New AIS brands: Em-Trak, Digital Deep Sea, & Watcheye
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Jun 16, 2011
Em Trak -- or Em-Trak or em-trak (why do brands defy grammar conventions when it often leads to misspellings elsewhere?) -- is a completely unfamiliar name to me, but it's pretty darn obvious that the interesting array of new AIS gear displayed on their web site is closely related to the new AIS modules SRT debuted yesterday. The cases may be different (and jazzier) in some cases, but I'm seeing some of the same new features along with ones apparently added by Em Trak...
Consider the B100 Class B AIS, for instance. Though very small, it's got USB, NMEA 0183, and NMEA 2000 output, as well as built-in 0183 multiplexing and the "Rmax" message processing technology SRT announced yesterday. But it's also got an SD card slot, which will not only make MMSI setup and software updates easier, but will let a user log voyage data, other AIS vessels included. I don't know what the B100 will cost yet, but it already has FCC approval and is even NMEA 2000 certified, so we may find out very soon. Plus I notice that the B100's receive-only sibling, the em-trak R100, is already for sale at West Marine for $190, which seems quite reasonable for a true dual channel receiver, again with USB/0183/2000 output {correction: USB and NMEA 0183 only}. Aside from the MarineGadget Radar, whose specs don't compare, the R100 is the only AIS receiver I know of that will run on USB power (optionally), which could be really handy when, say, delivering boats.
Another new name in AIS is Digital Deep Sea, though, as announced, that's obviously a good name for the commercial side of ever-expanding Digital Yacht. The Digital family also seems to have close relations with SRT when it comes to AIS devices, but the new Deep Sea CLB100 has its own extra heavy-duty case. Note how port labels, a wire color table, fuse size, and even the tech support phone number are all printed clearly on the case. Nice.
And, finally, I got an email recently from a Dutch start-up called Watcheye Navigation. They too seem to be marketing SRT AIS hardware, but they can pair it with Stentec's WingGPS charting software and they've also developed their own iPad AIS app, seen below. Watcheye also created a useful guide about how to transmit AIS over a laptop's own WiFi, but it's a little challenging because the screen shots are in Dutch.
Chris, the Em Trak B100 definitely has N2K output, and the evidence suggests that is based on SRT's Cobalt Class B technology. I think the other two Class B transponders shown are based on the previous generation SRT circuit boards.
The Em Trak 100 looks great - I just wish it was a transmitter as well. I guess what I am looking for is an reasonably priced Class B, N2k transponder.
Chris, the Em Trak B100 is a transponder, which of course means that it is a transmitter and a dual channel receiver; the R100 is 'just' a dual channel receiver. Both have USB, NMEA 0183, and NMEA 2000 outputs.
You are right - I was looking at the link you provided above, and did not notice it was for a different product! Sorry about the confusion. I will Keep an eye out for when it comes on the market - hopefully at an attractive price!
I remembered that there's another AIS device that can be powered by USB, and that's the Vesper WatchMate 850 transponder. It won't transmit when powered that way, and the screen is dimmer, but it can still be used as a full on AIS receiver and GPS, which might be handy. Vesper, incidentally, designs its own AIS hardware, and its latest products have a built in anchor alarm: http://goo.gl/x1rVg
Also, I left a phone message with Em Trak yesterday morning but haven't heard back.
Based on the data and specifications for the EM-TRAK R100, I don't see that the device has an NMEA-2000 interface. The R100 appears to have only an NMEA-0183 interface and a USB interface.
Also, the instruction manual does not mention USB drivers that are compatible with MacOS.
Thanks, Jim! You are absolutely right, the R100 does not have an N2K port, and I've corrected the text above. I must have gotten the brochures confused.
I've got one an answer on my questions.
Rest, about pricing, is coming
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The B100 will be launched to market the end of July 2011
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Posted by: Hendrik at June 20, 2011 1:13 PM |Reply
Hi Ben and readers. If you look at the Em-Trak site, you will spot virtually ALL SRT's AIS offerings, some changed cosmetically a little as you say. If you dig further, like into who owns En-Trak, you find out that it is SRT! Or at least 3 of their current directors! So despite the fact that many hard-working OEM clients have paid them considerable sums as license fees to use their technology inside OEM products, having received promises that SRT want to be a technology-enabler like 'Intel Inside' and would never compete directly in the market, here they are doing just that! Their technology is good, but as for the rest.....
