A few weeks ago, while planning our attendance to Vegvisir Race in Denmark, I realized that a total of 7 days offshore in heavily trafficked waters, neither seeing nor being seen, was nuts. Since I was planning to set up the boat for races complying with Offshore Special Regulation Category 3 next year, I decided not to wait any longer for an AIS aboard.
First decision taken.
Now, like with any new toy and piece of equipment on a yacht, there’s a whole jungle to explore out there. Research begins. A thousand parameters are evaluated. Being slightly geek myself doesn’t make things easier as it requires all those parameters to be figured out and understood in their theoretical and practical aspects.
In the end, the Raymarine AIS700 came up as winner.
Why Raymarine AIS700
- I believe in simplicity. An integrated Raymarine landscape on a native bus provides just that plug & play easiness. It fits very well with the existing instruments onboard, simplifying software updates installation and troubleshooting.
- It comes with a built in VHF splitter and pre-configured channes. One single antenna translates into less wiring, less windage, less weight in all the wrong places, less money. Again, “simplicity”. The current antenna and coaxial cable were installed just a few months before and are of good quality.
- It is classed “Class B+”, also referred to as “Class B SODTMA”. Without entering into the nerdy stuff of how the protocol works, it gives a higher sending frequency (perhaps not crucial for a sailing vessel), but more importantly a 5W signal, rather than only 2W provided by traditional Class B AIS. The higher signal power means significantly higher effectiveness over the potential radio horizon.
- The Raymarine AIS700 came with an external GNSS antenna, which operates with both GPS and GLONASS satellite networks.
Installation
The device itself is very light and compact and can be screwed almost anywhere, horizontally, vertically or upside-down. On Veloce, it ended up under the navigation table, just beside a WiFi router and multiplexer.
The package contained a rail mount and a kit to install it flush on deck. Rail mount was not really an option as 1) it’s ugly 2) it’s just a matter of time before a guy or a sheet snugs and rips it off.
In the end I opted for a flush installation, but under deck. I decided that the least intrusive and most under-exploited place was on top of a small locker in the forpeak cabin, on port side. It turned out to be a 5 minutes work, as other cables where pulled through from the electrical panel and drilling plywood furniture feels much better than drilling a hole through the deck.
As it turned out, the accuracy is impressive:
I decided to connect it to the general switch, as I want it to be on when I am aboard. Again, very straightforward. On the negative side, safely powering the device requires a 3A fuse which is not included in the box. Nothing major, but it costed me an extra drive to closest hardware store.
All instruments onboard connects to a multiplexer that casts NMEA0183 sentences via WiFi, feeding a tablet or laptop for navigation and data analysis. The multiplexer has 3 NMEA0183 inputs. Although the diagnostics software clearly shows the generated NMEA sentences and the Raymarine AIS700 generates signals on NMEA0183 out channel (tested with a voltmeter), nothing is received by the multiplexer. Or any other NMEA0183 receiver, for that matter.
After a few hours playing around with wires and baud rates, I still couldn’t figure out what was wrong and for the time being I decided I was good. Now I have got yet another little item on my winter to-do list.
Configuration
Activating the Raymarine AIS700 required a standard mini USB and a laptop with the pre-downloaded and pre-installed Raymarine “proAIS2” software, downloadable from Raymarine’s website. The configuration instructions are very clear and the steps quite obvious.
Registering MMSI number needs some extra care as the software prints it on a ROM memory on the device where it cannot be updated. In case of error, it musts reprogrammed by an authorized retailer.
Once started up, it takes just a minute to start receiving and about 10 minutes to start transmitting its own position.
Veloce is now on-air since about 2 weeks and it can be found on MarineTraffic under the vessel name “Veloce” Sailing Vessel [SE].
What we like
- It does what it promises. No more, no less. But it seems to do it very well. I have tested reception range up to 20NM at harbor, disturbed by islands. I have yet to verify its transmission range.
- Simple. No frills. Shared VHF antenna makes life easier and keeps the hardware footprint down.
- A compact rugged little thing, that weighs very little.
- Very easy configuration.
What we don’t like
- NMEA0183 sentences on “out” channel not received or interpreted. It is probably me who hasn’t figured it out yet. It should not take several hours though.
- NMEA0183 cable is too short and limits the device positioning on the vessel, out-of-the-box. I would rather get a slightly longer wire and cut it after installation.
- No fuse comes in the box.
A little update: the nmea out + and – were labelled incorrectly and therefore the signal inverted. By connecting the inverted cables of the OUT HIGH (38000 baud) as an input to the multiplexer I was able to 1) get the signal merged and available via USB and Wifi 2) by serting the multiplexer output to 38000 baud and my plotter input together same frequency, the plotter started showing Ais vessels! One down on my winter list