AIS Questions

[Kevin Kaldenbach]

The use of AIS is growing by leaps and bounds. We have not had ours a year yet and we are seeing more and more pop up on our screen. So far I do not know of any local shrimpers in the Corpus area with AIS. I have noticed big drilling platforms with it though.

One thing that is a problem is that when the AIS thinks there is risk of collision it sets off an alarm and in doing so my chart plotter goes away until I acknowledge the alarm. This is a pain in the butt when I am using the chart to navigate a shallow entrance to a harbor full of parked boats with their AIS units on.

[CruiseAlong]

Here is a link for the current and proposed AIS requirements. You will see that is not only ships that is currently covered. The CG proposals take it much further. A Class B transponder will effectively transmit 5-10 miles, Class A about 20 miles. Speed of the vessel determines how often the transmission occurs. It is hard to imagine that a ship would turn off its AIS (Coastal Waters anyway) and get away not being "seen" by the CG by radar or visual (when they don't see them on their AIS screen). It is a give away they don't have it on.
http://jmtxweb.org/Library/Misc/AIS_handout.pdf
Dana
CD31 #45, KAUNIS