Sigh. If SRT is competing with its clients, then its a given their products will be a bit pricier than others, to preserve a market share for SRT's principle business, OEM. If not the market will shrink to just those who develop their own boards. How predatory will SRT be?
I had hoped that AIS B pricing would drop to the "Why not?" threshold; crossing crises would drop from routine to rare, and even the bandit boaters would have them.
Posted by: Sandy Daugherty in reply to Anon at June 23, 2011 12:18 PM |Reply
Still no price.
Suppose I connect a actisense to my ctrx to make it nmea2000
hendrik
Posted by: Hendrik at June 29, 2011 12:41 PM |Reply
West Marine has the B100 listed on-line at $499.99, although they don't have any in stock. Port Supply is a good deal less.
I know there was a debate about using your VHF antenna for both VHF and AIS, and how the old Raymarine AIS 500 model had a built in splitter ... but many believed the loss due to the splitter was large and didn't want to limit there VHF in anyway ...
But did anyone see the S100 by em-trak ... they seem to say it is an amplified "zero-loss" insertion splitter for AIS and VHF (though I wish they had SO-239 instead of BNC as the AIS connector ... which is easily adaptable).
I have to believe the new Raymarine AIS 650, with an ICOM M604 VHF, both connected to a em-trak S100 ... and then up the mast with some high quailty low-loss cable to a nice antenna might be one awesome AIS / VHF solution.
Posted by: Matt S. at July 30, 2011 3:25 PM |Reply
Xanatos Marine has the em-trak B100's on their online store for $499.99 and are in-stock... just got mine ordered today!
www.xanatosmarine.com
Posted by: knot@work at August 30, 2011 8:07 PM |Reply
The EM-TRAK R100 AIS receiver has been listed in the West Marine catalogue for some time, but with a notation of "out of stock" and a price of around $190. I noticed that just recently the status changed to "in stock" but the price has been increased to $220.
we are using the transponder version - the B100 - since some weeks onboard with OpenCPN (on WinXP in that case). There have been some quirks with the USB connection but em-trak ironed those out in the meantime. Very responsive support team by the way.
Hubert
Posted by: Hubert at December 4, 2011 4:09 AM |Reply
Hi Jim,
That's a great article about installing and using your new AIS receiver. Thanks for linking.
I was going to suggest that you share your receive data on one of the Web AIS trackers, but found that the Detroit area is already pretty well covered at MarineTraffic.com. There are two north bound ships about to go under the Ambassador Bridge right now! You may enjoy checking it out. I sure wish my area was covered like yours.
At our Portland Yacht Club education dock this AM (the OTHER Portland, although named after yours) our WM guest speaker was describing the Em-Trek B-100, now in stock. I drove by WM afterwards and had a look.
It's a class B transceiver with an SD card slot. Very nice packaging, and you can buy it and take it away, and install it immediately as receive-only. To activate the transmitter you go to their website and enter a purchase password, your MMSI, vessel and owner data, then they send you an SD card with all info needed to program the unit. Stick it in the card slot, and once the unit is programmed (instructions seemed dead simple) a green light appears and the SD card is erased. You're good to go.
Very nice packaging, plastic case, easy mounting, not waterproof but that doesn't concern me. A silent mode. Price is a little over $500. I wonder if anyone has had personal experience with one, good or bad, before I lay out my credit card?
Posted by: Larry Brandt at March 24, 2012 6:42 PM |Reply
I have not tried one, Larry, but I suspect it's a fine Class B and a good value. I also think that it's a close relative to the Raymarine AIS650 ( http://goo.gl/qlo31 ) and note that the 650 manual describes the same slick SD card vessel configuration. Note also the SD card can also log voyage info, though I'm not sure what the format is or what software can read it. I'd like to try either or both of these 3rd generation transponders myself but would also welcome a reader review.
