Late on Friday I learned that PMY is sending a crew of editors to the delayed Fort Lauderdale show. I sympathize with all the exhibitors and locals who don’t think the show should be run while the city is still recovering from Wilma (see PMY forum), but I’m also glad to be going. The electronics companies will have at least someone to show their new stuff to, and it will likely be so quiet that I’ll have a good chance to look it.
Rose Point Navigation just announced that Coastal Explorer is “the first program to include the entire NOAA chart collection covering all US waters.” What they mean is a sort of mulligan stew of cartography—500 ENC vector charts, 250 “Vector Coastal Explorer Charts” (which I think are actually derived from the DNC portfolio put together by NGA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and also available from SoftChart for use with Capn 8.0), and 250 raster charts. In other words, they’re covering every bit of US coast at every available scale, but they’re not providing double coverage—raster and vector. By contrast, SoftChart is providing double and sometimes triple (two kinds of vector) coverage of many areas (at $200 per region), which can be darn useful for maximum detail and readability (I often cruise in Maine with both a vector and raster charts visible in split screen mode). I also noticed that CE has a little trouble perfectly quilting all three chart types, at least in my area, though below you can see how well it can do too.
But this is quibbling when you consider that Rose Point is including all 1,000 charts with its very able charting program, all for $400 total. The rasters will soon be on the shipping CD (DVD?) package, and are available for download now (though, as shown above, you need broadband). How did Rose Point get their mitts on these charts before NOAA has even started distributing them on its Web site? A good question, and the answer is about to reveal itself! And, by the way, can the worldwide portfolio of DNC vector charts, which seem to be downloadable, be used by the public? I really don’t know, but sure am curious.
What's wrong with this AIS target, seen off Naples, Florida, a couple of weeks ago (with the Si-Tex receiver)? How about a bogus MMSI # (only 4 digits), no name, and destination as “HOME” (cute!) for starters. Plus the distances fore, aft, port, and starboard from the transponder’s GPS had been input as 10, 20, 30, and 40 feet (cute again, but impossible). That’s why Coastal Explorer—which, like many good AIS plotters, can properly size a target when zoomed in—drew the odd target icon above. But here’s the thing: even though someone had obviously done a half-assed installation of this transponder, it still plotted very smoothly down the coast, even though it was doing 25+ knots and I was only listening on one frequency with a crappy antenna. In fact I was able to get a visual on it when it went by the hotel and would guess it to be about a 32’ Tiara or something of the sort. How and why it had a $5,000+ Class A transponder on board I have no idea (megayacht tender?).
My notes on Class B AIS have prompted some interesting comments here and privately, so some more entries will be coming. But, for those of you less interested in AIS, be assured that I have lots of new product info in hand, and am testing some gadgets and software I haven’t even mentioned yet. Have a wonderful weekend.
As those of you in the industry no doubt know, there’s a lot of talk going around about the wisdom of trying to run the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show next Thursday, a week late. This afternoon PMY set up a forum to discuss the subject, or just vent. Like Panbo, you can post as yourself or under a handle.
Today, I’m afraid, we must speak of “frequency agility.” Part of the Class A standard is that transponders must be able to change channels if ordered to by the presiding local coastal authority. The digital command is received on the VHF DSC calling channel, 70. As mentioned in the past only one port is currently using this function, Tokyo, and I’ve heard that even it may turn back to regular channels 87B and 88B. Nonetheless, in September the U.S. apparently surprised international AIS committees by demanding frequency agility in the Class B standard. (This may have something to do with the still unsettled dispute with Maritel over use of 87B in the States, but, again, another story). At any rate, this change will mean that Class B transponders are more complicated and more expensive than originally conceived, and slower to arrive. Actual transponders available by the end of 2006 for around $2,000 is now sounding realistic. It’s also possible that there will be non-agile Class B transponders that are not approved for use in the U.S.
Now, as promised, let’s noodle a bit about what the Class B standard will mean. My thoughts:
• Some bigger yachts are going to opt for Class A—perfectly legal for anyone to carry—because they’ll decide that the additional power and priority, plus things like ship-to-ship messaging (not in Class B), are worth the added expense and install hassle.
• I’m wondering if a single frequency receiver will be effective, especially in close quarters, when it’s only getting dynamic data every minute at best. Real time tracking starts to get unreal, but maybe not enough to make a difference.
