The Marine Electronics Hub
Above is the odd little Smart Radio SR261 “AIS Modem”, which claims “most of the functions of a class A ais transponder with a fraction of costs.” Let me say right up front that I absolutely do not recommend using this device, and think it may even endanger the AI system…
I’m sorry to report that the state of FCC approval for Class B AIS may be even worse than reported last month. Today an industry source told me that even though all the Commissioners have received a briefing on the Amendment and none expressed reservations, or even asked questions, it has somehow gone onto what’s known internally as the “wait and see list.” Apparently the only force that might move it along is encouragement from concerned citizens like us…
Given some controversy about how big ships actually use AIS and what that may mean in terms of Class B, I asked Captain John Konrad to help out. Boy, did he, first querying his gCaptain readers, then bringing in Captain Richard Rodriguez for a professional small boat point of view, and finally e-mailing me with all the interesting comments below. This is the longest Panbo entry ever (and some of the best stuff is at the end). So how about a big round of applause for John, who somehow pulls all this off while still shipping out (he’s Chief Mate aboard a 835’ ship in the Gulf of Mxico right now, editing gCaptain by satellite!)…
My recent mention of Class B negativity elicited a lot of interesting comments, including a long post by Mr. Fred Pot himself. Fred, who I once profiled as “AIS man”, has now established himself as the Class B curmudgeon…
Honestly, what the hell is wrong with the FCC? Today some one who knows how these things work pointed out to me that the Commission…
Comar Systems introduced no less than five new AIS products at METS, most of them seen in the photo above….
That’s Charlie Hsu, sales & marketing guy for Alltek Marine Electronics Corp. (AMEC), along with the company’s chief engineer. They were at METS looking for companies interested in distributing their Class B AIS, mentioned here last April. When showing me the unit…
I took to the Simrad AI50 AIS at first sight, but the more I learn the more I like.
Well, my entry on how Rendez-vous tender tracking uses AIS message conventions seems to have confused even some AIS savvy folks (sorry, Del). To be clear, Rendez-vous will not show up on anyone’s screen unless that screen is connected to a specific network of Rendez-vous radios. Rendez-vous just uses the AIS data structure so that plotting software does not have be modified to see the tenders in a network. Get it? I think it clever, but the folks who developed the Seetrac Tender Tracking systems aren’t so sure:
