Wow! I’m VERY interested in this product line. So I’ll echo Ben Ellison’s query over at Panbo this morning: Any of our readers have any experience with the NaviCom RT650 VHF/DSC/MOB/AIS?

An interesting new product I didn’t see at the Miami Boat Show is this NaviCom RT650 MOB.  The company site is mostly in French, but MyBoatsGear.com links to a catalog PDF in English, and Foxtrot Marine has the most detail I can find.  This DSC VHF seems to have an integrated AIS receiver much like the Standard Horizon GX2100, plus optional wireless handsets like the Uniden Whams, plus integrated MOB fobs that seem to work a lot like Raymarine LifeTags (with more here).  The latter can apparently even trigger a DSC alert, and, in fact, all the parts make a lot of sense together, at least for some boats.  Has anyone out there tried an RT650, or know why the company hasn’t come to the USA?

Go to Panbo, where the discussion in the comments section is already underway.

You’ve seen those Microsoft ads that say “Windows 7 was my idea,” yes?

Well, this is sort of like that. Rose Point’s Coastal Explorer 2010 beta is ready to go, thanks to me.

See, I asked the folks at Rose Point about the beta yesterday, and was told I could download it, but they weren’t ready to release it generally because of an intermittent and unpredictable bug that caused the program to crash.

The big problem was that Brad Christian and his crew at Rose Point were unable to reproduce the bug—which is a lot like when you take your car into the shop but it won’t do the bad thing while the mechanic’s looking at it. When the problem doesn’t occur, it’s extremely difficult to diagnose it!

So I downloaded the beta, and guess what? It crashed. I offered to bring the laptop into Rose Point’s office so they could see the crash, and Brad accepted my offer with obvious enthusiasm.

Here he is, running his debugger on my laptop while the beta crashes.

Witness the arcane mystery that is software development! Look at the concentration! Observe the dedication to quality!

Anyway, he found the bug, and as anticipated, fixing it required a change to one single line of code…ain’t that always the way?

So the Rose Point Coastal Explorer 2010 beta is now ready to go, and we should expect an official announcement anytime now. You’re welcome.

Mark and Diana Doyle contacted me recently about their newest release, and a limited-time, special offer that Navagear readers may be interested in:

Anyway, as celebration and as a way of thanking everyone, we’re running a one-month freebie from our site. We’re just cutting the 5th edition (2010) of our 2-DVD set, Managing the Waterway: Complete Electronic Chart and Nautical Reference Library. So the "thank you" part is … if people buy the DVDs, they get a free copy of Get Onboard With E-Charting ($34.95) to go with it … kind of the ultimate companion or "user’s guide."

Sounds like a good deal! It expires February 28, though, so as they say on the late-night TV infomercials, “Act Now!”

Here’s the official press release on the new release:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (January 26, 2010) — Managing the Waterway cruising guide authors Mark and Diana Doyle have released their fifth annual update of Managing the Waterway: Complete Electronic Chart and Nautical Reference Library (2-DVD Set).

“I’ll be honest,” states Doyle, “When we started downloading NOAA charts as a convenience for our cruising guide customers we never thought the product would evolve like this or that we’d be doing updates five years later.”

DVD 1 contains the entire NOAA raster chart library in standard BSB format. The charts are organized into nine popular cruising geographies and cataloged for easy loading and unloading into all of the popular e-charting applications including Coastal Explorer, Fugawi, The Capn, Nobeltec VNS and Admiral, MacENC, and others.

DVD 2 contains vector charts, nautical publications, and free & trial e-charting applications.

(more…)

My kids are trade show swag aficionados. They’re practically swag dowsers, I tell you, divining the presence of swag from two aisles away. I don’t really understand how they do it.

But I do appreciate their mystical ability at the Seattle Boat Show, especially when it yields treasures such as these:

Kenmore Air (booth East 813 at Qwest Field, and Tent 303 on Lake Union) has cool balsa gliders while supplies last. Even my wife wanted one of those.

And of course there are tide tables galore from a huge variety of sources. However, may I suggest that you stop by the public service agency grotto at the far south end of the East Hall (East 1515, to be precise)? There you’ll find the USCG 13th District, Washington State Parks and Recreation, the Power Squadron, and the Recreational Boating Association of Washington.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I can’t remember which of these booths had the Puget Sound Pilots 2010 Current & Tide Tables booklet, but I think it was the RBAW. All I know for sure is that the PSP booklet is a VERY comprehensive tide table booklet, with a lot of extra information many recreational boaters will appreciate.

