Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: AIS

Seapilot Vector Compact GNSS Compass, sweet deal that usually works well 32

Navigation / AIS / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

Seapilot Vector Compact GNSS Compass, sweet deal that usually works well

Seapilot_Compact_GNSS_Compass_cPanbo.jpgThere’s lot to report from the Fort Lauderdale Show, but the calendar dictates that I first write about this Seapilot satellite compass. That’s because a startling 50% show discount is still available this week, so you can buy the Vector Compact-N NMEA 2000 model seen above for $500 simply by applying the code “FLIBS2015” in the shopping cart. The Compact seemed like a relatively good value at twice the price when I first discussed its features last November, and since then I’ve seen it perform pretty well on Gizmo…

TBF: FLIBS, dAISy, YDVR, G-Metrix OBD2, and DAME nominees 4

Wireless & Apps / Cabin & deck gear / AIS / Zany

TBF: FLIBS, dAISy, YDVR, G-Metrix OBD2, and DAME nominees

FLIBS_transit_map_n_app_aPanbo.jpgWith Panbo’s first TBF now a week old, how about some more acronym madness? This marine electronics TidBits Friday can’t include any of the tasty stuff being served at next week’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS), but there certainly will be some, and I’ve been studying the transportation options for making the most of my four days at this huge event. The MyBoatShow app has not achieved perfection, but it’s better and may help. Come if you can or come by here for some TBL, and in the meantime…

SRT acquires Class B AIS patent, consequences uncertain 23

AIS / The Trade

SRT acquires Class B AIS patent, consequences uncertain

SRT_Acquisition_of_Patent_release_clips_aPanbo.jpgFor me, this story began with a March 5th email titled “AIS patent wars – a tax on safety?” It referenced the SRT stock market announcement partially shown above and went on to say:

The whole point of using CSTDMA instead of SoTDMA in the original design of Class B was to avoid any problems with patents to ensure the successful uptake of the system by manufacturers. I see this as a tax on safety and a desperate attempt by SRT to force manufacturers to use their solutions rather than those from competitors and so create a pseudo-monopoly in the Class B world, which cannot be good for competition or the end user. To say I am furious would be putting it mildly…

SOTDMA Class B AIS, the “new” middle way? 39

Safety & SAR / AIS / The Trade

SOTDMA Class B AIS, the “new” middle way?

SRT_5W_SOTDMA_AIS_Class_B_on_way_aPanbo.jpg

It may be a while before we see the first 5 Watt SOTDMA Class B AIS transceiver actually available for sale, but it certainly is interesting to see a prototype trumpeted in SRT’s Summer 2015 Pulse Newsletter (available here). Given SRT’s main role as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) we may first see this “new” AIS technology — perhaps with even more features — branded as Simrad, Raymarine, True Heading, Digital Yacht, Comar etc. (and/or marketed under SRT’s own Em-Trak label). Or maybe Furuno, AMEC, Vesper or another of the independent AIS manufacturers will be first out with SOTDMA Class B? I don’t know. More important is SOTDMA Class B as a coming middle ground between the Class A AIS used on large vessels (which also works on the SOTDMA protocol) and the CSTDMA Class B technology that we’re used to…

Apple Watch boat applets, Pocket Mariner is raring to go 9

Wireless & Apps / Gadgets / AIS

Apple Watch boat applets, Pocket Mariner is raring to go

PocketMariner_SeaNav_on_Apple_Watch_aPanbo.jpg

I find the Apple Watch fascinating, even if I have no plans to own one myself, and I encourage anyone else with an interest to read David Pierce’s Iphone Killer: The secret history of the Apple Watch at Wired.com for a deep look at what the obsessed designers were up to. The first hands-on reviews are coming out now, pre-orders start late tonight, and at least one boating apps developer will be ready to go when the watches release to the public on April 24…

AMEC Camino 701 Class A AIS, first with a nearly complete NMEA 2000 interface 39

AIS / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

AMEC Camino 701 Class A AIS, first with a nearly complete NMEA 2000 interface

AMEC_Camino_701_Class_A_AIS_front_aPanbo.jpgThere are several reasons that a yacht or workboat might want to use an AIS Class A transceiver instead of Class B, even if they’re not required to. With Class A you’ll be seen by other boats from a greater distance because you’ll be transmitting at 12W instead of 2, and you’ll be tracked much more smoothly — particularly if you’re going fast and/or manuevering — because the Class A update rate for dynamic data like position, speed, and heading is much more frequent than Class B. The problem is that the total install cost of Class A can be quite high and especially annoying on a modern boat with a NMEA 2000 network — despite what you may have read on Panbo! — because no Class A truly supported N2K until the AMEC Camino 701 came along (and it’s not perfect yet)…

More AIS in the USA, the new USCG requirements 11

AIS / The future

More AIS in the USA, the new USCG requirements

USCG_AIS_Final_Rule_collage_cPanbo.jpgPlease credit the U.S. Coast Guard with a sense of humor. The (NOA and) AIS Final Rule may be a dry read, but not last week’s email announcement, which began with the giddy declaration “4,232 days in the making!” I don’t know why the rulemaking process took so long, and it may have been most frustrating for those who do, but I’ll still be glad to have more of the commercial vessels working along our coasts equipped with AIS. It won’t happen fast, though — vessels newly required to carry Class A or B AIS transponders can take until March 2016 to install them — and the number of such vessels seems uncertain…

Real, Synthetic & Virtual AIS AtoNs, can you see them? 34

AIS

Real, Synthetic & Virtual AIS AtoNs, can you see them?

USCG_synthetic_AIS_AtoNs_New_York_on_MT_cPanbo.jpg

One way to spend a frigid night in Maine is learning about AIS AtoNs, an electronic augmentation to the aids to navigation we commonly think of as nav buoys, lighthouses, beacons, etc. The US Coast Guard recently began a year-long experiment with AIS AtoNs in New York Harbor, and sure enough, there they are on Marine Traffic. MT is an imperfect tool for understanding what AIS AtoNs look like on our boat displays, but if you set up the Filter as I have above — Show Ship Names on, all vessel types but Navigation Aids off — you can see that they are now set up around many major U.S. ports and that we’re behind much of the world. There are three major types of AIS AtoN, along with many nuances, and their capabilities seem impressive, though perhaps a little confusing or even scary for some mariners…

MFD and AIS anomalies, be careful out there 33

Navigation / AIS / When things go wrong...

MFD and AIS anomalies, be careful out there

Capt_Joe_McCarty_cPanbo.jpg

Consider this is a portrait of a deeply experienced boat guy who still remains skeptical about the wonders of modern marine electronics. Lord knows I tried, but gremlins sabotaged my efforts from the moment when my old friend Joe McCarty arrived in Rockland, Maine, for the trip to Baltimore. I was using the Garmin Helm app on my iPad mini to watch the tank gauge as I squatted on dock pumping diesel fuel and Joe just had time enough to say “Well, that is cool!” when the digitized tank reading plunged from 85% to 20% and stayed stuck there even as we topped off using the old fashion method of listening to the changing vent gurgles…