June 6, 2012

AIS TRANSPONDERS – Do I need another GPS antenna?

We’re asked this all the time…   Unfortunately, the regulations surrounding AIS do not permit feeding an AIS transponder with an alternative GPS source from, for instance, a NMEA output from a chart plotter.  All Class B transponders must have their own internal GPS and they will validate its accuracy […]
June 1, 2012

DIAMOND JUBILEE MEANS EXTRA HOLIDAY – AND AIS OPPORTUNITY

Monday 4th June and Tuesday 5th June will be national holidays in the UK and the Digital Yacht offices will be closed.  We’ll be back in action at work on Wednesday This year there is a double bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the River Thames will […]
May 24, 2012

iAIS Four Star Winner in Dutch Press

In the April edition of WaterKampioen our iAIS was reviewed and received four stars out of five. It came as recommended by the Editorial team, which we’re really pleased about! If you didn’t see the edition and can’t get hold of it, you can read it here (as long as […]
May 23, 2012

Read about our new SPL2000 splitter in Sailing Today

In the July issue, our new splitter – the SPL2000, which has replaced the SPL250 has been featured. If you turn to page 22 you can read all about! It is available now. SPL2000 as featured in SailingToday
May 14, 2012

AIS Man Over Board Systems

In 2010, the IMO approved the use of AIS SARTs as an alternative to the traditional Radar SARTS. An AIS SART consists of a GPS receiver and an AIS Transponder that when activated, quickly gets a position fix and then transmits a special combination of AIS Messages 1 and 14 that […]
May 12, 2012

Using Digital Yacht AIS units with OpenCPN

We get a lot of questions from users of OpenCPN, the popular Open Source navigation software, on how to get their AIS units and/or GPS units to work. The good news is that all Digital Yacht AIS and GPS units work with OpenCPN and we have now created two articles […]
May 10, 2012
Testing NMEA0183

NMEA 0183 Display Program

NMEA 0183 has become the most widely adopted standard for data communication in the Marine industry. Based on the old RS232 Serial Interface used on computer terminals data is transmitted as a series of high and low voltages between two pieces of wire. Although fairly simple in principle, NMEA 0183 […]
May 10, 2012

Good AIS Etiquette – Fitting a Silence Switch

As the number of vessels with an AIS Transponder increases, yachtsmen should seriously consider fitting their Class B AIS Transponder with a Silent Switch. In popular areas, the amount of AIS traffic can cause excessive clutter on people’s plotters and fitting a simple switch that stops your Class B Transponder […]