How does the AIS acquire a Signal?

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Welcome to the Raymarine Forum DRFASailboater,

In order for a MFD to support plotting and displaying AIS data, the MFD must be interfaced to an AIS receiver (ex. AIS350, AIS250 (retired), or third party AIS receiver), AIS transceiver (AIS650, AIS950, or third party AIS transceiver), VHF radio / AIS receiver/transceiver combination device (ex. Ray70 w/AIS receiver option, Ray260 w/AIS receiver option, third party VHF radio w/AIS receiver) which in turn will be interfaced to a VHF antenna having a maximum gain of -3dB. AIS transceivers must additionally be interfaced to a passive GPS antenna which is typically supplied with the AIS receiver. Should the AIS receiving device be equipped with a SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 communications interface, then it will be interfaced as a spur to a powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone to which the MFD has also been interface. Should the AIS receiving device not be equipped with a NMEA 2000 communications interface and instead be equipped with a NMEA 0183 communications interface, then the AIS receiving device would be interfaced to a 38400 BAUD NMEA 0183 to NMEA 2000 data bridging device (ex. Actisense NGW-1-ISO-AIS, etc). which in turn will be interfaced as a spur to the aforementioned SeaTalkng / NMEA 2000 backbone.

While it is considered to be a best installation practice to install dedicated VHF antennas for the AIS receiver/transceiver and VHF radio, Raymarine offers the AIS100 Class B AIS Antenna Splitter to support the needs of those seeking to utilize a single VHF antenna to support the AIS receiver/transceiver and VHF radio.