Category: AIS

We’re down to Class B AIS details, my friends, and they aren’t hard. Above, and bigger here, is the Static data screen seen in the proAIS software that comes with the European version of Digital Yacht’s AIT250 transponder (and possibly others, as it comes from SRT, the manufacturer of so many Class B circuit boards and finished boxes). In the U.S. market this is the screen an installer would see after he or she had entered the vessel’s MMSI number. Users will see all those data fields grayed out (I presume, as I haven’t actually seen the finished U.S. software). Of course that’s because the FCC barred users from inputing the data themselves. But the user does have to supply accurate info to the installer. Let’s break it down:

A nice thing about Class B AIS transponders, I think, is that by regulation they include a GPS and thus they deliver “own vessel position” along with AIS target info to whatever displays they feed. But that can present an issue if…

Check the stats! They indicate that at one moment earlier today one particular network of AIS coastal receivers was seeing 763 AIS Class A transponders from scattered towers around the U.S.  And one Class B.  Guess whose 5 meter pleasure (and electronics testing) vessel that was?

Wow, the Class B AIS story is moving fast. If I’m understanding the FCC Equipment Authorization database correctly (select “AIS” from the “Equipment Class” drop-down list), last Friday, 10/3/2008, Navico added one last submission to its NAIS-300 application—the photo above—and the unit was certified that very day, along with…

What with Class B AIS transponders finally coming to market, a new AIS receiver may seem irrelevant. But it’s from Icom, it seems to be designed and priced right, and I suspect that it will be a winner…

Shine Micro is not the only company offering a Class B workaround, i.e. a high-end AIS receiver that can later be turned easily into a full Class B transponder. The same is true of the SeaVieweR above…

The above (bigger here) is clipped from an interesting report on MMSI “anomalies” that dropped into my e-mail box. It makes a good case for why the FCC decided that Class B AIS devices should have their MMSI numbers input in a controlled way, and…

My Class B AIS sources were right! Though it’s not yet in the FCC Daily Digest (Monday, probably), the new AIS Order was released yesterday and is posted as a PDF. And it looks good…