• Overall, Class B is going to greatly enhance AIS. Isn’t there a famous computer postulate that puts the value of a network equal to the square of its users? Isn’t AIS a more-the-merrier—and safer—situation, even for the lurkers (receive only).
PS. For more details of Class B, check out this page at Y-Tronic, noting that the Class B standard is supposedly going to use “Carrier Sense”, not “SOTDMA”.
Finally I have some specifics about the Class B AIS transponder standard, which is “very close” to finalization:
• Like Class A, static data will be broadcast every 6 minutes on alternating channels. A few fields, like destination, are missing but MMSI, boat name, call sign, ship and cargo types, ship dimensions, and GPS antenna position will all be sent.
• Unlike Class A, dynamic data will only be broadcast every 30 seconds (if the vessel is going over 2 knots, 3 minutes if slower). Again some items, like rate of turn, are absent, but MMSI, position, COG, SOG, and heading (optional) go out.
• Transponder power is limited to 2 watts, whereas the Class A max is 12.5 watts, plus Class B transmissions are ‘polite’. That’s actually a technical term meaning that the Class B time-sharing protocol (different from A’s, but that’s another story) will not slow down Class A in busy waters.
• Class B transponders are required to have an internal GPS, which will simplify installation as thus the only hookups are power, the optional heading sensor, and data out to AIS plotting devices. The 18” SeaLinks SL162B, shown, is an interesting (antennas included!) example of what the transponders will look like. I’m told that several other manufacturers are raring to go.
But there has been a recent change to the Standard that may slow down the Class B roll out and make the transponders more expensive, at least in the U.S. I’ll talk about that tomorrow, along with some noodling about what the above specs mean for single channel receivers. Your input is welcome, of course.
PS A big thanks to Fred Pot and Lee Luft, an analyst at the USCG R&D center (and an important figure in the development of NMEA 2000), for educating me about Class B. It’s odd that the comfy resort we shared breakfast in week before last is now closed due to Wilma. The latest on the Ft. Lauderdale show, by the way, is postponement to Thursday, Nov. 3, putting my Monday morning prediction almost on the money.
My good buddy Ben “El Geekalones” Ellison has graciously given me some space here in his MEB (Most Excellent Blog) so that I can alert you all to the doings of another good buddy of mine, Reid Stowe. Reid is setting forth next month (ETD is approximately Thanksgiving) on a record-breaking 1,000-day voyage aboard his home-built 70-foot gaff-rigged schooner Anne. He intends to circumnavigate the globe multiple times non-stop in the Southern Ocean, looping up into warmer climes when conditions and his mood warrant, and will also sail north to the equator and back each time he hits the South Atlantic so as to get credit for an official circuit of the globe. Reid has been planning this voyage for many years, and in 1999 conducted a 200-day non-stop passage as a test flight for this one. Now his boat is prepped and he is finally ready to go.
But he could use some help in the electronics department! To enhance the significance of what he’s doing, Reid is hoping to pull together a communications/transponder system that will permit him to document his voyage to the world as it takes place---both so folks can follow him as he goes along and to verify his accomplishment.
Anyone interested in lending some equipment, expertise, or service time to this project should check out Reid’s site (or call him directly at 212-414-4891). Reid will make sure you get credit as a sponsor if you like and will gladly participate in any reasonable marketing scheme you care to build around your involvement. A thousand days at sea, after all, is the ultimate test for any product/service. Or you can get involved just because you think it’s a cool project!!! — Charlie Doane, Editor-at-large, SAIL Magazine
PS. I too am a fan of Stowe’s 1,000 day sail, which I consider performance art of the interesting kind. And, by the way, Panbo welcomes guest blogs…of the interesting kind. — Ben
I first researched forward looking sonar (FLS) back in 2002, and later tested an EchoPilot Bronze on my 25’ Ralph. I really, really like the idea of being able to see underwater ahead of the boat (I like exploring, and Maine is ledge city), but so far have to agree with the general consensus that the available gear—from Interphase as well as EchoPilot—can’t see very far or with much detail. But now Furuno has introduced the FL-7000 FLS purportedly capable of seeing “up to” 1,600’ ahead of your boat (though the image above, bigger here, only shows a breakwater, or similarly easy target, about 15 meters ahead). Just putting its name on FLS will bring new attention to the category, and I imagine there’s some truth to Furuno’s claim that it’s spent years developing the “best FLS on the market”. It’s also the most expensive at something like $4,000 (though I haven’t seen that in print, and there’s nothing about it at Furuno’s site yet). The unit also has something called “Baitscope Mode” that I don’t comprehend yet, and is capable of using pitch and roll information to stabilize targets. And I’m told that the phased-array transducer, from Airmar, has tested successfully at speeds of 40 knots. Could the FL7000 protect a fast boat from, say, just-awash shipping containers? That would be something! Hopefully, I’ll learn more at Fort Lauderdale, still on as best I can tell.
