Panbo

The Marine Technology Hub

Category: AIS

Vesper Marine AIS-DSC calling, merry Christmas (again) 28

Communications / AIS

Vesper Marine AIS-DSC calling, merry Christmas (again)

Vesper_aisWatchMate_DSC_calling_cPanbo.jpg

I’ll venture a guess that Vesper Marine won’t commit to giving annual Christmas “prezzies” to their AIS WatchMate customers forever, but the company is following up on its terrific 2010 anchor watch software gift with a new free update feature that lets users place direct DSC calls to AIS targets if their WatchMate model 670, 750, or 850 is set up to output NMEA 0183 to a compatible VHF radio. But I fear “compatible” is the key word here, and I caution WatchMate owners not to set their expectations high, though I think that this is a very worthwhile experiment…

METS 2011, a Kees Verruijt report 8

AIS / The Trade / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

METS 2011, a Kees Verruijt report

METS_marine_trade_show.jpg

Today I {Kees Verruijt} did a one day tour of the 2011 Marine Equipment Trade Show in Amsterdam. I knew before I started that it would be a hopeless task to cover everything so this is just my own take on things… This year is the first year that Ben had introduced me as the official Panbo representative and I was surprised at how much ‘clout’ I was carrying. This turned out to be both positive (people take you seriously) and a negative — some manufacturers clearly stated that some things were under embargo and they did not care for publication just yet…

Today I {Kees Verrujit} did a one day tour of the 2011 Marine Equipment Trade Show in Amsterdam. I knew before I started that it would be a hopeless task to cover everything so this is just my own take on things… This year is the first year that Ben had introduced me as the official Panbo representative and I was surprised at how much ‘clout’ I was carrying. This turned out to be both positive (people take you seriously) and a negative — some manufacturers clearly stated that some things were under embargo and they did not care for publication just yet…

The DAMEs: DY iAIS, the iThing onslaught & more 7

AIS

The DAMEs: DY iAIS, the iThing onslaught & more

So this morning Digital Yacht’s iAIS won the DAME award in the electronics category, but the thing I noticed is that four out of the six nominees chosen by the judges involve the integration...

NMEA 2011 Expo, neat new stuff #2 17

Navigation / AIS / Weather

NMEA 2011 Expo, neat new stuff #2

Furuno NavPilot 700 safehelm n power steering module cPanbo.jpg

Yes that’s an Accu-Steer reversing hydraulic pump meant to push a rudder around, but that block on top is a patent-pending sensor co-developed with FurunoUSA, and the whole package leads to the very interesting “Safe Helm” and “Power Steer” features coming to the latter’s NavPilot 700 (which explains why the pilot came out elsewhere earlier).  Safe Helm sounds a lot like the “Shadow Drive” feature so far only seen on the Garmin GHP 10 pilot for hydraulic steering systems; instead of poking a StandBy button, you simply turn the wheel to disengage the pilot and steer around an issue, then let the boat settle on a course again to re-engage. It’s elegantly simple (I’ve tried the Garmin version), and it’s potentially great that it’s is no longer exclusive to one manufacturer. And apparently Furuno’s unique method also means that the pump can be used to power assist a steering system, with numerous controls for how that’s done — like variable assist at different speeds — built into the NavPilot 700…

Raymarine AIS650 & AIS350: smaller, better, and somewhat familiar 22

AIS

Raymarine AIS650 & AIS350: smaller, better, and somewhat familiar

Raymarine_AIS650_Class_B_AIS.jpg

Yesterday Raymarine issued a press release announcing replacements for its existing AIS receiver and Class B transponder, which I’ll link to when possible. But, in fact, some online dealers are already offering the AIS650 Class B transponder, as well as the AIS350 receiver, and they also bear a family resemblance to the new generation SRT OEM gear discussed in June, which is not a bad thing (and no big surprise given that SRT announced a strategic agreement with one of “the world’s top three marine electronics companies” last February). Let’s see if we can figure out what’s new and different…

New AIS brands: Em-Trak, Digital Deep Sea, & Watcheye 62

AIS

New AIS brands: Em-Trak, Digital Deep Sea, & Watcheye

em-trak main AIS page june 2011.jpg

Em Trak — or Em-Trak or em-trak (why do brands defy grammar conventions when it causes multiple misspellings on other sites?) — is a completely unfamiliar name to me, but it’s pretty darn obvious that the interesting array of new AIS gear displayed on their web site is closely related to the new AIS modules SRT debuted yesterday. The cases may be different (and jazzier) in some cases, but I’m seeing some of the same new features along with ones apparently added by Em Trak…

SRT’s 2011 OEM AIS products, a boat load 7

AIS / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

SRT’s 2011 OEM AIS products, a boat load

SRT_2011_OEM_AIS_family.jpg

The AIS Summit began today in Hamburg, Germany, and SRT took the occasion to announce a boat load of newly available OEM AIS modules. Of course that means that other companies have to brand and sell the gear above — or build their own devices based the same internal technology — but I have reason to believe that in at least one interesting case that will happen soon, and, in fact, several of the items above seem like they will be interesting products eventually…

AIS SART plotting, & NMEA 2000 AIS problems 20

AIS / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

AIS SART plotting, & NMEA 2000 AIS problems

Raymarine_EWide_AIS_SART.jpg

A gold star to Raymarine for the E140W’s response to an AIS SART test!  This seems like exactly the proper plotting behavior described by the USCG AIS expert Jorge Arroyyo in a comment to the entry about the easyRescue SART tested. Not only did the E Wide put up an alarm noting the SART TEST message but it also plotted the SART’s location with the correct distinctive icon (see inset above). And, as a bonus, it’s giving the operator quick soft key or touch shortcuts to setting up a go-to-SART route or dismiss the alarm. But so far the E140W is the only MFD that’s so well behaved and it wasn’t until I updated its software this weekend…

easyRescue personal AIS SART, hands-on #1 19

Safety & SAR / AIS

easyRescue personal AIS SART, hands-on #1

Easy_Rescue_hardware1_cPanbo.jpg

After the Miami show this year I wrote about the introduction of Kannad and McMurdo personal-size AIS SARTs meant for crew overboard rescues and/or to help you get found in a liferaft. The idea is that these 1 watt AIS transmitters can be seen and homed-in to from at least a few miles away by any vessel — including your own — with an AIS plotting device. (Antenna height can increase that range a good deal, and that even includes satellites!)  The first AIS SART I’ve gotten to test is the easyRescue A040 developed by the German company Weatherdock. It’s a brick-shaped device about 5 x 3 x 1 inches and it includes an optional back plate/belt clip and even a reel of thin line so you can leash it to your life jacket…