Pocket Mariner’s Dual Band AIS receiver comes with a lan cable (RJ45) , aerial connector (MCX, BNC or SO-239) and USB cable/connector. It measures approx 10cmx7.5cmx2.5cm (4” x 3” x 1”) and takes less than 1W of power. It has a very good range and compares favourably with commercial AIS receivers costing upto 3 times the price. It requires no configuration and will work without needing to be connected to a PC. Simply plug your AIS aerial lead into the aerial connector, connect to a lan port on your router and connect the 5V power supply or power it via the mini usb cable. The unit will show a solid blue light (by the power connector) which transitions to flashing blue lights and then after about a minute it will start transmitting the AIS data over the lan and usb cable.
This is a great successor to Marine Gadgets AIS USB Stick which is unfortunately no longer available , priced at the same price and being dual channel will pick up targets twice as fast. We have had an independent test carried out and our AIS receiver compares very favourably with mainstream commercial ones costing over 3 times the price!
USB connection
Use the USB cable to view the AIS data on a local PC, Mac or Android device with an AIS app like ShipPlotter for PC , our Boat Beacon App for Android or our SeaNav app for Mac which has US, CA. UK , IE ,FR,DE NL and BE digital charts available. There is also OpenCNC for PC and Mac ( http://opencpn.org/ocpn/) etc. More details on using it with an Android device here:- http://pocketmariner.com/boat-beacon-now-supports-ais-direct-from-a-vhf-ais-receiver-too/.
Internet connection
Each unit comes pre-configured to connect to a dedicated port on our Boat Beacon AIS service. The AIS receiver must be connected via a lan cable to a physical lan port (e.g. on your router or lan hub/access point). It must remain connected to continue receiving AIS data. Sharing your AIS data with our service allows us to subsidise the cost of the receiver. You will be able to check the live reception and ships it is picking up by looking at the following device dedicated web page:-
http://boatbeaconapp.com/station/xxxx
Where xxxx is a dedicated web page for each receiver.
Here is a live example from one of our devices in Cornwall:- http://boatbeaconapp.com/station/5353 ( hint – zoom out to see the full range of coverage – the aerial is very high up !)
You can also view your data on our free Boat Watch app or Boat Beacon app for iOS devices. If you are using a desktop AIS app like ShipPlotter you can use its internet sharing option to forward data to other folks. We can also forward your AIS data via our service to other internet AIS services like AISHUB, Marine Traffic and ShipFinder etc. via UDP or TCP.
No need to worry about eating into your Broadband connection, the data rate is very low , typically less than 2kbit/s for over 100 ships in range.
Price and availability The price for our Internet and USB version is £99 inc VAT ( EU €149 ) and $129 for the US and elsewhere plus postage. Please ask us for a quote with delivery to your address. If you have any problems or questions please email or call us at support@pocketmariner.com