On Dec 30 2008, 12:08*pm, Larry wrote:
377 wrote :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...item=270322962
803&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&viewitem=

It's not. *VTS, Vessel Traffic Services, is a whole different, much older,
system that uses control operators like FAA flight controllers for crowded
waterways watching shore-based radar and other navaids to safely separate
traffic, just like they do in the air. *This radio is a VHF marine radio
with a VTS transponder built into it.

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/vts/vts_home.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vessel_Traffic_Service
(Lots of URL pointers to various countries using VTS)

thanks for the reply but are you 100% sure? I know what VTS is but it
looks like the transponders used in VTS, even back in 2000, were AIS
type.

this is from a tech report on Ross:

"The AIS base station equipment and shipborne equipment currently in
use by the U.S. Coast Guard was designed, manufactured, and installed
by ROSS. The U.S. Coast Guard Ports And Waterway Safety System (PAWSS)
uses this system, along with shipborne AIS transponders in the New
Orleans Vessel Traffic Service (VTS). For this system, ROSS received
the U.S. Department of Transportation CY2000 Honor Award. ROSS has
also supplied similar systems to the USCG for the ports of Houston/
Galveston, Seattle and New York. The Tampa Bay Harbor Safety Committee
and the San Francisco Marine Exchange (both of which include the USCG
as a partner) have operating AIS systems and shipborne AIS
transponders supplied by ROSS."

I can find no info that VTS ever had any marine VHF transponder
protocol other than AIS, but am open to hear more from those with
experience in this area.