For instance, do you need the local number for Maersk, K-Line, or Holland America? That’s in there, on the page listing “Vessel Agents & Operators.” How about an after-hours port security phone number for, say, the Port of Everett, or a phone number for the Ballard Locks? That’s in there, too, along with lots of reference information for pilots and commercial vessel operators. Handy! 

The only thing missing, from a pleasure-craft perspective, is a set of current tables for Deception Pass. Apparently big ships requiring pilots don’t generally use Deception Pass. Go figure! So you’ll have to track down another free tide table from one of the other booths at the show.

With Loran-C decommissioning all but certain, perhaps it’s a good time for me to visit the US Coast Guard’s Loran-C station near Havre, Montana. This station is one that would be scheduled to shut down its Loran-C broadcasts sometime after February 8.

Havre, Montana, eh? Apparently, it’s only about a 14-hour drive from Seattle. With winter road conditions, I figure it’ll take me a little longer than that. Well, I better get started…

HOLD ON! It’s currently –18°F in Havre. As the kids were once fond of saying, “Homie don’t play that.” Um…maybe I can just call this one in? Or better yet, get somebody else to blog it? Yeah…

Coming to my figurative rescue is Electronics Technician Second Class Randall W. Painter, II, who took these pictures, and had this to say on the USCG District 13 blog:

I’m standing in my kitchen staring in disbelief at the indoor/outdoor temperature gauge/clock thingy on the wall. It says the indoor temp is 70 degrees and outdoor temp is -32. […]So of course being the ever curious/possibly mentally challenged FT/ET I had to open the door and step out to see what 32 below zero felt like. Did I mention I was only wearing my skivvies?

I’ll give you a glimpse into how ridiculously cold it really is. As the air hits your body it almost sends you into a state of complete shock and the first thing you do is take a big gasp of air. Bad idea. Instant pain fills your lungs as your eyes start to water and tears start to roll down your face which instantly freeze to the small hairs on your cheeks.

It’s hard to believe that a little over six months ago that I was living on the beach in Hawaii where it rarely ever dips below 70 degrees. Read more

Hang in there, guardian!

Never mind the planned decommissioning of Loran-C , who’s going to keep my compass working?!? Bill Haimes has this item at Three Sheets Northwest:

The magnetic compass has been with us on the water for a thousand years or so. Recently, though, it has often been overshadowed by the near magic of GPS. For the serious sailor, however, it is the most basic and the most essential navigation instrument. When all else fails—the engine, the electrical system or the GPS itself—the compass still works, showing us the way to safety.

The availability of spare parts and service facilities for compass maintenance is becoming a problem. On Dec. 18 of last year, one of the major U.S. manufacturers notified dealers that it would cease production and support as of Jan. 1. Danforth, a mainstay of yacht navigation for more than half a century, has exited the compass business. Employees were laid off at the start of the normal two-week Christmas shut-down of the company’s plant in Gloucester, Mass.

Most compass repair facilities received leaked information about the pending closure several months ago and stocked up on parts. Negotiations are now underway to establish a source of aftermarket parts through a highly regarded shop in southern New England.

Read more

It seems everybody’s hopping onboard the iPhone app bandwagon. This could be fun to play around with for recreational “shipspotters,” but it might provide genuinely useful information for some professional mariners, as well.

Of course, we should all remember that “the prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single iPhone applet.”

Anyway, on with the announcement from our friends at gCaptain:

gCaptain.com has teamed up with the good folks at Maritime Information Systems (MIS), the leading US provider of vessel tracking solutions to the maritime industry, to bring you gTrax, Vessel Tracking For The iPhone.

gTrax harnesses MIS’s network of redundant secure, Automatic Identification System (AIS), antennas to gather information directly from commercial ships and boats underway in the harbor. Once processed through MIS’s server, the information is pushed out to your iPhone and the location of each ship is plotted on the app’s built in Google map.

The vessel’s location is just the start. Each ship is color coded according to its speed and oriented by course giving you an accurate "heads-up" view of the marine traffic around you. Clicking on the vessel brings additional information including the ship’s destination, job function, navigational status and more.

Advanced sorting capabilities allow you to sort by the vessel’s name and function. For example, if you want to find the exact location of a ferry, you can select to view only "Passenger" vessels. If you know the name of a specific ferry, simply type it in and the map will automatically center on the vessel’s current location.