Thanks for the information on the post-sale programming of the em-trak B100 AIS Class-B Transponder. I was wondering how the manufacturer was going to implement the FCC requirement that AIS Class B transponders in the USA cannot be program by the owner with their static data, as PANBO explained in
I purchased an Em-Trak B100 and have had endless problems since its install, and no solutions as yet from their tech support. It is connected to my computer via the Provided USB cord. It appears to be working fine, but eventually starts dropping targets. Over a matter of sometimes 20 minutes and sometimes 2 hours I loose complete contact with the AIS. This has happened on two different computers one running XP with VNS10.7 and another running Windows 7 with Odyssey. I have also ran their software ProAIS2 on both computers all with the same result. The only way to reset everything is to reboot the computer. I have also had problems with the SD card logging. I used an SD card to upgrade the B100 software as per tech support. This worked. I then tried logging data for tech support. The B100 did not acknowledge the SD card. I reformatted the card and tried again. It started ok created the dat file but then started cycling through the LED lights end result no data.
I have a B100 and S100 in for testing and to get them installed on Giizmo next week. The B100 already did fine powering on USB and connecting with ProAIS2 for programming.
I've had contact daily with tech support for about 10 days. Today a tech phoned me from England. They are convinced that the B100 was rebooting either because of a fault or a power interruption. I'm confident that my power source and wiring is stable so that leaves the unit. The USB connection gets screwed up with the reboot. I have not tried wiring the NMEA output to a RS232 plug because I purchased this product for the USB connection. I suspect that had I wired it using NMEA 0183 the problem would never have revealed itself.
Another B100 was shipped to me late this afternoon from the local supplier. Hopefully this is the end of the problem.
Ian
Posted by: Anonymous in reply to Ben E at May 31, 2012 11:55 PM |Reply
A noobie question.
Are there any compatibility issues to be understood in selecting an AIS transponder/transceiver with N2k capability to work with my Simrad NSS MFD? My first thought is that n2k is n2k and there should be no issues but just wanted to ask people who are much smarter than am I.
That is a hard question because it still does not have a satisfactory answer. Please talk to Simrad support and report back. There are a few n2k Class B AIS transponders now and I think they will all work fine except for one thing: no Navico MFD will show the Class B static data (like the boat's name). They do not support AIS message 24. In their PGN list you will see 129039 and 129040 but not 129809 and 129810. Kees determined that the NAIS-300 uses the proprietary PGN 130842, but the NSS does not list that either. The Simrad AI50 spec also only lists only 129039 and 129040 and not 129809 and 129810 (or 130842).
Another option is to use a non-n2k AIS and use the Actisense n2k-0183 gateway to connect. The ngw-1-iso-ais converts AIS data and the ngw-1-iso can also convert it with a firmware update. But will the NSS display the Class B static data?
AIS message 19 is interesting. It is supposed to be for Class B and have some static data. (PGN 129040). But according to wikipedia: "This message was designed for the SOTDMA protocol, and is too long to be transmitted as CSTDMA" (too long for Class B equipment). So that is why message 24 was added later and two more PGNs were needed. I can't explain why Navico hasn't updated their firmware yet.
Posted by: norse in reply to ereiss at June 6, 2012 4:06 AM |Reply
Norse describes the unusual Navico PGN issue pretty well, except that my recollection is that it only pertains to the Navico transponders, not the displays. I'm not sure of that, though, but it happens I have an NSS8, an NSE12 and new Em-Trak B100 all about to install on Gizmo, so please stand by...
Posted by: Ben E in reply to ereiss at June 6, 2012 9:55 AM |Reply
That makes two questions.
Which Class B n2k transponders fully support the new PGNs?
Which Class B n2k transponders work with Navico MFDs?
There was one report of a Lowrance HDS display showing Class B static data from a non-Navico transponder. I have the latest HDS (gen1) update and it does not work for me, so I think it was mistaken. I don't know anything about the NSS except what I read in the manual, but the supported PGN list does not look good for AIS Class B. I look forward to more user reports.
