supersailor
Contributing Partner
After many years of dodging traffic on the Straights here, I am ready to ask for an AIS of some type for my birthday. Port Angeles is a focal point for marine traffic as all ships stop here to pick up Puget Sound Pilots. I have a Raymarine HD radar on an aft mast and I am planning to add a second VHF antenna to the mast and will read the AIS on a Raymarine E-90. The AIS could function off this antenna.
I think I really just want to know the positions, speed, and direction of the AIS equipped traffic out there so I can stay clear. There are those here that argue that it's important for them to "see" you too. If I go with the AIS B (transmit and receive), I know it is important to get one of the newly approved 5 watt units rather than the 2 watt units now being sold. There is also a lot of Government tape that comes with the transmit also.
There is also the question of how big I can inflate the birthday gift.
What do you guys with the AIS feel about This?
I think I really just want to know the positions, speed, and direction of the AIS equipped traffic out there so I can stay clear. There are those here that argue that it's important for them to "see" you too. If I go with the AIS B (transmit and receive), I know it is important to get one of the newly approved 5 watt units rather than the 2 watt units now being sold. There is also a lot of Government tape that comes with the transmit also.
There is also the question of how big I can inflate the birthday gift.
What do you guys with the AIS feel about This?