AIS Transmitter / Transponder

We went with a Vesper Marine Watch Mate 850. Ours was installed with a separate antenna which I think is what Vesper thinks is best. It is my feeling keeping the VHF and AIS on separate antennas might provide less possible issues and makes trouble shooting more straight forward. Vesper has received high marks from the boating community which was the main reason we started our search with them. Plus it's made in the U.S.A. which is a big part of my product selection. I think a U.S. based company would in most cases provide better support down the road. But this is JMHO. I also make an attempt to support advertisers on this forum. Wefings is a Vesper dealer and that is where ours was purchased.
D.D.
 
I have the Vesper antenna splitter on order. I realize this will degrade service slightly compared to separate antennas, but I also replaced the 4' whip I was using to an 8' Shakespear, so in the end I think I'll still be better off, at least with my back up VHF radio, than if I had kept it on it's own 4' whip. And I'm satisfied with the slight reduction that might mean in the capability of the AIS transponder. Regarding supporting local or USA products, I too do that when I can. But cost considerations also are looked at, and sometimes make a purchase more viable! (Very concerned subject to me. Right now I'm preparing for an appeal with my health insurance company regarding a Cpap mask that thru their provider costs over $300, and the same exact mask purchased online thru Amazon for $62. There is no reasonable explanation for such a mark up! I also believe in the motto, you get what you pay for, and so no, I don't always buy the cheapest thing, but I will look for the best deal!) Colby
 
Colby, are you saying YOUR boat shows up as a RED (dangerous) target on your Garmin display? I've downloaded the manual for the 840XS but it says NOTHING about inputting your MMSI. When I installed my Simrad display, that was part of the "set up."

Maybe there is something in your VHF manual that will help.

Now, with the HP-33A, you have TWO devises inputting AIS info into your 'system', right? Or, is the HP completely separate from the VHF and Garmin (aside from the splitter/antenna connection).

dave
 
I'll see if I can make this a bit clearer.

I have the GX2150 VHF radio with AIS receiver,
and two plotters, the Garmin GPSMAP 840xs and GPSMAP 541S,
connected together via an NMEA 183 network. I have not mentioned the 541 in this thread, as I have not turned it on doing this work. However, both plotters, while they do not have any form of AIS receiver, do repeat the AIS targets sent out by the 2150 on the network.
The GX2150 has it's own dedicated Antenna. I do have a second VHF radio, without AIS, (or NMEA 183) and it is the one that will share its antenna thru a splitter with the HP33A AIS transponder. I do not have the splitter yet, so the HP33 right now is on it's own dedicated antenna.

The HP-33A GPS/Transponder, is setup as a stand alone unit. (It has capability to add to my NMEA 183 network, but I have chose to leave it stand alone.) It has a screen page that can show all received AIS targets, but does not show it's own transmitted signal on that page.

IT was nice seeing my own boat's AIS signal displayed as a target on my GPS840, as that indicated my transponder (HP-33A) was working. The only way for the 840 to show the target however, is if the AIS signal was being received by the GX2150 VHF. However, the GX2150VHF was not showing the target on it's own tiny screen or on its listing page of contacts, so I assume it was filtering it out automatically, probably because of the MMSI number being the same inputted into both the GX2150 and HP-33A.

So the issue remains, is there a way to filter off (or back on) that signal from showing a target repeated to other equipment on the NMEA 183 network? I did try placing the 840's curser over the target to see if that would pull up any screens allowing me to filter off the target, but there didn't appear to be any.... Colby
 
Colby, You are using a Standard Horizon GX 2150. SH came out with a new version of that radio, The GX2200, The major difference in those two radio's is that the 2250 was designed to ignore itself on the AIS display.

I have a 2150 too, and when I put in my Vesper WatchMate Vision, I had to pull the 2150 and it was sent back to Standard Horizon to address the very issue you are dealing with. I would recommend getting on the phone with Standard Horizon tech support and let them know what is going on. I think they can fix it, but how they do it might be a secret :wink: and it is worth the hassle.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Hi Harvey. I think the difference with the newer radio was the inclusion of it's own GPS. Actually, the 2150 does not show my transponder target on it's screen or listing, but rather is still communicating it thru the NMEA 183 network. I did find some info in my Garmin documentation last night that might allow me to filter it out on it's screen, and will check into that today. Since I just got my 2150 back from SH a few weeks ago, where they changed the firmware and software, I have to imagine it is all "up to date". But I may give them a call if I can't figure this out soon. :-) Thanks. Colby
 
Well no luck today trying to filter out my own transponder targets on the Garmin units, so I sent a email to both Garmin and Standard Horizon looking for info...
 
