MacGregorSailors.com

I gave it some serious thought about adding an AIS reciever to my set up and ive decided that it would be a case of me wanting more gadgets.

Where i sail,the chances of me coming accross a boat larger than say 3000 tons are very slim indeed,for a mac i think that an AIS is a bit over kill as i sail in waters that are about 20-40ft deep.

Its only a legal requirement for vessels of a certain size,so that 40ft 12 ton wooden sailing boat that is bearing down on you may and is most likely to not have AIS

However i do think and this is only my opinion,that it will not be long before the errr nice folks in Brussells make it compulsory to have and AIS transponder/reciever,it is already a requirement on the European main land for all vessels whilst inshore having to have atransponder type set up on their VHF,so if they want to know where you are then your VHF tells them

now,if i had a keel boat,then that would be a different story,once im about 1nm off of the shore line,i am into the North Sea proper and that has numerous oil rigs,wind farms and thay all are serviced by large ships,once im out a bit im into shipping lanes etc.

One tactic that i would employ in a situation of low visability.i.e. fog is to call up the coast guard and inform them of my position and the fact that i cant see nothing and request a radar and AIS report,hopefully the two radr refectors that i have on my shrouds would allow someone to see me.I have navigated my way into a harbour in heavy fog,i used my plotter,honked my horn and had no problems

agree. On our new 38' boat, I have almost nothing at the helm. The 'big' gps' is down below (use a handheld at the helm), radar is down below. All I have is the compass/wind/depth/autopilot and handheld vhf in the cockpit. I do plan on putting a SH vhf on the boat with a RAM mic in the cockpit like I did on the Mac.

The AIS can raise an alarm if there is a potential problem from what I understand.

I do plan on putting ais on the boat, along with broadband radar, etc, but it will all be down below. Something nice about not having sailing turning into a video game. Sometimes I feel that way with the Mac, which I have the gps on the console and look at it constantly, even when I don't have to.

Ill have to think about this some more.

Jim/Matt - theres two places I see that AIS as useful

- On Buzzards Bay I cross major shipping lines (westward approach to the Cape Cod Canal) that, in heavy fog, becomes 'interesting'
If I can set this up to give me a klaxon on 1/4 mile or closer proximity, that would be worth it to me. Im not sure who/what has AIS but I suspect that most of this heavy stuff does. Im not worried about getting run down by the 42foot s/v - thats what flotation hulls are for, after all. Those 800 foot tankers OTOH.....

- Here on the Hudson river there are a lot of blind corners and big stuff coming up river at 18 knots - you get a minute of warning with these guys, thats about it. AIS would probably give me a heads up on them too.

Kelly Hanson East wrote:Sure would be nice if I the remote would show the AIS screen.....

The new remote does.

~Rich

I didnt pick that up when I looked over the product, Rich. That might make it hard to resist.

Safety, honey, safety......

On the SH site the remote is only showing the text, not the cool radar screen? Do you have better info Rich?

stephen ,i agree that in a shipping lane in the fog an AIS is a very welcome gadget

Kelly Hanson East wrote:On the SH site the remote is only showing the text, not the cool radar screen? Do you have better info Rich?

looks like it shows the 'radar' display on the remote (maybe it is a different model# for the ais units)

http://www.standardhorizon.com/download ... ge%2Fpjpeg

It sure does Paul. Thanks. The one I pulled up from the SH site didnt have that.

Thanks Paul and Rich.

Just curious how this unit works.. Usually on a AIS unit, it has its own dedicated gps antenna. Does this unit have one? Or does it get the gps info from a hooked up gps unit?

This unit will be on the short list of must haves!

I wonder if there is any downside to not having a stand alone AIS unit

Going on my short list too. I've been wanting AIS for a while now and I don't even have a VHF (just a handh-held.) Great price for a dual unit. I wonder if the antena should be purchased separately. Built in antena splitter or are two antenas required? Would be nice if it just got GPS data through NMEA. For me, mounting in the cabin would be the only option. If the remote actually has a display, it's the perfectr solution. Is the remote a standard item or an accessory? Anyone have a link with the best info on this unit?

Leon

www.standardhorizon.com

punch through to the marine stuff in the tabs GX2100 is the model number to scope out, also called the Matrix. Make sure you are looking at the one with AIS, not 'optional AIS input

It gets position from a GPS via NEMA, correct. A standard VHF antenna will broadcast/receive both VHF and AIS info - no need for a special antenna according to website.

The RAM3 mike is said to show AIS but pictures on the web dont show that function - I would be careful to make sure you are getting the remote function AIS if thats important to you.

The RAM3 mike is 90-100 USD optional extra

the Matrix VHF is selling online for as cheap as 322 USD, availability end of January 2010

Thanks Stephen. I see it on Defender for $399 and $89 for the ram mic. I'm thinking the ram mic will not display AIS image. Probably a must, nevertheless, for anyone wanting to use the VHF from the helm if the unit is mounted in the cabin. Too huge for the Mac ped for anyone with GPS at the helm. Looks like it draws 5amps/.5 amps. Not sure what that means... guessing the .5 is standby? 5 amps/hr is quite a big mouth to feed. I think I still want it

delevi wrote:Thanks Stephen. I see it on Defender for $399 and $89 for the ram mic. I'm thinking the ram mic will not display AIS image. Probably a must, nevertheless, for anyone wanting to use the VHF from the helm if the unit is mounted in the cabin. Too huge for the Mac ped for anyone with GPS at the helm. Looks like it draws 5amps/.5 amps. Not sure what that means... guessing the .5 is standby? 5 amps/hr is quite a big mouth to feed. I think I still want it

(as previously mentioned a few posts back) The ram mic on the SH site shows the AIS info in the following picture. Not sure if it is a different model or not - http://www.standardhorizon.com/download ... ge%2Fpjpeg

The manual http://www.standardhorizon.com/download ... tion%2Fpdf says the operation on the unit and RAM mic is the same. (see page 99, the pdf does not allow cutting and pasting text)

0.5 amps standby, 5.0 Amps on transmit, high power.

The defender price is the MFG advertised price, if you add it to your cart at defender the price drops lower, too low to post here...