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  #1   IP: 38.102.16.169
Old 09-24-2010, 07:22 AM
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Tracking ship traffic via AIS

Here's a link to a site which provides free real-time information to the public about ship movements and ports, mainly across the coastlines of Europe and North America. The project is hosted by the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean, Greece. Data collection is based on the Automatic Identification System (AIS).

Bill
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Old 09-24-2010, 08:21 AM
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I imagine the pirates of the world would love this site!
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Old 09-24-2010, 10:16 AM
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I hope the pirates are stupid enough to use this website. What is missing, however, is the locations of submarines and other military vessels waiting to pounce on the bad guys.
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Old 09-24-2010, 12:07 PM
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Pirates wouldn't need a website. All they have to do is get an AIS receiver and listen.

We frequently see Navy vessels on the Chesapeake. I don't recall them transmitting an AIS signal. Coast Guard vessels do, at least some of the time and depending on size. Cutters, yes. The RIB's, no.

Bill
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Old 10-20-2013, 04:28 PM
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For anyone on the Great Lakes I strongly suggest www.boatnerd.com - click on the "Vessel Passage" link and it takes you to a current AIS map showing the location of vessels on the Great Lakes equipped with AIS.

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Old 10-20-2013, 05:18 PM
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It's not unheard of to see the AIS turned off. Military and Civilian vessels can shut them down. The Queen Mary is off Halifax right now...just keep an eye. Last year she was doing an atlantic crossing and I'm sure she shut it down as she didn't stay on the screen after about 70 miles out....
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Old 10-20-2013, 08:24 PM
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Just checked on the Queen Mary...no AIS showing at this time. She is bound for Quebec City but there is one example...have a look and see where she re-actives her AIS.
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Old 10-20-2013, 11:00 PM
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There is am app for that. I had a friend show me an iphone app that showed the ships in t he local area.
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Old 10-21-2013, 06:34 AM
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As of now the Queen Mary has it turned back on as she rounds Cape Breton and heads into the Gulf of St Lawrence. That is one ship that I have noticed not always sending out an AIS signal.
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Old 10-21-2013, 08:57 AM
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Thumbs up Traffic~14

FWIW on the U.S. Coast there is also Traffic on VHF 14. I use there service sometimes at night and in the fog as I have no radar. I call in and identify myself, give them my position course and speed and they then tag me into the traffic. They already have me and all others but no idea who you are. Once Identified they will keep me informed of any shipping traffic that I am nearing and visa versa. I have gotten course corrections for avoidance more than once~a great service if you haven't heard of it. They actually appreciate being able to contact any of there "blips" to get them to move to safety and save the paint on the bows of the big guys.

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Old 10-21-2013, 02:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mo View Post
As of now the Queen Mary has it turned back on as she rounds Cape Breton and heads into the Gulf of St Lawrence. That is one ship that I have noticed not always sending out an AIS signal.
My guess is she is big enough to show up on just about any radar and likely an anti-terrorist measure just in case any Al Queda "sleepers" are out there waiting for an opportunity.

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Old 10-21-2013, 03:54 PM
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I'd say she discontinues transmitting but continues receiving...they have an option for that, I think. But, make no mistake, they will not leave themselves as a target with about 3000 passengers.
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Old 10-21-2013, 06:28 PM
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The primary focus of AIS is to see and be seen by other vessels with AIS. They only show up on marinetraffic.com or something similar if somebody with an Internet gateway (usually on land) hears them and uploads what they hear.

I would be astonished if vessels like the Queen Mary EVER turn off their AIS transmissions. The cruise ships which dock in Baltimore never do in this general vicinity. Inside the COLREGS lines, vessels over 60 feet (I think) are required to transmit an AIS signal.

If you see the AIS position of a vessel suddenly disappear as it heads offshore, it's because it moved beyond the range of a land-based set of ears that could repeat what it heard. It's not because the vessel shut its AIS down.