You can sort ships by type including:
  – Cargo of Tanker (Large Commercials Ships)
  – Passenger (Ferry’s & Cruise Ships)
  – Law Enforcement (Coast Guard & Police)
  – Oil Spill Response
  – Fishing Boats
  – Plus 14 other categories.

In addition the app tracks Super-yachts, sailing ships and pleasure boats equipped with AIS-B transmitters.

Whether you are a boater in the harbor, commuter that relies on local ferries, manager of a JIT supply chain or simply enjoy watching ships from the window of your office or home, this application will give you specific details on the movement of ships around you.

Locations currently supported include:
  – San Francisco, CA
  – New York City, NY
  – Baltimore, MD
  – Beaumont, TX
  – Boston, MA
  – The Great Lakes
  – Miami
  – Seattle, WA
  – Shanghai, China
  – Tampa, FL

**WARNING – GTRAX IS NOT INTENDED TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATIONAL PURPOSES**

The purchase of gTrax for $4.99 gives you once daily updates on the location of vessels throughout supported harbors. Up-to-the minute tracking of vessels requires a monthly subscription of $9.99 per month for each location supported. The addition of up-to-the minute tracking is an option you will be able to subscribe to from within the app, no additional application or download will need to be purchased.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

I’m going to admit it: I don’t understand this product. If I’m a boater considering a receive-only AIS unit, why would I prefer this unit to one without a display, that just sends the data onward to be displayed on my chartplotter?

I’m not being a smart-aleck! Well, OK, I’m not JUST being a smart aleck. I assume Vesper Marine put a lot of thought into this product before they developed it, so they must feel confident there is a market for it. I’m hoping some of my talented readers can help fill me in.

Anyway…on with the press release!

Vesper Marine, a leading manufacturer of innovative marine safety products, announced today its next-generation, all-in-one dedicated collision avoidance display, the AISWatchMate RX. Building on the success of its award-winning AISWatchMate that can be used with any external receiver or transponder, the AISWatchMate RX is the only standalone safety display system on the market with an internal parallel two-channel Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver, providing unequalled sensitivity for identifying targets at greater range. Feature-rich, affordable and easy-to-use, the AISWatchMate RX proactively alerts boaters of potentially dangerous crossing situations to improve safety and provide a more worry-free, on-the-water experience.

Designed to equip boaters with the ultimate in collision avoidance peace of mind, the AISWatchMate RX delivers the timely and easy-to-process information boaters need to interpret potential hazards, and react accordingly. The device displays class A and class B vessel position; voyage data; navigation aids; AIS safety messages; meteorological and hydrographical information, where available including real-time wind, current and tidal data; and is capable of tracking other friends on the water. Building on the AISWatchMate’s unique filtering process that eliminates screen clutter and false alarms, the AISWatchMate RX includes additional filtering capable of removing non-converging vessels and employs a powerful proprietary target prioritization algorithm allowing it to plot crossing situations and clearly illustrate target vessels that pose the greatest collision risk. Once identified, the system automatically displays crucial target information for potentially dangerous vessels including name and call sign to aid in rapid inter-vessel communication. Selectable boating profiles allow users to easily switch between pre-defined filter and alarm settings, without complicated set up, to best meet their current situational needs including: in harbor, near shore and offshore. In addition, the AISWatchMate RX displays GPS navigational data including course, speed, heading and satellite status, expanding the device’s functionality as a second-station GPS display at the helm or anywhere else throughout a vessel where critical information is required.

“Our AISWatchMate RX is an exciting addition to our AISWatchMate product line, offering a sophisticated collision avoidance system in a simple and easy to install package,” said Jeff Robbins, co-founder, Vesper Marine. “Gone are the days of complex set up and concerns over proper operation. By eliminating the need for a separate black box receiver, users simply plug in a VHF antenna and connect the unit to a GPS device and they’re up and running. Whether making passage or simply spending the day in a busy harbor or coastal area, boaters can enjoy their time on the water with the knowledge that the AISWatchMate RX is always on watch!”

The AISWatchMate RX receives on both AIS frequencies simultaneously from all broadcasting vessels in range, and has a reception sensitivity of -115 dBm. Housed in a flush mountable casing that is 8.9-inches wide, 5.3-inches high and 3-inches deep, the device boasts an uncluttered, easy-to-read 5-inch daylight viewable grayscale LCD (320×240 pixel) screen with adjustable backlighting. A straightforward user interface allows all display features to be controlled via four clearly–labeled, backlit buttons for easy access during both day and nighttime use. Minimizing energy consumption, the low-power system features a 10-32 VDC power supply and uses less than 3-watts of power. The AISWatchMate RX has an operating temperature range of 32- to 158-degrees Fahrenheit, is waterproof to the IP67 standard and protected by a one-year limited warranty.

