AIS / Float Planning

[Monterey385]

I have a new Class B AIS (Raymarine AIS 650). I started the float planning for a spring delivery cruise that will transit the Delaware River, Bay, and NJ Coast. It occurred to me that as part of my float plan, I might be able to have key family members on land able to monitor our progress using marinetraffic.com ...

Interested in whether anyone else has used this service (or another) for similar purposes. Too, wanted to know whether there was a best practice in using a Class B unit on an extended cruise (including logging destination, etc. in a database).

 

[Paul Mermelstein]

I've used Marinetraffic.com. Easy to do. However, sometimes it is not up to date, or rather, it may not be up to date with any particular boat. Most times, no problem though.
As far as I know, you can't enter the destination on a Class B, only Class A.

 

[Rob2435]

There are a number of apps that can be used, however, they tend to be land based and since AIS is a VHF radio, it has limited range. So, if you are 10 miles offshore, the land based antenna won't pick you up and the apps won't see you since they use the information from the land based stations to post over the internet.

 

[JohnShannon]

This is kinda the ultimate for staying in touch http://www.thegpsstore.com/Delorme-inReach-SE.aspx
uses the Iridium satellite system, so works pretty much wherever. The less expensive option is a spot

http://www.findmespot.com/en/ has coverage gaps at the poles and middle of the ocean

Looking at marine traffic dot com I see they are picking big ships up about 50nm offshore (receive antenna is on a mountain) and big ships broadcast at 12W

 

[JohnShannon]

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/stations/1142 This is off marine traffic.com show the Charleston pilots operate a 164m tall antenna and see class B to 95nm so it would seem likely a NJ to Delaware you are going to be going down the coast not too far offshore your AIS B should show up just fine. I would muck about on that website and see what kind of boats are being reported at what kind of distance, then compare to your projected course.

 

[Monterey385]

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/stations/1142 This is off marine traffic.com show the Charleston pilots operate a 164m tall antenna and see class B to 95nm so it would seem likely a NJ to Delaware you are going to be going down the coast not too far offshore your AIS B should show up just fine. I would muck about on that website and see what kind of boats are being reported at what kind of distance, then compare to your projected course.

John: I had been monitoring the website today thinking pretty much the same thing. It looks like there may be a deadspot from Barnegat to Atlantic City which would make sense because there aren't a lot of navigable inlets in that space. That said I was tracking a couple of powerboats ... I will try to find a sailboat or two over the next several months (they'll certainly be hardy souls at this time of year). This is great validation though ... thank you.