Colby, What ya bet, Garmin will say it's a problem in the SH, and SH will say it's Garmins fault. :? Good luck.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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I don't know Harvey, you might be right. However.... I have had pretty good experiences with both Garmin and Standard Horizon's customer service in the past. Colby
 
Colby, I agree, and I have had good service from both also. I hope that continues for you here.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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This is my first reply, from my friendly tech at Standard Horizon:

Hello Colby,
The radio is designed to send all data it receives out to the attached devices. Have you checked with Garmin about firmware updates to those units? I know they have released firmware to correct such a scenario.


Still waiting to see what reply I get back from Garmin. I did reply back to Juan at SH to see if there was a way to filter out the data it sends out via the network, but thinking about it, I can understand why the radio would send everything out and let attached devices filter out what's not wanted there. As stated previously, the VHF does filter it out on it's own screen. Colby
 
While waiting for an email reply, I decided to call Garmin. It doesn't appear they have any real solution to this, other than maybe going in and turning off certain NMEA 183 codes. Two the tech mentioned as possible, would be OSD and VDO sentences. Before I start doing that, I thought I'd see if anyone here with more technical knowledge on NMEA 183 that understands all the sentences, has any suggestions on which ones to turn off. (I should be able to pull that page up on my Garmin units to change.) Colby
 
Colby :lol: :lol: That is why I take my electronics to the guys at Rodgers Marine. that may be a ways for you but you could give them a call and talk to Marty K.

Waiting and holding my breath,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Colby, being proactive is a good idea! I would have called Garmin too!

I am very interested in your resolution of this issue as I am having a Garmin GPSMAP7610 and a ICOM506 installed and wonder if I will encounter a similar problem.

J
 
J,
When I talked to ICOM tech support about that issue, They told me that the M506 was smart enough to recognize it's own MMSI. I guess that worked, mostly. I have found that when traveling very very slow, 2-3 knots or less, i sometimes see my own AIS marker following me. It has to do with when the speed drops below that minimum, the AIS transmits at a less frequent rate, so the shadow doesn't really move but hop scotches along behind. It does not set off the alarms though.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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I could try putting the transponder on the network and see if that would remove the targets from the Garmin. But that would require taking the GX2150 off network. Unfortunately, I want to keep the communication between the GX2150 and the Garmins for DSC uses. There are two ports for NMEA 183 on the newer Garmin (840) so I could use both of them, but you can only transmit/receive data on one or the other at one time. So I would still need to shut off data flow with the GX2150. In the end, having my own target on my Garmins isn't the end of the world. But it may induce some nuisance warnings when I have alarms turned on for AIS. Another option may be to see if I can just turn the AIS receiver off on the GX2150, and let the HP33A provide the only display I have for AIS. Colby
 
Thanks Harvey. That is good to know. If it was a problem I was going to blame you for recommending it! :)

Colby, I think I read somewhere in the manual for the Garmin 7610 that you can choose targets to be ignored. I'll look for it again. Seems like the Garmin representative with whom you spoke would know that though! The GX2150 may be the same.
 
The 840 and 541 (Garmin GPSMAPs) do not have that option apparently. I just got a reply back from the tech at SH that AIS can not be turned off in the GS2150 VHF. I'm thinking about taking the Garmin Chartplotters off network with the 2150. And then hooking the 2150 up with the AIS Transponder, as it can also provide GPS position data to the 2150. Since the transponder has it's own screen and can show targets received, I'd just keep AIS, DSC and communication between the VHF and AIS, and leave the Chartplotters to themselves. Unfortunately, that removes any plotting of DSC alerts off the chartplotters as well. You know, I think there gets to be a point when one can have too many electronics! :roll: Colby
 
Thanks Rain. Your link actually didn't work, but I did find it in both my 840 and 541 manuals. According to the manualsl, the link on my chart plotters is: Settings > Other Vessels > AIS > Off. I'll have to check into that in the next few days. Would be nice to just filter out my vessel only, but this may be the next best thing. And since the HP33A has it's own screen showing all targets, I really don't need to repeat them on my Garmins. Wish the Garmin Tech could have told me that on the phone, but I'll see what reply I get to my original emailed request. Colby
 
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