Has anyone installed a Raymarine AIS in their Hunter 36?

[deacm]

The installer and I are trying to figure out where to put everything. A couple of questions:

1. My existing GPS mushroom is deck mounted behind the stern port docking cleat. The AIS (receive/transmit) has its own GPS. Where did you mount yours? (My Raymarine C80 autopilot guts is mounted inside the huge port lazaretto)

2. Did you have any problem splitting the VHF antenna with the AIS?

3. I have heard that you can connect the AIS with Seatalk OR nema………but that doesn't sound right.


Thanks……..and any other tips, very much appreciated.

 

[quadrille38]

I don't have the same equipment but can answer a couple of your questions as I did a lot of research when I was setting up my system.

Regarding the use of a splitter on the VHF antenna, there are mixed reviews on that. Some information I read talked about degradation of the signal and recommended against using one. They instead advocated for a dedicated antenna for the AIS feed. I went with that and mounted it on the arch. Range is just fine even though it's not at the masthead. I know others who've gone with the splitter and so far have had good results although its brand new and early to tell.

Regarding Seatalk vs NMEA check the Raymarine manuals. My Raymarine autopilot computer does show NMEA data terminals that are located inside the box.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

I have installed two different AIS units. The last is a Digital Yacht wireless unit. I installed it behind the nav panel at the nav station. I had already installed a splitter so I just connected the AIS to the GPS and the VHF both mounted at the Nav panel. My output is wireless to IPad and iPhone and is usb to my laptop. I use Raytech software to display the AIS on my laptop. I can only see Class A targets on my Raytech setup.

I display on my iPhone or IPad, only one at a time, to INavX wirelessly using the built in wifi network from the DigitalYacht unit. I have my primary antenna mounted at the mast. It has been no problem using the splitter. While at Indian Key this winter, I was seeing two targets 150 and 155 NM away near the Marquesses. With the splitter my VHF works great. I normally see 40 miles at my Homeport at Lighthouse Landing on Kentucky Lake. I had my mast down coming back up the Tenn Tom and used a Shakespear antenna made to optimize AIS, mounted on a 10 foot tall pvc pipe U bolted with two Ubolts to a lifeline stantion. This put the antenna about 14 to 15 feet above water. Using this antenna I was getting 8-10 NM range on the river, but my fixed mount VHF had little range so I used my handheld. Since it was a temporary setup, I just lived with it for 12 days.

I don't know why the Fixed VHF had such poor performance unless it was the antenna optimized for AIS. The only difference in the set ups is the antenna and height.

 

[bananabender56]

I recently had the Raymarine AIS installed using the VHF antenna, and the separate GPS receiver. The only issue I have found is that when both the AIS and VHF are turned on, the switch on the AIS preferentially uses the AIS rather than the VHF , degrading the VHF signal. The example was picking up weather info on a handheld and not on the main VHF. To switch back one keys the mic.
The AIS unit has a USB output for programming which can be used for putting data onto the laptop

 

[PGIJon]

I needed to upgrade my VHF and decided on a Standard Horizon with AIS which supplied NEMA to my Raymarine E7D. The E7D in turn supplies the Standard Horizon with the necessary GPS Information that it requires... However, now there is a new Standard Horizon that has AIS and GPS and interfaces with the Raymarine Net. In both cases I only need a single Antenna. -Jon