March 24, 2009

A Shine Micro AIS-BX Class B AIS Transponder was recently tracked to a distance of 37.5NM up the coast of Washington State, in use by the Fishing Vessel NightHawk en-route to the Alaskan fishing grounds.

The screen shot below illustrates reception of the vessel as detected by the Columbia River Bar Pilots, who operate a RadarPlus® SM1610-2 High Sensitivity AIS receiver.

Why is this significant?
With a transmission power of 2 watts, versus the 12.5 watts of Class A transmissions, it has been rumored that Class B AIS won’t be reliably tracked past 10 miles.  Having tracked the Nighthawk for nearly 40 miles proves that, with a good installation and a skilled installer, Class B AIS exceeds expectations and provides more than effective tracking range; vital to navigation, collision avoidance, search-and-rescue operations, and more.  Furthermore, other Fishing vessels, using AIS receivers and looking to offload to the NightHawk, will now track her down much more efficiently – saving time, energy, and money.

The RadarPlus AIS-BX is available online, or from a Shine Micro authorized dealer.
Click here to find the dealer nearest you!

About Shine Micro
Shine Micro products are praised by commercial, recreational, and military users alike as the most sensitive AIS receivers commercially available. The RadarPlus® product line includes an AIS solution for everyone; from individual pleasure boaters to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Shine Micro is recognized most for the SM1610 Long Range AIS Receiver selected by the USCG for the Nationwide Automatic Identification System (NAIS).

Contact:
Mario V.
Shine Micro, Inc.
mariov@shinemicro.com
360.437.2503