PS 9:30 am: Fort Lauderdale not opening on Sat., maybe not at all.
Monday, 9:00 am: on Friday afternoon the organizers of the Fort Lauderdale show postponed the opening from Thursday to Saturday, but I’m beginning to wonder if it will happen at all. As you can kind of make out in the radar shot above, Lauderdale is right now experiencing the worst portion of the storm’s eye wall. SSE gusts in Miami have hit 95 knots, and haven’t started to taper off yet. Wilma is moving fast, so South Florida will soon be able to assess how badly it got hammered. But even in good conditions the amount of boat handling, tent building, etc. that goes in this show is amazing. Of course the show is trivial compared to other problems Wilma is causing.
Next week in Ft. Lauderdale I’ll get an on-the-water demo of the new Raymarine A65 along with its included Navionics Silver chart card…so details then, apparent strategies now:
* The A65 is a 6.5”, though full VGA, plotter/fishfinder (or plain plotter) that seems to incorporate Raymarine’s crisp digital sonar technology and some of the friendly soft key interface seen in the C and E Series. It does not support radar, a high speed bus, or even SeaTalk2/NMEA 2000, but it does seem to offer some bigger boat electronics goodness in a smaller package (and price, though I don’t have the exact numbers just yet).
* The A65 comes with a Navionics Silver CF card that includes full detail coverage of the entire US coast. My understanding is that this signals the beginning of Navionics’ three tier chart strategy—Silver, Gold, Platinum…good, better, best. All the details aren’t out but the idea is that users of at least some machines can upgrade through the tiers as desired; meanwhile Navionics can move features down through the tiers as competition dictates. Slick.
The total package seems like a big “hello” to Garmin’s 192/198 series, Lowrance’s NauticPath etc., and also, in a way, to NOAA’s imminent giving away of all U.S. raster charts. (And a note to readers from outside the States: sorry that your governments are not pushing vendors to provide more and better chart coverage for less money, but then again you don’t have a powerful politician trying to gag your met offices.)
Argh! I haven’t gotten too exercised about Senator Rick Santorum’s bill to limit NOAA’s distribution of weather forecasts because I thought it simply too ridiculous to pass, but yesterday I came across this steaming pile of pure double speak. “Free the Weather” is a disinformation campaign run by CWSA—a trade association for the commercial weather industry—meant to support Santorum’s bill. The big lie is that NOAA’s National Weather Service is currently not required to dispense weather to the public, and has sometimes been tardy. That’s like arguing that your local fire department is not legally obliged to fight fires. So what?…that’s what they do. In fact NOAA does an amazing job of distributing data and forecasts both to the public and all the commercial interests that want to add value to it. And never mind that Santorum’s bill restricts distribution to "a set of data portals designed for volume access by commercial providers." Check out FreeTheWeather.org and see if it makes any sense to you. (For instance, they post an interesting series from the Miami Herald about frustrations at the Hurricane Center, but does they support the Santorum bill at all?) You might get mad, and you might want to contact your Senators and ask them to free S. 786 from its misery.
PS One of the neat things NOAA does, I think, is to give the public access to the hurricane forecaster’s discussion notes. It’s geeky stuff, but today you can learn that some of the computer models of wicked Wilma have her coming closer to New England than the current 5 prediction track shows. Damn!
