I have had a Class B AIS Transponder on board for three years and have found it immeasurably useful as an aid to situational awareness. I just listened to an interesting dissemination of AIS on the AGLCA's Blog Talk Radio that was apparently inspired by discussion on their forum. I do not subscribe to that forum but my understanding from what I heard was that there is a pervasive difference of opinion on the subject of when to turn turn your AIS transmitter off. I thought I would bring the topic here as I'm sure there are lots of opinions on the matter, perhaps from some who have participated in the AGLCA discussion.
One of my biggest priorities in boating is courtesy and doing what is within my control to ensure the safety of others. Apparently, there is a sense out there that recreational boaters who leave their AIS transmitters on at the dock or in open water on a clear day (among other times as expressed by the guest host of this show) are polluting the airwaves and creating unnecessary targets.
I get that with the proliferation of AIS, crowded harbors and waterways can be overrun with targets, but when I'm transiting New York Harbor, for instance, I want to give the big boat captains every possible chance of seeing me. I've been cruising the Long Island Sound on a perfectly clear day and have had the captain of the PJ-Bridgeport ferry hail me (by name thanks to AIS) from miles away to agree on a plan when our paths would inevitably cross and he seemed grateful for my conscientiousness. On the ICW and narrow waterways I am always grateful when even the smaller sailboats have AIS so I can hail them by name to arrange a pass long before I can read their transom (if they would only all monitor their radios). Further, in the event of an on board emergency I like the added security of AIS as an aid to be located in addition to DSC and my PLB. So it's hard for me to rationalize shutting the thing off in those instances and would love to hear what people think.
As far as leaving it on when tied up at the dock, the guest host proclaimed that people who do this are doing it for show. Maybe some people are. Maybe some people don't know how to turn it off. But I'm guessing there are a lot of people like me who leave it on so they can keep a "virtual eye" on their vessel when they're away or in the event someone without the wherewithal to disable the AIS steals their boat as you then potentially have some ability to track it. I can see how some may react to that as I realize that's not what it's designed for and maybe I need to get a separate and more reliable tracking system if that's really a concern. And I have gone into "stealth" mode at marinas in crowded harbors so to not add to any confusion, but that is atypical of the places I tend to leave my boat. So if the consensus is that it is discourteous to leave it on at the dock I will certainly rethink that.
So I'd love to hear from those of you with practical experience with AIS in these real-world situations to draw from.
At this moment the AGLCA Blog Talk Radio discussion can be heard here but my understanding is it will be in their archives after their next show is posted in a week (original "air date" was January 31, 2014).
One of my biggest priorities in boating is courtesy and doing what is within my control to ensure the safety of others. Apparently, there is a sense out there that recreational boaters who leave their AIS transmitters on at the dock or in open water on a clear day (among other times as expressed by the guest host of this show) are polluting the airwaves and creating unnecessary targets.
I get that with the proliferation of AIS, crowded harbors and waterways can be overrun with targets, but when I'm transiting New York Harbor, for instance, I want to give the big boat captains every possible chance of seeing me. I've been cruising the Long Island Sound on a perfectly clear day and have had the captain of the PJ-Bridgeport ferry hail me (by name thanks to AIS) from miles away to agree on a plan when our paths would inevitably cross and he seemed grateful for my conscientiousness. On the ICW and narrow waterways I am always grateful when even the smaller sailboats have AIS so I can hail them by name to arrange a pass long before I can read their transom (if they would only all monitor their radios). Further, in the event of an on board emergency I like the added security of AIS as an aid to be located in addition to DSC and my PLB. So it's hard for me to rationalize shutting the thing off in those instances and would love to hear what people think.
As far as leaving it on when tied up at the dock, the guest host proclaimed that people who do this are doing it for show. Maybe some people are. Maybe some people don't know how to turn it off. But I'm guessing there are a lot of people like me who leave it on so they can keep a "virtual eye" on their vessel when they're away or in the event someone without the wherewithal to disable the AIS steals their boat as you then potentially have some ability to track it. I can see how some may react to that as I realize that's not what it's designed for and maybe I need to get a separate and more reliable tracking system if that's really a concern. And I have gone into "stealth" mode at marinas in crowded harbors so to not add to any confusion, but that is atypical of the places I tend to leave my boat. So if the consensus is that it is discourteous to leave it on at the dock I will certainly rethink that.
So I'd love to hear from those of you with practical experience with AIS in these real-world situations to draw from.
At this moment the AGLCA Blog Talk Radio discussion can be heard here but my understanding is it will be in their archives after their next show is posted in a week (original "air date" was January 31, 2014).
