Radio 162 feeding Capn 8.3))...

I am in the middle of hooking up my new AIS system. I have an
AISWatchmate hooked up to an SR 161 and have a pile of wire, solder
and DB9's on my desk. As soon as I deconstruct the furniture and pull
the wire I should have a computer link. Meanwhile I have the
Watchmate working. It was picking up 89 targets last night out to 80
miles while sitting at the dock here on the East shore of SF Bay. The
combination of the antenna splitter, 161 and watchmate take so little
power that I can't detect it over the noise with my clamp on amp
meter. All in all, it seems pretty cool on first blush.

Who makes the Watchmate, and where can you get it?

On Aug 1, 9:54*am, Wayne.B wrote:
...
Who makes the Watchmate, and where can you get it?

http://vespermarine.com/index.shtml
http://www.milltechmarine.com/products.htm

I like it at first look, but haven't used it enough to have an
informed opinion yet.

-- Tom.

"Armond Perretta" wrote:

I have had miles of wire and tons of electronics on my small sailing boat
for quite some time, but only recently hooked up an AIS receiver (Smart
Radio 162 feeding Capn 8.3)). After only a few sessions with it (and those
while moored in a small cove in a small bay here in NJ), I must admit that
it opens a whole new chapter in safe boat management. I was able to pick up
commercial vessels well over 35 miles away, and the system seems simple
enough that I don't expect much trouble keeping it going. Any thoughts from
folks using similar gear?

Right -- now all we need is to get the idiot FCC off their butts to
approve Class B transponders and we can join the rest of the world!
Sure, you can get Class A now, but at 3x the price, which is enough to
make me pause.

Michael Porter Marine Design
mporter at mp-marine dot com
www.mp-marine.com
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Aug 2, 7:29*am, Michael Porter wrote:
...
Right -- now all we need is to get the idiot FCC off their butts to
approve Class B transponders and we can join the rest of the world! ...

I still don't know why they're dragging their asses on this. I'm hard
pressed to see any downside to class B. One reason I installed the
Watchmate is that is should work fine with a class B transponder if
one should ever become available legally for US flagged boats.

On a slightly different note I'm looking for an AIS plotter for the
computer. The version of SeaClear that came with the AIS works but
has some bugs and I think I'd like something more like a maneuvering
board or PPI. Anybody have a favorite PC app for this?

-- Tom.

wrote:
...
... I'm looking for an AIS plotter for the
computer ... Anybody have a favorite PC app for this?

I mentioned Capn 8.3 above. Works well enough, although it would be nice if
the AIS target list display (1) provided an at-a-glance format with more
complete information, and (2) could be modified to display selected data.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare

On Aug 4, 4:33*am, "Armond Perretta" ...
I mentioned Capn 8.3 above. *Works well enough, although it would be nice if
the AIS target list display (1) provided an at-a-glance format with more
complete information, and (2) could be modified to display selected data.

I've found Yacht-AIS while noodling around, too. It looks like a ppi
but true motion. I have the demo of the pro version and it is
interesting but quits so quickly that I have no idea how well it works
underway. Also, it is more money than I was hoping to spend...

-- Tom.