It turns out that Nobeltec has decided to market the Si-Tex (Nasa) single frequency black box “AIS100” receiver instead of the Comar SLR-100 as I had first presumed. I dare say that this move, along with adding AIS tracking to the VNS program, is meant to make AIS available at modest cost. Nobeltec is selling the AIS100 for $330 (plus you’ll need a VHF antenna). I very much like the idea of encouraging recreational boaters to see what AIS tracking can do for them, but am still a little leery about single frequency receivers and the quality of the Nasa box in particular. Many electronics manufacturers are testing these receivers and some report that the Nasa box is none too sensitive, dropping further away targets when compared to say a $1,000 SeaLinks RadarPlus (using the same antenna). Then again, other testers say that all the receivers are fairly comparable, and one notes that the placement and quality of the antenna is an important factor. I’m wondering how effective single frequency listening will be when Class B transponders hit the market. I’ll write soon about the what and when of Class B, but do know that under that standard boats will transmit dynamic data—MMSI, position, COG, SOG, etc.—every 30 seconds at best (Class A transponders put the data out every 2–10 seconds based on speed and rate of turn).
Another thing about the Si-Tex/Nasa/Nobeltec receiver is that it sticks to one frequency unless you tell it differently. I’m not sure how important this is but have not seen a way to actually manage the box except in the standard edition of Yacht AIS, seen above, which also has a control for Automatic Gain Constant and a signal meter. The impression I’m getting is that any AIS, even half listening to half a transponder, is a good thing, but the receiver market is going to have several tiers, and to some degree you’re going to get what you pay for.
Oy, I’m a tired puppy after 5 days of NMEA conference and yet more plane rides. Yesterday’s featured a puking infant during a bumpy landing in Boston followed by a final leg into Rockland on a little plane purposely run with some empty seats (they also rearranged us “for balance”, causing a wee bit more nervousness). But I am fully loaded with interesting info about NMEA 2000, AIS, new products and more, and I should be able to post more frequently, at least this week.
For starters, check out the NMEA 2000 “consistent” wiring system above introduced by Lowrance (more detail in a pop-up at Lowrance.com). It looks a lot like the standard NMEA 2000 cabling and connectors I’ve been testing but in fact it’s not certified and its plugs are purportedly not compatible! This is certainly not what the standard was supposed to be about—plug and play interoperability between different brands of gear—and I’m told it caused quite a hubbub in the NMEA 2000 committee meetings. (And I hope those folks who think NMEA is a “club” dedicated to keeping small developers out will note how fractious it really is). In fact there have been issues with the 2000 cable standard all along. Many think it’s too expensive and/or too bulky. That’s why Simrad, Raymarine, and Lowrance each use their own proprietary 2000 cable to interconnect their own 2000 equipment (which is legal under the standard). That’s why Simrad and Raymarine had to supply patch cables to tee into my test system (though I could have made them fairly easily).
So it would seem even messier if Lowrance sells an alternate, uncertified backbone cable/tee system—even if it leads to some of the first 2000 production boats, as announced by Ranger last week—but I’m told that there is going to be a happy ending to this story. Two reliable sources tell me that there will be a major breakthrough in the cable situation announced within a month. I’m guessing they mean that Lowrance will end up truly compliant and that the industry will agree on a second, less costly (though possibly more limited) cable and connector standard.
I felt like a spy in an old WWII movie, rigging a VHF antenna and GPS on the patio outside my hotel room late at night, then hunching over my laptop hoping for certain transmissions…but, by golly, it worked. The Si-Tex/Nasa receiver heard an AIS equipped 37m vessel called Ixplorer apparently anchored or docked 3.7 miles away in La Ciotat. There was only that one target (the Radio Shack antenna was missing a set screw, which probably affected range), plus I didn’t have a detailed electronic chart of the area, but it worked. That’s the target info showing above in SeaClearII, the freeware that comes with the receiver. SeaClear was pretty easy to set up with both USB GPS and AIS serial input. I also tried the gear with Coastal Explorer 1.1, again easy to set up, but also capable of calculating CPA/TCPA (and displaying more target info, and in a couple of different ways). I’ll try the rig some more when I’m in Naples tomorrow and later in Ft. Lauderdale, assuming my luggage gets there.
PS. Totally different subject, but was somewhat saddened to learn on Zephyr that Pride of Baltimore II (a remarkable boat I’ve had the pleasure of twice passaging aboard) lost her entire rig off France last month. The good news, and hard to imagine how, is that no one was hurt. More good news, for those interested, is that two crew members are blogging the mishap and repairs.