Posted by: norse in reply to Ben E at June 6, 2012 1:40 PM |Reply
I received the following response from Simrad:
I checked nmea.org and do not see the B100 on a list of certified products, nor does EM Trak list the PGN's for N2K in their manual, there is no guarantee that the N2K connection would work flawlessly. Best bet for fool proof connection would be via NMEA 0183 output at 38,400bd into the NMEA 0183 input of the NSS.
When I went to the nmea site I found it had been certified.
em-trak Marine Electronics
Forum 3 Parkway
Solent Business Park (Whiteley)
Fareham, PO15 7FH
United Kingdom
www.em-trak.com
427
em-trak B100
Certification Level: B
Software Version: 0402000.01.00.xx
Hardware Version: 1
Model #: B100
Date Certified: 6/8/2011
AIS Class B Transceiver
Right, it's been certified for a year, as I mentioned in the entry above! But actually the PGNs a device transmits and receives is not part of the certification process -- it would get far too complex -- though a certified product is supposed to have them listed in the manual or online. Em-trak seems to have failed in that department but I'd be extremely surprised if it didn't output all the standard N2K AIS PGNs.
The only reason the early N2K transponders from Navico didn't send a standard Class B Static Data PGNs is because the NMEA was slow to write them (though that doesn't explain why Navico didn't fix them after the PGNs became official).
At any rate, my follow up question to Simrad would simply be, "If an AIS transponder or receiver outputs standard NMEA 2000 PGNs for Class A and Class B dynamic and static data, will the NSS understand it."
It will probably be Friday or later before I can test this myself.
Posted by: Ben E in reply to ereiss at June 6, 2012 10:05 PM |Reply
The em-trak PGNs are online and are the up-to-date ones. See my message which is stuck in moderation (too many links?)
Simrad's suggestion to use NMEA 0183 would certainly work, but it doesn't answer the question about which n2k PGNs the NSS can understand.
Posted by: norse in reply to Ben E at June 7, 2012 1:40 AM |Reply
You're right, Norse; your earlier comment -- which is a great piece research -- was stuck in the spam folder. It's up now (above) and won't happen again, though, as I raised both your "trust" level and the number of links that define a spam comment.
However, you didn't seem to find an Em-Trak PGN list either. I'll bug them (and Raymarine) about this, as I'm sure they don't want to be out of NMEA 2000 compliance ;-), and I'll also get on my own testing. I fear I missed an annoying but very fixable issue here. Good work, Norse!
Posted by: Ben E in reply to norse at June 7, 2012 5:57 AM |Reply
Sorry about misremembering the em-trak results. To make up for that, I have found the Raymarine AIS650 PGN list. Their EU site was easier to search for manuals. The doc says the AIS650 does support the new Class B PGNs and it does not list support for the outdated 129040 PGN.
Posted by: norse in reply to Ben E at June 7, 2012 1:22 PM |Reply
aargh... The US Raymarine site does have the AIS650 install manual but it leaves out the PGN table, even though the two (different) documents have the same title and document number and date. There is a slight difference in the file name: the US one is 87140-2.pdf, the EU English version is 87140-2-EN.pdf
(In the non-English versions it's in section 2.6)
Posted by: norse in reply to norse at June 7, 2012 1:37 PM |Reply
Norse, you have already earned yourself a distinctive Panbo hat (please email USPS address), but what about Digital Yacht and Vesper? Plus I just learned that Si-Tex has an N2K Class B too. It was probably made in the same factory as the Em-Trak but it has a handy internal GPS antenna and is priced similarly:
Posted by: Ben E in reply to norse at June 7, 2012 3:43 PM |Reply
To conclude my earlier post of the problem I was having with the B100 the continuous random rebooting of the unit continued even with a replacement unit . Needless to say after exhaustive diagnostics, I've given up on the product and returning it for a refund. It's back to the drawing board on finding a replacement.