Under certain conditions, AIS receivers can "see" much further than radar. Our ham radio club's local receiver, which feeds various websites, saw a vessel more than 200 miles away last week. Under "normal" conditions, VHF is line-of-sight. Google tropospheric ducting, or join a ham radio club!

Other than a GPS, I suppose, dollar for dollar, an AIS receiver is just about the most valuable navigational aid you can add to your boat, if you share the water with commercial vessels. An AIS transponder (transmit and recieve) is even better, though more dollars.

Someday, all vessels will have them. It wasn't that long ago that VHF radios were something special. My first one was crystal controlled, with maybe a half-dozen channels. Anybody else here that old?

Bill

Last edited by Administrator; 10-22-2013 at 07:06 AM.
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Old 10-21-2013, 06:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Administrator View Post
It wasn't that long ago that VHF radios were something special. My first one was crystal controlled, with maybe a half-dozen channels. Anybody else here that old?
Oh yeah. My first electronics package on a boat was a CB radio and an RDF, one was only slightly useful and the other utterly worthless. Ten-four.

Last year I monitored the tow of the U.S.S. Iowa from San Francisco down our coast to Los Angeles Harbor in the hopes of seeing her underway at our end for the sight of a lifetime. The lead tug had AIS and I could track course and speed changes via a website, plan an intercepting course and time.

It was a resounding success to say the least. After a four day tow we left my slip around 5 A.M. in darkness on a heading determined by AIS info and a little navigational arithmetic that we hoped would put us close. Just before dawn an hour or so later we picked up the unmistakeable dark silhouette of a WW2 battleship in the distance, about 8 miles off our coast and dead off our bow. We were one of only two boats crazy enough to try.

http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6060
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Last edited by ndutton; 10-21-2013 at 06:47 PM.
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Old 10-21-2013, 08:36 PM
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Bill is correct.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/faq.aspx#4
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Old 10-21-2013, 11:06 PM
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Talking

Bill...when I was a kid on the boat I now own, we had a VHF radio with a dial and pre-printed channels.....16, 9, 22, couple of telephone channels (26, 27 maybe??) 68, 70, & 83. It was blue & white if I recall. I also seem to recall my Dad saying, 'we need to buy some crystals if we wanted to chat on 72, or 69 like some of our friends.'

So, I am doing a search for 'vintage VHF radios' on google to find a picture of the radio we had...I am having no luck...however, the Icom M422, which I bought about 4 years ago, and currently own, is prominent in the search results.

I also remember we had to have a VHF operators license...WYQ-4569.

Neil, I remember your thread about that...cool stuff.

I have an AIS app from marinetraffic.com on my phone...so, I can transmit my location to that website if I choose..I usually don't, and I am pretty sure it doesn't go anywhere else..just that site. We did transmit however when we delivered Spencer's C-30 from Norfolk this spring so our wives could keep an eye on us for the 96-ish mile delivery.
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Last edited by sastanley; 10-23-2013 at 09:49 AM. Reason: Wrong call signal...I knew hotel didn't seem right when I played it back in my head!
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  #17   IP: 128.177.81.121
Old 10-22-2013, 07:04 AM
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Quote:
I have an AIS app from marinetraffic.com on my phone...so, I can transmit my location to that website if I choose..I usually don't, and I am pretty sure it doesn't go anywhere else..just that site.
For those less familiar with AIS, this approach will let your wife/girlfriend (or both) know where you are, if you and they have Internet service, but it may or may not indicate on your phone the presence of that big cargo ship barreling around Cove Point. depending on the presence/absence of those land-based ears. It's been a while since I looked , but at one point, the Solomons area was sort of a dead spot between our club's ears up north and others down around Norfolk. This was a classic example of ships disappearing and then reappearing.

