The cheapest way to get AIS
on your yacht

AIS is a collision avoidance system.

What you get:

Installation of the AIS data filter
Standard connection cable 1.5m long. (5m long available also)
AIS plotting software
Installation manual
2009 NZ And Pacific Ocean Charts
USA East and West coasts charts to the equator.
Thailand charts.
Australia East coast charts.
World magnetic variation chart 2010.
Full Navigation software that plots live AIS data on screen.
++ Many more software utilities, rather useful for yachties. All on a DVD.

The above screen-print shows AIS targets as yellow and green triangles.
The red radar rings are 1Nm apart and eminate from the home ship.
Proximity alarms can be set to suit your security circle up to approx. 20NM radius.
For clarity, these 2 pictures have been de-cluttered, due to the size.
The current version of OpenCPN is also on the DVD.



The same picture as above, but with the AIS target list displayed.
This list displays all the information about the ships involved.

Below are screenprints of a dedicated AIS plotting program.


North is up as indicated.
Five commercial ships with their names are shown together with the home ship at the center of the circle on the 'radar screen' option.
Proximity alarms can be set to suit your security circle up to approx. 15NM radius, depending on antenna elevation.
If these ships were moving, you would see their tracks and heading.
The 'radar screen' option on your laptop is useful at sea, as there are no distinguishing land features, unlike the image below.
You can set the rings at any distance, up to as far as your VHF allows; The default is a 40 NM radius.
The setting in the picture is at 2 NM Radius and 1 NM for every consecutive ring; You can zoom in/out.
Data sharing is possible over Bluetooth, cable etc.



An image from "Google Earth" was downloaded previously for the Mount Maunganui wharf area.
Again showing the same ships with their names (in red this time), as on the 'radar screen' above, tied up th the wharf.
Four points on this Google image were calibrated, with known points from a nautical chart iow. they were given a long and lat.
The program offsets this automatically in X and Y pixel axis thus calibrating the image.
A similar procedure is followed for scanned charts in either jpeg or bmp format.
Alternatively the plotting can be overlaid in a navigation program like 'MaxSea' or 'Opencpn' (see the top two pictures).



This image shows AIS data, of all the ships details, like their Name, call sign, long/lat, speed, size, cargo, destination, etc.



The image shows the AIS messages transmitted by these ships



This image shows an AIS signal trace