As a recap, I kept loosing the pc connection on the USB. It turned out that the unit is randomly rebooting and locking up the USB port. Tech support thought that my power supply was causing the reboots. I eliminated that possibility by rewiring the power supply. Tech support also thought it might be a fault with the antenna during transmissions although the signal was 1.3:1 as recommended and the reboots continued even when the transmitter was turned off. These random reboots are not readily apparent (unless you stare at the LED's) if you are connected via NMEA0183 through a serial port as it is not as sensitive as the USB connections but the unit is still rebooting. Using the NMEA 0183 connection gave me stable data (with the exception of an occasional reboot) on Nobeltec Odyssey, but I could not complete the connection on ProASI2 as too much garbage was coming over ther serial connection. So there seemed to be a compatibility issue here as well.
Ian
Posted by: Anonymous in reply to Ben E at June 7, 2012 10:50 PM |Reply
I am using the Em-Trak B100 with Simnet and it displays static AIS data on my Zeus MFD. It also sends AIS data to Maxsea TZ on my PC via USB without any problems.
Posted by: Bruce in reply to Ben E at June 7, 2012 11:29 PM |Reply
Thanks Ben! Your challenge was very interesting -- there is lots of N2K AIS activity and the products look good and the search for info on new products always finds links back to Panbo.
The manual is only in Spanish (so far, I guess, new product)
The PGN list is on page 4 and it has all the Class B ones.
"the AIS200N2NET supports all of the latest AIS message types including AIS SARTs, AtoNs and base stations."
Digital Yacht AIT2000
"With two industry standard NMEA 0183 outputs, our own N2Net connector for plugging in to an NMEA 2000 network and a simple plug and play USB connection to a PC". no list though.
SI-TEX Metadata Class B Transceiver MDA-1
"Built in NMEA0183, USB and NMEA2000" http://www.si-tex.com/2012_SI-TEX%20retail%20price%20list%20Jan%20%201st%202012.pdf
It's on their 2012 price list (page 6), but the PR for it isn't even on their web site yet, much less the manuals.
Defender has this (as Ben noted above), no mention of PGNs supported though: http://www.defender.com/ftp/259096.pdf
"NMEA2000® Edition 2.20" -- this evidently includes all additions and corrections except possibly the AtoN PGN #129041
Posted by: norse in reply to Ben E at June 8, 2012 12:36 AM |Reply
Bruce, Are you sure your B&G Zeus (same as Simrad NSE) is seeing the static data being transmitted by Class B transponders? Norse's research indicates that it doesn't understand the Class B Static Data PGNs coming in from your B100 over SimNet/N2K, and Simrad seemed to confirm that in a support email to "ereiss" (the commenter above who brought this up).
Posted by: Ben E in reply to Bruce at June 8, 2012 5:41 AM |Reply
Bruce, there is no problem displaying AIS Class A static data over n2k, so my first question is are you sure you are seeing any Class B traffic and that the boat names are displayed for them? My second question is are you sure it's coming in by n2K? (other methods don't have this problem.) It's possible that your unit has an upgrade which hasn't made it into the documentation yet; we can always hope.
It does not list the new Class B PGNs, it only lists the old ones and the Navico proprietary ones.
It's just a simple matter of programming, so I don't understand why Navico doesn't get right on it.
Posted by: norse in reply to Bruce at June 8, 2012 1:12 PM |Reply
Norse, I'm sorry to report that so far your conclusions are validated. A Simrad NSS8 connected via SimNet/N2K to an Em-Trak B100 does not display Class B static data. Navico should be shamed about this, especially as I'm pretty sure they could be supporting both the N2K standard PGN and the proprietary one coming out of their own transponders. More to come...
norse, I doublechecked my Zeus and sure enough, it only displays class A AIS static data.
Posted by: Bruce in reply to norse at June 8, 2012 10:41 PM |Reply
Doh! The Raymarine e7 is not seeing Class B static data over N2K either. But I know that the Em-Trak BB100 is putting out good data because I can see in the Actisense NMEAReader and on Coastal Explorer. Hard to believe these guys didn't fix this!
