Any further update on Shiptrax please?

[tarbat]

Are setting up one of these other AIS receivers hard? & what software would you use?

Dead easy.  Just received my Comar AIS-2-USB from Waterware (excellent service).  For testing I've connected my discone antenna to it, and then just plugged the supplied USB lead in - drivers installed automatically.

Setting up in ShipPlotter just involved selecting the appropriate serial port (COM8) in I/O settings, and accepting the default baud rate of 38400.

Setting up in ShipTrax beta was just as easy.

[tarbat]

I've now hit a major problem with using the Comar AIS-2-USB device.   With it plugged in and working the number of aircraft I'm seeing on my Radarbox drops to almost nothing.

Unplug either the antenna (discone) or the USB lead from the Comar receiver, and the Radarbox works properly again, plug both the leads back in and I lose reception on the Radarbox.

Any ideas how to fix this, or does this indicate a fault with my Radarbox?

[tarbat]

When my marine antenna arrives, I'm going to try a few experiments to try to eliminate the interference.

[AirNav Development]

The message about the forum which is being supported by our competitors has been removed.

We will not allow any promotion of such a forum here - for the records and as last proof that that forum is totally connected with our competitors, they've recently (last week) denied/blocked a RadarBox paid advertisement despite having a webpage asking for advertisers there. They block AirNav RadarBox, ban RadarBox users, ask for passport and personal information and daily promote our competitors product so one can conclude what that forum administrators hidden games are.

[viking9]

I'm not advertising anything nor sniping at AirNav. I was helping Tarbat with a technical problem, just as he has helped me and many others in the past.  

Edited - Abusive post to Moderators

[tarbat]

I was helping Tarbat with a technical problem, just as he has helped me and many others in the past.

And your help was much appreciated - thanks.

[jannuh]

Please could you tell me what software you use for your setup, is it ship plotter? and what type of range do you get from the antenna you use please?
I take it you are near the coastline?

Indeed using Shipplotter, but also AISDecoder from Neal Arundale (a free text only ais decoder, has all ais details)

Range here is 10-15 nm receiving inland shipping.
Live in S.E. Netherlands, about 170 km from the coast.

My AIS page at www.middenlimburg.net

[tarbat]

I'm at my wits end trying to solve this interference problem between my Comar AIS-2-USB and Radarbox.  Latest attempt is to locate the AIS box in the loft on a 5m USB lead, connected to an antenna in the loft, but I still get interference.  Clip-on ferrite rings on the USB lead and antenna lead have not helped, and MSG count in Radarbox drops from 70+ down to 3-4 Msgs/Sec when I connect the AIS box.  Looks like I might have wasted £200+ on an AIS box that I can't use alongside my Radarbox :(

So, a question to Airnav.   Has the ShipTrax hardware been tested alongside a Radarbox, and can you confirm that there is NO interference between the two boxes.

[viking9]

Tarbat,

Sorry to learn you are still having probs. Have you tried grounding the enclosure of the AIS?

The guy on another site says he used 20 ferrite rings!

How about antenna spacing?

Tom

[tarbat]

Thanks Tom.

Have you tried grounding the enclosure of the AIS?
Not sure how I would go about doing that - any suggestions.

The guy on another site says he used 20 ferrite rings!
I'd have to get into Inverness to buy some more, so that's an expensive option (80 mile round trip).  Also MW0CWF on the other forum found that ferrite rings had no effect, so I'm reluctant to spend more money on this "experiment".

How about antenna spacing?
Currently 7m apart.

I think I'm resigned to having either ships OR aircraft, but not both at the same time.   Just hope Airnav's ShipTrax hardware doesn't have the same problem!!

[Lou]

NASA Marine do a very reasonable little unit called the AIS Engine 3 it retails at £109 I`ve been using the AIS Engine 2 for sometime now and find it excellent

[Lou]

By the way it works fine with my RB running, I use two screens widescreen for RB and other things, and a Medion 4/3 for shipplotting

[air7677]

hello everyone.
working great here too

[tarbat]

Quick update.  I moved the Comar receiver out of the loft and back into the office, with a short USB lead that has ferrites on both ends.  Then put a clip-on ferrite ring around the antenna lead, and positioned as far away from the Radarbox as possible, and it now seems to have minimal affect on Radarbox reception :)

I also received the marine band antenna yesterday from Maplins, but I've had to return it because it didn't included the 5m lead and BNC convertor :(

So, still running on my discone, and I'm getting approx. 15 miles range even on that.

[tarbat]

If Airnav are still developing ShipTrax, then they could learn something from other free software like SeaPro3000 on the best format for charts.