AIS 2 - The devil is in the Details

 

AIS Screenshot

I failed to outsmart the marine electronics world. If you read my original AIS blog entry, I thought that by upgrading my marine VHF radio with built in AIS I would save the time, money and hassle of having to purchase and install a separate AIS transponder. Wrong....well right, sort of. With built in AIS in the VHF I could see vessels with AIS and get their info, but they can't see me with their system. That could work, but somewhat defeats the purpose of why I wanted AIS in the first place. The inland river systems are loaded with tows, barges and ships. If that mile long tow & barge is coming around one of the many sharp bends of the river, their radar will not see a vessel around the corner. AIS means not only can they see my vessel, they know the type, speed, position, direction and my vessel name, allowing them to call me by vessel name and tell me what they would like me to do upon our meeting and provide me with the same identification. 

Once again I started to look at different AIS transponders. I found a system from Vesper that was suggested by some fellow AGLCA members. The system seemed robust and came complete with a GPS antenna, something that was an option from other manufacturers. The price was less than others I considered, which is always helpful as I still needed to purchase some additional items for installation.

I ordered the XB-6000. There is an XB-8000 and the main difference seems to be that the XB-8000 has WiFi and can be controlled through a tablet or phone while the XB-6000 can be controlled with a computer when using the USB connector to the unit. 

XB-6000 AIS

I ordered the system from BOE Marine. They processed the order quickly and shortly after placing the order, I got an email from the company with an attached form for all of my boat information. The information is then used to program the unit so when it arrives, it is ready to install and use. I didn’t need to input any of my boat information. You will need a MMSI number in order for the unit to function properly.

I had to order a few additional items.

• NMEA 2000 Cable to connect to my SIMRAD system
• VHF Antenna
• VHF Antenna Mount

The dedicated VHF antenna is a preferred method although you can use an approved splitter to use the VHF antenna already installed on the boat. A dedicated antenna will outperform the shared antenna option. Also the dedicated antenna should be mounted away from the other antenna. I chose to mount mine on the opposite side of the bridge.

I installed the GPS Antenna first. It has plenty of cable if I wanted to mount the AIS Transponder in the lower portion of the boat.

I mounted the AIS Transponder under the helm on the fly bridge and close to the Simrad Backbone. The Spur cable I purchased had the wrong end on it, then I remembered I needed to disconnect the existing Spur Cable from my VHF to eliminate that input, so I had the proper cable anyway.

I installed the VHF antenna on the opposite side of my main VHF antenna. I used a whip type and the base is somewhat "fat" so I needed to make a Starboard base for the antenna mount to give it some clearance.

Antenna Base & Starboard "Backer"

With everything in place and all the connectors on, I fired up the unit. It took a less than a minute and the orange status light turned green.

I checked my Simrad GPS, success! I had AIS signals displayed. I will need to ask another boat if they can see my AIS information but it appears everything is working fine. I selected a target and was able to get all of the vessel’s information…awesome!

Now on to replacing the busted windscreen…a story for another blog entry…sheesh, it never ends.