AIS aerial for pushpit mounting

[ianfr]

I thought about an AIS only aerial, but the one I fitted also doubles as an emergency aerial, should I be silly enough to lose the mast

Regards

Ian

[Sinc]

I'm not sure if I understand this. I've bought the Digital Yacht antenna/aerial as a separate item. It's connected to a ICOM AIS receiver. No other Digital Yacht stuff involved.
If I remember correct the antenna/aerial was similar priced to a standard VHF.

Aluijten,
What I meant was that the ANT200 is more expensive (about £200) then a separate VHF aerial and AIS engine (about £150 together). We already have a DSC VHF and a plotter to connect the AIS into. Also as far as I know the ANT200 can't be used as an emergency aerial - but I'm not 100% sure on the last bit.
So on balance the modular solution seems best.

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Our AIS aerial, like our GPS aerials, is fitted inside the boat, under the cockpit coaming (actually in the lazarette on our boat). Slightly reduced range I suppose, but it is in a warm, dry environment, can't be knocked about and we still pick up targets from over 20nm so who cares?

[xeitosaphil]

I've decided to go the separate aerial route rather than a splitter when fitting an AIS receiver this winter.
Looking through posts the V-tronix raider seems to get good reviews.
Has anyone any other suggestions (or comments on the Raider)?
Thanks, Graham

Graham, I posted this question back in January suggest you follow this link, may be of interest to you.

Incidentally I fitted a dedicated AIS aerial from Salty John and am in the process of fitting it now this week.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread...ght=AIS+aerial

[aluijten]

Aluijten,
What I meant was that the ANT200 is more expensive (about £200) then a separate VHF aerial and AIS engine (about £150 together). We already have a DSC VHF and a plotter to connect the AIS into. Also as far as I know the ANT200 can't be used as an emergency aerial - but I'm not 100% sure on the last bit.
So on balance the modular solution seems best.

I see. I was talking about this:
http://www.digitalyacht.co.uk/produc...ducts_id=11671

As you can read it's also suitable for emergency VHF duties.

Cheers,

Arno

[nigelmercier]

As you can read it's also suitable for emergency VHF duties.

Any AIS antenna will double-up as an emergency VHF. Like this one they are often optimised for the AIS VHF channels 87B (161.975 MHz) and 88B (162.025 MHz), but will work fine in the middle of the band.

The main difference is that the AIS antenna is not fitted to the top of a (possibly detached) mast.

[little_roundtop]

I thought about an AIS only aerial, but the one I fitted also doubles as an emergency aerial, should I be silly enough to lose the mast

Regards

Ian

+1

[neale]

Nothing to do with me, and I don't even know if it's good value, but might help someone on this thread:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305608

A Raider on the for sale forum.

[Newsailer]

Our AIS aerial, like our GPS aerials, is fitted inside the boat, under the cockpit coaming (actually in the lazarette on our boat). Slightly reduced range I suppose, but it is in a warm, dry environment, can't be knocked about and we still pick up targets from over 20nm so who cares?

There is something definatly not right about that statement. You have an AIS aerial monted inside your lazarette , which must put it about a metre above the water, and you reckon you still get targets over 20 nm away!

AIS, like VHF, works on line of sight. I have used various AIS products linked to varuis electronics with the aerials usually mounted 3 - 4 metres above the water. I rarely see any AIS targets over about 15 miles.

Your own VHF horizon for the AIS antenna is only about 2.5nm away. Obviously you can rely somewhat on the height of the aerial of the other vessel but to see one at 20nm you would need their aerial to be at about 60 metres, and I have not included in this the loss of signal caused by the airial being enclosed.

With a typical air draft of around 45m you simply should not be able to see most ships with your setup at 20nm. A small fishing boat shouldn't come into visibilty until they are about 6 miles away at best.

[jimi]

My experience with a pushpit mounted cheap VHF aerial as AIS receiver(which can also double as emergency VHF aerial) is that it is perfectly capable of receiving AIS transmissions fro 15+ miles away. The person who cannot see more than 2.5 miles really ought to check his connections and the integrity of his aerial.