Quote:
Originally Posted by beamishken
I must be missing something cos i cant see the usefulness of ais over other nav aids. Apart from the novelty value what does it tell you that radar chart plotter and mk1 eyeball cant?
Ok if your a big ship moving relatively slowly in a busy waterway but a small fast boat that would usualy navigate at 90 degrees to a tss or outside the main chanel what is the benefit of it.
I've never used it on a small boat but have looked for the position of the commercial vessel I've been sat on only to see it shows our position several hours ago.
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Personally I think Radar & AIS are very different beasts with a bit of overlap in what they do. Radar will show topography and other targets, but then you have to decide what the targets are. Easy if you’re out in the open, but in a busy area, all you’re going to get is clumps of targets. AIS will show individual AIS beacons, be they ship based, navaids or pseudo navaids. I find it very useful to see where my wingman is in busy or lumpy conditions. Just by glancing at the plotters I can see where he is, even if I can’t physically see him.
I don’t think Radar & AIS are mutually exclusive, I think they add up to more than the sum of their parts. That said, if I had to choose one over the other, I’d pick AIS, simply because experience has proved that I use it more than I did Radar.
Just my two penneth.
BLACK PIG
Piglet
