Nomad AIS transponder is back
Appeared in spring 2017, Digital Yacht's Nomad was the first, and the only one, portable AIS transponder. I carried out a detailed test the following summer, reported on this blog (¹). We feared that this excellent device would be abandoned, car Read more …
R-Mode, future alternative to Positioning System
Global navigation satellite systems GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), have become the primary source of Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT1) for ships and marine operations. GNSS is also used for the system Read more …
Sargassum, North Atlantic calamity
During this period of major departures towards the southern islands before reaching the Antilles, It seems useful to me to relaunch this article which went unnoticed in the heart of summer. Sargassum (sargassum) sont des algues brunes qui poussent dans Read more …
XB-8000 new WiFi AIS transponder for mobile devices [Update]
Vesper Marine, company established in 2007 in Auckland (New Zealand), specializes in the design of devices for AIS data broadcasting. Their latest product, XB-8000, is a Class B AIS transponder certified NMEA2000® compact, low consumption, responding to Read more …
COLREGS: Still Fit for Purpose ? [Update]
We can only observe, for three decades, the phenomenal increase in global maritime commercial traffic, The recent proliferation of maritime drones, for scientific and miscellaneous research purposes, automated and remotely submarines civilian, Military, and even for traffickers usage, Read more …
Cyberattacks and boating
Garmin was the victim of a cyber attack that began on 23 last July and lasted several days. The resulting outage disrupted many of its online services. Les clients de Navionics ne pouvaient plus accéder au Read more …
Nautical documents on electronic media [Update]
(Article original 27 June 2018) Since the publication of the superseded D240 Division, applicable from 6 May 2019 (See my previous article), it is now official that mandatory nautical documents can be taken on board in digital form. [Update Read more …
GPS accuracy [summer brief]
I'm always being asked - and have been for ages - how much confidence we can put in the GPS on our tablets and smartphones. Probably at the risk of repeating myself, I persist in asserting that our mobile devices are equipped with GPS receivers Read more …
Are electronic charts prescribed in France ? [Update]
This question comes up to me from time to time, and as no one is supposed to ignore the law, I feel obliged to make my contribution to the edification of the crowds (of boaters) by providing a collective response.
Man Over Board
Sailors have always been haunted by falling into the sea. Even with a trained crew, the operation of recovering a crew water fallen is risky, Already with the engine, even more with the sail. Read more …
AIS transponder, dedicated antenna or antenna splitter ? [Update]
I relay here an article published in 2014 on the Digital Yacht blog which provides an excellent discussion on choosing which antenna to install for an AIS transceiver. Below you will find a transcription freely adapted by my Read more …
Nomad test – stand-alone AIS transceiver by Digital Yacht
Last May I presented the Nomad, a portable AIS transceiver designed by Digital Yacht. I had to wait until the end of the summer to have the opportunity to test in real situation this device that had been entrusted to me by the manufacturer. Is Read more …
Nomad, an AIS Classe B mobile transponder
The Digital Yacht company offers Nomad, the first AIS transponder class B mobile with Wi-Fi interface. The Nomad is supplied with a portable VHF antenna of 25 cm equipped with a sucker and a 4 metres cable, and with a Read more …
Christmas shopping at the Nautic Paris
For the first time since 5 years I'm not moving to the Paris Nautic boat show. And for the first time I am not "glued" ten hours a day to a 9 m². And Read more …
AIS for dummies
With the progressive generalization of the AIS (transceivers) aboard our pleasure boats (¹), and their obligatory presence on board a large proportion of commercial ships, capacities for display and processing of targets (surrounding ships equipped Read more …
AIS, VHF/DSC radio and LEDs lights
The Department of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, published on 4 August a boating safety alert concerning LED bulbs (¹). The text warns boaters about the risks of jamming Read more …
AIS-Wi-Fi transponder less then 590 euros
The Taiwanese company Alltek Marine Electronics, also known by the acronym AMEC, has specialized since 2006 in the design and manufacture of AIS devices. In his presentation, AMEC announces it was founded with the ambition to provide the best in marine electronics Read more …
AIS, the second maritime revolution after the GPS
AIS takes a growing place, for two or three years, in the concerns of leisure boaters. Several articles refer to it in this blog, as for equipment as for applications available for our Mac, iPad or Read more …