The Marine Technology Hub
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:
Tender tracking systems, like the Nobeltec/Seetrac combo discussed here last year, are a bit exotic (even a bit mockable). But I’ve seen the captain of a big charter yacht worry over a ditzy guest out on a PWC, plus I see how over-the-top some mega yacht tenders are getting (like the Vikal Limo). In fact, when I was in the British Virgin Islands last spring, it seemed like every big, really fine center console I saw turned out to be the “little” boat of something much bigger. In other words, tender tracking can be serious business, and I think the new SeaCas Rendez-vous system looks to be a powerful solution.
Above is a laptop screen from the Wheelhouse II program which is part of the Raven pilot package I discussed back in June when I got a ride on Penobscot Pilot. Skip Strong grabbed the screen from a recording of the Nor’easter outbound trip he piloted that day, and it’s well worth seeing…
Back in June the FCC asked for comments regarding Class B AIS units, and several of you—along with the USCG and other safety minded organizations—all encouraged the FCC to approve, or at least waiver, transponders already approved and in use outside the U.S., as soon as possible. There were NO objections…
Darn, I was hoping to get a shot of Bruce Kessler in his wheelhouse departing the Camden Public Landing this morning, but got distracted by a contest idea (that you’ll find here this weekend)…
Not one of my better pictures, but the bigger version here will give you some sense of how the Garmin 4– and 5000 Series handle AIS targets…
Interesting that an intrepid Boston Globe reporter figured out that AIS transponders might have prevented two Boston ferries from hitting each other in thick fog yesterday morning…
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