The Vesper Cortex is an AIS Class B+ SOTDMA transponder combined with VHF radio and remote monitoring. It shows amazing promise after the first few months of use.
In the last 4 months, I have been developing my overall network on board Rendezvous. I wanted a good WiFi/Ethernet network to connect me to the outside world, as well as a well developed NMEA 2000 network for marine equipment while underway. So far, here's what I have...
Raymarine continue to come out with updates to Lighthouse v3 that include new features and bring forward items from v2. Version 3.3 was released a few weeks ago, and includes support for older eS and gS series MFDs, Navionics Plotter Sync, and new features around radar and sonar.
Seattle and Elliott Bay is a busy marine location, and I am always looking for a better AIS system so that others can see me clearly. AMEC has released the B600 AIS Class B transponder with more than double the transmit power, and fast 5 second updates.
My sailboat network is quite extensive, and I made a lot of changes in 2017 including a radar arch, new instruments, updates to connectors and more.
After years of using crimp-on VHF terminals, I found an easy and much higher quality way of creating quality radio connections. Master soldering skills not required!
I needed to replace a non-DSC VHF radio on my sailboat, and needed a helm station too. B&G offers a state of the art VHF radio with wireless handset that worked out perfectly.
A quick weekend trip to Port Orchard Marina. Included lots of ferries, some big waves, and a helpful current on our way home.
Having an AIS receiver on the sailboat means I can take that data and share it with AIS websites, as a base station. Doing that from a bandwidth-limited cellular connection creates some challenges which can be overcome with some scripting.
Update Early 2015: I have since moved to a new boat, and have a Vesper XB-8000 AIS unit. The ACR Nauticast unit failed in 2012, and was replaced with another
