I guess what I'm thinking is that, perhaps if you were single handed or
short crew catching 40 on the MK1 Eyeball and you DID want people to know
you were out there (sort of like a radar reflector), you could use AIS to
broadcast that information at will. I'm assuming this is something that can
be turned on/off.

Rick Beddoe
s/v Soņadora, 1978 Baba 30
Minneapolis, MN
http://sail2live.com

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-baba-l@ballreich.net [mailto:owner-baba-l@ballreich.net] On
Behalf Of Harvey J. Karten
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 11:12 PM
To: baba-l@ballreich.net
Subject: Re: [Baba-L] AIS plotting

Hi Cindy,
That may be valid, but the major reason that I am not even considering
having a full - blown AIS Transponder is that rather than $189, it can cost
about $3,000. The trnasponder not only recieves messages from other boats,
but also transmits. If all the boats in the Chesapeake or Seattle on a
Summer Sunday were transmitting AIS signals, it would probably overload the
system, and make the whole thing useless.

It also would mean that our beloved Homeland Security Agency would retain
even more information about us, exactly where we sailed on which day, etc.
(They reportedly already collect that info on many of us in the San Diego
area because of problems of illegal immigration and the heavy military
presence.)

I'm mostly concerned about those huge mother-freighters in the fog. A radar
"hit" at 8 miles on our small, low resolution, radar is a blob, and not
much more. The AIS promises to be helpful in that situation. Having had one
"close encounter" with a huge freighter in the fog about 35 years ago, I
never want to have another. AIS is a cheap addition to our radar system and
if it helps us avoid freighters and tows pulling barges, I'm all for it.
regards,
Harvey

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cindy Ballreich" <cindy@ballreich.net>
To: <baba-l@ballreich.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 5:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Baba-L] AIS plotting

> Well, I'm not really sure that I want people knowing who we are and where
> we're going. I generally believe that small boats need to take care of
> themselves. If the bulk carrier doesn't have anyone on watch who can
> answer my VHF hail, I doubt they'll be watching for my AIS info. If the
> captain of the sport fisher is watching fisherman on his stern, he's not
> going to be looking for us on his screen. If the USCG wants to know what
> we're doing, I'm sure they'll stop us and ask. Anyone else can hail us on
> 16 or 9.
>
> We don't generally go places where the big ship traffic is that bad (the
> unions have taken care of that in the L.A./Long Beach area) and most of
> the boats we have trouble with are other small boats. The reason I asked
> about AIS outside of the U.S. is because our travels may take us to Mexico

> and Central America. Third world compliance with international standards
> is historically poor.
>
> Cindy
> s/v Mandisa
> Baba 30
>
>
>
> Sonadora wrote:
>> Now I'm thinking, why not have AIS on ALL vessels? Rick Beddoe
>> s/v Soņadora, 1978 Baba 30
>> Minneapolis, MN
>> http://sail2live.com
>>
>
>
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Received on Sun Feb 25 21:22:38 2007