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Old 08-25-2021, 02:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mo View Post
There is a phone app out there called " OnCourse-boating and sailing". It is parented by " Marine Traffic" , perhaps the best ship tracking in the world.

The app is free and once you are signed up and registered you can have your boat tracked as long as you are in cellular range. By tracked I mean ' YOU BOAT SHOWS UP ON AIS LIKE A TRANSPONDER". That just amazes me.

I have a boat next to me on the marina and I see him all the time on my AIS when he's out. I asked when he got an AIS transponder and he says he didn't. He uses this app called " On course". You register, you register your boat in there, location on for the phone and viola, YOUR BOAT IS VISABLE.

For those of us operating in busy ports this is absolutely amazing...no need to drop $1000 on a transponder package....it's free. Just this past winter threw down to put an AIS transponder on my boat. This app provides a level of safety and visibility to other ships and boats with and AIS receiver within cellular range without the expense of having an AIS tranceiver or transponder. It works from the phone. What's more, you see them on your phone display as well. OK, they finally baffled me.

Play safe out there.
That is a really old idea - I had something like that many years ago.
WARNING
This is not even close to being good enough to use like a real onboard AIS. The traffic you see has to be able to get a signal one way or the other to the server and then back to you and vice versa. There is a time lag involved!

Not only that, but boats that are not being picked up by the shoreside monitor stations that feed this system and/or have cell phone apps themselves are totally invisible to you. You are totally invisible to AIS users who also don't have cell phone apps. I run one of these shore stations to feed the system, I know how the back end of this all works. If you were headed up the Chester in the fog, you would not see me once I got out of range of my house, which is most of the river, and I would never see you.
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