It wasn't inexpensive. The Standard Horizon VHF/AIS was $299 USD, the Fusion Am/Fm with iPod dock was $220 USD. I had an old GPS antenna and wired that directly to the VHF to fully enable AIS functionality. I already had speakers. Getting the VHF/AIS from Standard Horizon was cheaper than buying a separate unit, then mounting a separate display. The downside is that the AIS display on the VHF is small. However, it has the same capability, alarms, etc as a separate AIS unit.
You can wire the same speakers to both the vhf and the stereo. However, I haven't done that. I find the VHF loud enough. I'm going to try to wire the vhf to my computer this weekend and see if I can output ais to the Mac. It was a little pricey, but the setup is actually pretty slick and I should be able to get some photos this weekend. Other than knot meters, depth meter and lighting, this makes up the bulk of my electronics.
Jack
