Class B AIS waste of money

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

..... Over time things will improve.

Like they did with DSC?

[Cap Erict3]

The main problem, on my Garmin system, is that the collision alarm must be acknowledged. I turn it off in crowded situations.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by Cap Erict3

The main problem, on my Garmin system, is that the collision alarm must be acknowledged. I turn it off in crowded situations.

I agree with this complaint. Programmers should not assume they are smarter than the operator. There could be an "auto-acknowledge" option so the dinger will shut up after a preset time. Sometimes there are more important things to do than press buttons on the AIS display every few seconds. Especially when the alarms are piling up one after another.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by rwidman

There was a time when our soon to be Ex President was considering a regulation that would have required an AIS transceiver on every boat. Yes, not just commercial boats, not just boats over a certain size, but every boat. Presumably, even Uncle Bubba's duck hunting boat. Apparently, this was in the name of 'homeland security". The government would be able to track all boats at any time.

Talk about clutter and confusion.

Apparently, someone pointed out how stupid this proposal was and it was withdrawn.

I remember the French wanting every boat to carry a Liferaft... imagine that on a Lazer..

[nigel1]

On the large commercial tugs, when in congested waters, I found the best solution was to have extra eyes on the bridge (looking out of the windows, not stuck in a screen), and disabled all alarms on the ECDIS which has the AIS overlayed.
Otherwise, everyone gets overloaded with the constant alarms sounding and it becomes too easy to silence an alarm without really looking at the cause.

My OOW's are advised that AIS is not designed as an anti collision tool, it's main function is to ID other vessel.

It should be noted that when ECDIS alarms are disabled, a warning alert message is constantly displayed, a good reminder to return the ECDIS to normal operation when traffic density allows.

Primary tools for collision avoidance are the eyeball and the radars.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by nigel1

On the large commercial tugs, when in congested waters, I found the best solution was to have extra eyes on the bridge (looking out of the windows, not stuck in a screen), and disabled all alarms on the ECDIS which has the AIS overlayed.
Otherwise, everyone gets overloaded with the constant alarms sounding and it becomes too easy to silence an alarm without really looking at the cause.

My OOW's are advised that AIS is not designed as an anti collision tool, it's main function is to ID other vessel.

It should be noted that when ECDIS alarms are disabled, a warning alert message is constantly displayed, a good reminder to return the ECDIS to normal operation when traffic density allows.

Primary tools for collision avoidance are the eyeball and the radars.

Aye lad.. but we are pre Gameboy, Nintendo and Kindle.. if it aint on the screen its not there..

[SV DestinyAscen]

Are there AIS systems that allows users to circle and sort a contact list?

In another career and experience, we had a system that allowed us to select/identify a object of interest, assign it a name and create a list that can be sorted by velocity, range, bearing, etc.

Hundreds of objects can be more easily kept track of if the radar/plotter focuses on the imagery and a companion screen let's you sort/highlight ignore contacts.

[LagunaRed]

This is ridiculous. I consider my AIS one of the most valuable pieces of safety gear I have on the boat. Obviously it's great to see where other vessels are but it's also great to get info on a vessel that's 20 miles away and I can be ready to navigate around them. When I'm on the water, I assume no one knows how to navigate or the rules of the road so I move long before they do. Having the AIS helps. I know that's a little extreme and there are many prudent mariners out there but I have my family on board so I can't be too careful. I wish AIS was mandatory for all vessels greater than 20ft. Just my opinion.

[tanglewood]

Originally Posted by SV DestinyAscen

Are there AIS systems that allows users to circle and sort a contact list?

In another career and experience, we had a system that allowed us to select/identify a object of interest, assign it a name and create a list that can be sorted by velocity, range, bearing, etc.

Hundreds of objects can be more easily kept track of if the radar/plotter focuses on the imagery and a companion screen let's you sort/highlight ignore contacts.

Yes, pretty much. On a Furuno FAR2xx7 radar, the AIS targets show as standard icons. If you "activate" a target, it is adorned with a motion vector, and appears in the target list.

So I think "activated" targets are the list you are suggesting. You can also have targets automatically active based on a variety of criteria, much like auto acquiring ARPA targets.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by nigel1

My OOW's are advised that AIS is not designed as an anti collision tool, it's main function is to ID other vessel.

Remind me again, what does the I in AIS stand for?

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Like they did with DSC?

Good point. Oh well, hope springs eternal...

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by nigel1

On the large commercial tugs, when in congested waters, I found the best solution was to have extra eyes on the bridge (looking out of the windows, not stuck in a screen), and disabled all alarms on the ECDIS which has the AIS overlayed.
Otherwise, everyone gets overloaded with the constant alarms sounding and it becomes too easy to silence an alarm without really looking at the cause.

My OOW's are advised that AIS is not designed as an anti collision tool, it's main function is to ID other vessel.

It should be noted that when ECDIS alarms are disabled, a warning alert message is constantly displayed, a good reminder to return the ECDIS to normal operation when traffic density allows.

Primary tools for collision avoidance are the eyeball and the radars.

Yes, but our radars are not remotely comparable to yours for ARPA/MARPA -- our small antennae don't have nearly enough bearing discrimination.

Therefore, on yachts, we really depend on AIS to get accurate CPA/TCPA etc.

Concerning alarms --

I switch all radar and AIS alarms off in crowded waters whenever I am constantly monitoring the screen anyway. In my opinion, alarms are not made for crowded waters -- they are made to call your attention to a situation when you're not in crowded waters and might not have an eye glued to the screen.

In crowded waters, all I need is for the AIS carat (or radar target) to turn colors or flash or something, and I don't even need that all that much.

I've never been bothered by "target overload". What even is that? If you're overloaded with targets, that's not the problem of the electronics, it's a problem of too many vessels around, or a problem of incorrect interpretation of what your electronics are telling you.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by nigel1

On the large commercial tugs, when in congested waters, I found the best solution was to have extra eyes on the bridge .

Makes perfect sense. if it's that busy, look out the window.
But how many places are so bad that ais stops being useful? Solent p a summer weekend, but can't think of another place I've been in where there were so many targets that it just wasn't helpful to have a glance at the display as well as looking around.

[nigel1]

Dockhead, my post was explaining about filtering out AIS targets. In busy waters, all AIS alarms are filtered out (turned off), and we rely on eyesight and radar.
I fully appreciate the problem with small radar sets, and the use of AIS on small boats to determine CPA/TCPA.
Under most normal conditions, the AIS/CPA alarms are active and I certainly would not filter out Class B targets, nor do I know of any other skipper who does.

[nigel1]

Originally Posted by conachair

Makes perfect sense. if it's that busy, look out the window.
But how many places are so bad that ais stops being useful? Solent p a summer weekend, but can't think of another place I've been in where there were so many targets that it just wasn't helpful to have a glance at the display as well as looking around.

Transit into and out of Rotterdam comes to mind, in fact, a lot of busy harbours on rivers, AIS alarms become a distraction rather than useful.
Outside of these area's, AIS/ARPA alarms are set to limits appropriate to the conditions, that would include Dover Straits etc.