Whew…back in Maine for a couple of days before NMEA conference. France is sort of a daze, but the pictures suggest I wasn’t just dreaming. The St. Tropez regatta of classic and modern sail boats (official site here) was phenomenal to behold. That’s Mari-Cha headed for “first to finish”. Note the size of the mast instruments, almost readable from where I was standing (on a tour boat handled by a very skillful and brave skipper) with my midsize telephoto (bigger image here). Below is one of the Wally fleet, crew relaxing after the race (bigger here ). I’m not sure what they all do as those sleek button pods at the helm run all sorts of hydraulic sail handling gear. If you want to see some of the classics—why not?—check out Philip Plisson’s images here.
Truth is I’m a little out of sorts, what with a stressful flight across the Atlantic, a missed flight in Paris, and a lost suitcase still not shown up 30 hrs later (there’s one of them French strikes going on). But, despite the fact I’m wearing the same clothes I left Maine in (and learning how to crank up Euro towel warmers to dry hand washed underwear), I had a great day touring megayacht yards in Toulon, La Ciotat, and Marseilles. These guys are intent on turning much of the withering shipbuilding assets of the region—man skills, cranes, drydocks, etc.—toward maintaining and refitting the world’s growing population of really big yachts. I saw evidence that the strategy is already working, and the future looks rosy indeed. It strikes me as smart that they’re not trying to compete with Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands at building these beasts, but instead are putting together the biggest yacht repair yards the planet has ever seen. This thought was confirmed by an American superyacht captain I ran into who said that South Florida has really blown its chance to keep being a significant megayacht center into the future—no new space. Oh well.
Above is the exception to the rule (bigger here ), a brand new mega speedboat from French builder Couach. This is only about 80’ but quite impressive with its gray gelcoat deck and surface piercing drives. The winner at the helm is Furuno with twin monitors, black box radar, black box NavNet, and a few RD30 data displays all onboard. There’s also a Simrad AP50 autopilot, and the only lit screens are a systems monitoring device I couldn’t figure out the maker of and a multi camera display. That’s Toulon in the background. I’m headed to Voiles des St. Tropez tomorrow and will post if possible.
I’m in a pre-travel dither today (evening flight to France), but I have a couple of thoughts about the recent sale of Simrad’s marine electronics assets to the “Nordic private equity fund Altor”. On the surface at least, it looks something like Raymarine’s split from giant Raytheon. I remember at the time how skeptics fretted that the new independent company would suffer for lack of the mother corp.’s R&D depth and deep pockets, but it certainly seems that Raymarine has been developing interesting and successful products ever since (and its financial backers enjoyed an IPO). Let’s hope Simrad gets a similar shot of energy. I also want to note one of Simrad’s significant assets. My wife and I got to tour two of its factories in Norway a few years ago and were impressed with what we saw and felt. The lady above is assembling autopilots in the old Robertson operation in the fishing port of Egersund (drying fish and socks below, how salty is that!). R&D, production, marketing all shared the same waterfront facilities, and many folks had been there for decades. There was a solid, peaceful feel to the whole operation. Afterwards, Andrea, who cares little about this stuff, said that if electronics were important to her, she’d like to have these people building them.
Well, I’m beginning to understand why the Nasa AIS receiver is so much less expensive than most others on the market (besides the single frequency business). For one thing, the wire connections to the “not waterproof” box are funky compared to most marine electronics. Above you can see how an install might look if you use its ability to blend a GPS into its data stream. Note how the red power wire uses a pin connector with no lock (if your boat is rattlely, you might want to duct tape it). The illustration, by the way, is from an installation pdf that Digiboat put together, which is way better than what came with the unit.
Then there’s the fact that once you’ve wired the receiver to antenna, PC, and power, you have no way to know if it works. No LEDs, no NMEA strings unless it’s actually receiving targets. Without a real manual, I had no way of knowing what was going on so I e-mailed customer support at Digiboat, who seem to know this hardware, and got a prompt response that confirmed my fears, “the NASA AIS Receiver gives NO INDICATION whether it's working, or not - quite frustrating really. Unless, of course, you're surrounded by transmitting targets.”
In fact, Simon Blundell from Digiboat has figured out a way to solder 4 useful status LEDs into the Nasa receiver, and has posted a thorough Web page about the project (check it out…this is DIY pioneering!). He also pointed out that I could check the install by doing the GPS bypass above. Nah…I will be in hotel right on the Mediterranean coast near Marseille, France, later this week, so hope to test with real targets. Blundell suggests that once I see how well the Nasa box works for the money, the negatives will fade. We’ll see.
