.....Fwiw, I use an app called boat beacon which gives me an AIS capability. I'm pretty sure it makes me visible to AIS vessels. I use this every time I go out because it will also transmit my location to a website that family can track me on. I can also see AIS vessels, their heading and speed, type etc. my phone becomes the GPS for this. My wife's phone also has the boat beacon app. One thing I do have is phone chargers.
I don't have DSC with my hand held and it would be nice if something happened to be able to send location info. ..
I like having the DSC and hope I never need to use it. If things go to h*ll it would be nice to toggle it on and then get to work trying to handle the situation and not have to be at the radio at the same time.
Thanks for mentioning the Boat Beacon. Interesting. I looked it up and see that it does also transmit your location, to some degree. My radio would not pick up say your location and a passing ship might not either. If I read it right it would show up only to others using Boat Beacon near you and ....
your boat will also appear on live AIS traffic sites and their associated mobile applications
... meaning they would have to be connected to the internet and using a mobile application to see you not just an AIS radio like I have.
Still it looks like a good product and does basically what I'll be able to do with my radio's AIS connected to the computer running OpenCPN.
If I end up later actually sailing in areas of heavy commercial traffic I think I'll put out the $800 for a transmitter that will send my location to anyone with a receiver. I'd only probably use it if I was for instance crossing to Bimini during the night or some place else with a lot of traffic. Otherwise it would be off since if every small boat gets one of these and uses it all the time screens would get cluttered with a lot of boats that don't really need to be seen under the circumstance.
One thing that was a pain with the radio I now have in the Mac and even the AIS one I'm installing is I have to connect an external (other) device for them to get the GPS location. I did this but now you can get radios that have GPS built in so that makes life simpler. If I end up sailing alone I'm thinking of getting a handheld with gps/DSC as a safety measure and keep it on me. If I go over there is still some chance that could save me vs. being out there alone miles from anyone else,
Sumner