Pricing and Availability:
The Vesper Marine AISWatchMate RX has a suggested retail price of US $700, and can be purchased from authorized Vesper Marine dealers and distributors throughout the United States and Canada. For more information on the AISWatchMate RX, the award-winning AISWatchMate, or to learn more about Vesper Marine and its entire product line, please visit www.vespermarine.com.

It was only a matter of time. After all, an AIS receiver isn’t much more than a VHF radio with a bit of logic thrown in. Panbo’s Ben Ellison has the scoop on this new unit from Standard Horizon. Please note that this is an AIS receiver only; it is not a Class B transceiver.

Even so, this might be an ideal solution for owners of boats that aren’t ready to mount Class B AIS aboard, but that recognize the benefit of receiving the AIS signals other vessels are broadcasting. It occurs to me that this all-in-one unit would have been a LOT easier to install aboard my own boat, Two Lucky Fish.

Two Lucky Fish is equipped with a Raymarine C-80 chartplotter, a unit with only one NMEA port on the back. I had to come up with my own crazy wiring schematic to get AIS data and DSC messages into the unit while also providing GPS coordinates to the VHF. What a hassle that was! See for yourself:

This Standard Horizon unit could be a tremendous blessing to owners not yet ready to upgrade their core chartplotter. Think about it: No NMEA multiplexer. No antenna splitter. Essentially, just plug the VHF into the chartplotter, set the plotter’s NMEA dataport speed to AIS/38,400 baud, and turn on the AIS layer on your chart view.

Additional features allow you to hail an AIS vessel over DSC at the push of a button. No typing MMSI numbers in one digit at a time! Include goodies like a 30 Watt PA/Loud Hailer with pre-programmed fog signals and you’re talking about a seriously feature-packed piece of gear for MAP (minimum advertised price) of $400. I’m interested!

In fact, even though I have Shine Micro’s excellent Class B AIS equipment aboard, I almost always run it through my PC running Rose Point Coastal Explorer. I would love to have an additional AIS datastream displayed on my Raymarine C-80. Nuts? Maybe. Consider it a backup.

I’ve been holding out for the RadarPlus SM162B (the all-in-a-tube Class B AIS unit from my neighbors at Shine Micro).

But if you’re not yet convinced you should broadcast your own position via Class B AIS, but you are convinced you’d like to see the vessels that do transmit, this is a very attractive all-in-one AIS receive-only unit from the folks at Digital Yacht. On a small boat like mine, without a lot of room for extra componentry in the cabin, this might be a great alternative.

Once it’s released in North America, this unit is expected to retail for under $300, making it yet more attractive.

Here’s the press release:

NEWBURYPORT, Mass. – Digital Yacht have expanded their range of AIS products with the world’s first, fully self contained, Smart AIS antenna.  The SmarterTrack ANT200 incorporates a highly sensitive dual channel AIS receiver into a waterproof antenna housing no bigger than a traditional GPS antenna.  Simply connect the power and interface connections to any compatible AIS plotter (such as those from Raymarine, Standard Horizon, Garmin, Furuno, Lowrance etc) and you’ll be presented with an overlay of AIS targets directly onto your plotter screen.  All commercial ships over 300 GRT have a mandatory requirement to carry a Class A transponder – sending and receiving AIS data which includes position, identity and course information.  Leisure users can also opt for a more simplified Class B transponder if they wish to transmit as well as receive their position information.  The SmarterTrack ANT200 will decode both types of transmission.

The innovative SmarterTrack ANT200 fits a standard 1" threaded deck or rail mount base and comes complete with 10 metre cable.  The interface connections are via a traditional 2 wire NMEA 0183 connection and the product can also act as a multiplexer taking an input of NMEA data and combining it into one single output.  This could be particularly useful on multi-function displays.

[Editor’s note: I consider this last feature critical for boaters with older chartplotters, such as my Raymarine C-series. There’s only one NMEA port on the plotter, so if you can have the AIS unit act as a one-way NMEA signal aggregator (it isn’t, strictly speaking, a “multiplexer”), you can probably keep all your electronics talking to one another. You can read about my experience hooking up my DSC VHF radio and AIS. —Tim]