One of the views on the marinetraffic site shows the areas covered by various receiving stations which feed them data. This is the area covered by our club.
Bill
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Last edited by Administrator; 10-22-2013 at 09:14 AM. Reason: Added coverage map
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Old 10-22-2013, 09:16 AM
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North America

This is the current view for most of North America.
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Old 10-22-2013, 11:14 AM
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Here on the busy Patapsco, I've noticed the opposite effect, with ships or tugs often disappearing and reappearing on my actual AIS receiver when they get close.

Apparently, some ships don't take care to to have proper placement of their AIS antennas, and parts of the ship's structure mask the signal when close on certain headings.
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Old 10-22-2013, 01:24 PM
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I was troubleshooting the plotter software Saturday, so I had the AIS on at the dock all day. And I compared my AIS unit display with the ShipFinder App.

Neither my signal, nor that of another class B boat, about 5 miles away, ever showed up on ShipFinder. (A lot of people were broadcasting from the park docks for some reason. I think it was a club event.) Several other class B signals at the same locations did show up. I had previously assumed that my slip is too far from the base station to be picked up. My SWR looks good, so I think that my installation is OK. Everyone uses the same broadcast power (2 watts for class B, IIRC) Next guess is that the boats that get picked up have taller masts. But I didn't drive over to look.

The other thing to note was that with all of the people broadcasting from the dock, the screen was starting to get a little cluttered, except on maximum zoom. I usually flip the "silence" switch when I'm not underway or anchored out. No sense polluting other people's chart plotters. But then you have to remember to flip it back on when you cast off.

I have encountered a couple of tugboats with no signal. I wonder if they forgot to flip such a switch...
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Old 10-22-2013, 01:34 PM
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Quote:
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This is the current view for most of North America.
I can tell you that at least some of that chart is a bit optimistic. At least, in square 66, only the left edge and a small amount of the left top edge are actually covered. From what I can see when I have my boat here in the yard, I could expand it quite a bit by putting in a base station myself. Not quite that obsessed, though.
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Old 10-22-2013, 04:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Administrator View Post
The primary focus of AIS is to see and be seen by other vessels with AIS. They only show up on marinetraffic.com or something similar if somebody with an Internet gateway (usually on land) hears them and uploads what they hear.

I would be astonished if vessels like the Queen Mary EVER turn off their AIS transmissions. The cruise ships which dock in Baltimore never do in this general vicinity. Inside the COLREGS lines, vessels over 60 feet (I think) are required to transmit an AIS signal.

If you see the AIS position of a vessel suddenly disappear as it heads offshore, it's because it moved beyond the range of a land-based set of ears that could repeat what it heard. It's not because the vessel shut its AIS down.

Under certain conditions, AIS receivers can "see" much further than radar. Our ham radio club's local receiver, which feeds various websites, saw a vessel more than 200 miles away last week. Under "normal" conditions, VHF is line-of-sight. Google tropospheric ducting, or join a ham radio club!

Other than a GPS, I suppose, dollar for dollar, an AIS receiver is just about the most valuable navigational aid you can add to your boat, if you share the water with commercial vessels. An AIS transponder (transmit and recieve) is even better, though more dollars.

Someday, all vessels will have them. It wasn't that long ago that VHF radios were something special. My first one was crystal controlled, with maybe a half-dozen channels. Anybody else here that old?

Bill
On my recruit course in the Army we had to learn how to transmit and receive 12 words per minute using Morse Code and key transmitter...was the only way to send comms long distances using a light weight but low powered radio that could be carried by a soldier.

But I am not as old as you Bill!

. --- --
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Old 10-22-2013, 06:11 PM
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But I am not as old as you Bill!
Most people aren't!

Bill
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Old 10-22-2013, 07:27 PM
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My first VHF was also crystal and my license was WTR 3951. I had the radio long before I got the license.

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Old 10-22-2013, 07:42 PM
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It won't be long now and the transmitting and receiving AIS will be about the price of a good radio. No reason it could not be incorporated along with GPS...it's a matter of will to do it.
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