We've spent the better part of a week or so installing our new radios. First, we installed a new VHF radio. This one has AIS. The picture below shows the display that shows all the nearby vessels that are transmitting an AIS signal (commercial traffic typically), and some killer info...like how fast they are going, what direction they are headed, if and when they will collide with us. Simple things that make life SO much better. And hopefully, safer.
We toyed with getting an AIS receiver, that would plug into our chart plotter software. It would require an extra VHF antenna. No problem, we've already mounted a spare. But...when we're on a passage, we don't run our chart plotter continuously. Saving power. But we do keep our VHF on. So, this was a perfect solution.
Sadly, our old cockpit mic doesn't work with this unit, but no worries. The good folks at Standard Horizon are sending us a compatible one ASAP!!
The other uber-cool radio news is that we are working on a SSB radio!! Andy and Monica on SV Savannah sold us their old radio for a smokin' good price. We (well, mostly John) installed it in only three days (!) with a fair amount of course language that I attribute to years on job sites and fishing boats. But, bad language aside, guess what - it works, mostly!! We are still doing some testing, and it isn't perfect, but we're making great progress.
Life is good. Our projects are coming along well. Departure from Majuro is imminent.
