Next message: Ed Bruette: "Re: T&T: Braided anchor rode (was Chain counter)"
Herebs our take on this:
One more reason to have a boat <20 meters. We donbt want to participate in
the VTS environment because we donbt want to be distracted from keeping out
of
the way which is logically what small boats must do. There are only two of
us and often only one is in the PH when transiting busy areas. We want to
stay
out of the traffic lanes and deep-water channels entirely when possible. We
attempted monitoring VTS in New York once but gave up. Unless youbre
native
you wonbt know the locations spoken of; many are not even on the charts.
Better to keep attention focused on visual observations of commercial traffic
and
especially the fast ferries.
One more reason to have a cheap AIS receiver, rather than some expensive
Class A over-creation with all sorts of alarms and settings. We donbt have
a
audible collision alarm for the same reason we donbt have an audible depth
alarm. What alarms we already have are non-navigational and sound too much
alike
to the point that we say b Whatbs that?b when one goes off.
What we do now works for us:
2 fixed VHF radios, each with its own antenna; the legacy unit on 13 when
appropriate and the newest one always on 16. The ch 16 unit located on the
overhead above the helm; the ch 13 unit below the stbd window. No question
which
is which. The only problem has been remembering to restore the volume on the
one we turned down so we could talk on the other one.
Regards,
John & Penny
"Seahorse"
Mike Maurice wrote:
> If you are below 20 meters in length you are not required to participate
or even monitor the VTS. However, the VTS and other commercial operators
are used to AIS equipped vessels participating. And, participation means
monitoring, communicating and having the appearance of knowing what you
are doing and being able to do so. Our setup did not make the grade.
How small vessels are going to participate in the VTS environment with
the radio gear they typically have is beyond my imagination. Even if you
have multiple radios, the speakers are likely so close together that you
won't be able to know which channel just had some traffic on it.
Even if you test your radios and find them to appear to be functional,
you may find like we did that not everything is adequate.
Class B AIS is going to aggravate all these issues by an order of
magnitude. I can see where the Coast Guard is not going to approve the
Class B systems here in the US without a lot more thought.
By the way, the AIS alarms are hard to control and were a constant
source of aggravation while coming up the Columbia River as every time
we passed even a moored tug the alarm would go off.
Kindly don't send me email how to solve this. When the boat is not mine,
there is a limit to what I can do, short of turn of the AIS when near
the VTS system or in a river.
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