Hmmm, the Raymarine AIS650 claims to support the E-series with n2k, but the E-series Installation Guide does not list the correct set of PGNs for that to happen. It only shows the old set of Class B PGNs. (page 109) http://www.raymarine.eu/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1324
Not all AIS units will decode all the available AIS information. For example, some AIS Class B receivers do not decode and output information such as the vessel’s name, IMO number, vessel draft / beam / length, and destination.
Some of that info is only sent by Class A units. I haven't heard of any Class B unit which does not decode and output Class B static information over NMEA0183, so we should not confuse AIS decoding and N2K output.
Posted by: norse in reply to Ben E at June 10, 2012 4:03 AM |Reply
Ben,
we are using the B100 since October 2011 first with OpenCPN 2.5 and since last week with OpenCPN 3.0
and there are no problems with Class B static data.
Btw.: you might give a try to OpenCPN 3.0 and AIS as it covers a lot of AIS functionalities
- AIS input with full target tracking and collision alerting.
- AIS support for SART, DSC and GPSGate Buddies.
- a neat AIS "radar style" plug-in for those who like this type of graphics
- AIS binary Area messages basic support
Posted by: Anonymous at June 10, 2012 5:05 AM |Reply
Norse, you're looking at the older E-Wide Series while I'm testing on the new e-Series, which I presumed would have this NMEA 2000 AIS issue straightened out. I presumed wrong! The manual, which applies to all the c- and e-Series, is here:
and the NMEA 2000 sentence (PGN) list is on page 270. PGNs 129809 and 129810 -- the part a & b Class B static data messages -- are not there. I'm going to do more experiments today but this is beginning to look like a terrible screw up.
Posted by: Ben E in reply to norse at June 10, 2012 9:58 AM |Reply
By the way, the c- and e-Series manual does not repeat that very odd warning about how some "AIS Class B receivers do not decode and output information such as the vessel’s name..." It would be true, however, to warn that some older Class A transponders do not decode and output the Class B static data message, though I think most of them are fixed now. That had nothing to do with NMEA 2000, except for the fact the change of the Class B static message led to NMEA being late with the equivalent PGN which led to some manufacturers inventing their own which led to the little mess we're seeing today...many years late. ARGH!
Posted by: Ben E in reply to norse at June 10, 2012 10:36 AM |Reply
The em-trak R100 AIS receiver does not have an SecureData memory card slot.
Posted by: Jim Hebert at June 17, 2015 8:21 AM |Reply
Jim is correct. The R100 does have a case indent that looks like the SD card cover on the Em-Trak B100 but it doesn't actually open.
Also, I'm not sure that there are many ways to use the log data that can be collected on the B100's SD card. I recall getting it to work with Coastal Explorer at one point, but I think it required a file name change. I was hoping that an MFD or two would learn how to read the file and replay a voyage with AIS targets, but don't think it happened. Anyone figure out a way to play back these files?
Posted by: Ben E in reply to Dindo at June 17, 2015 9:47 AM |Reply
The data from an em-trak R100 can be streamed into a navigation application like PolarView NS from Polar Navy and recorded into a log file. The log file contains the NMEA-0183 sentences sent from the em-trak R100 as ASCII text.
With PolarView NS the logged data can be played back and turned into a NMEA-0183 output storm. I have done this several times to test and compare how AIS data is displayed on different chart plotters.
See my article, AIS SHIP SPOTTING, and see the section under the subheading PolarCom Input-Output Features:
The article explains in detail how to log data to a file and how to replay the file and stream it to a NMEA-0183 output device. PolarView is particularly flexible in this regard. The article refers to a separate application, PolarCom. In the latest version of PolarView NS the features of PolarCom are integrated into the PolarView NS application.
Posted by: Jim Hebert at June 17, 2015 8:10 PM |Reply
Oops--meant to write:
With PolarView NS the logged data can be played back and turned into a NMEA-0183 output stream. (The spell checker in my new OS is driving my crazy with corrections like this.)
Also in the linked article you can see detailed images showing the interior of the em-trak R100 receiver components. I have been using this device for several years, mostly from my car or my house and not on a boat, and have been very pleased with it.
Posted by: Jim Hebert at June 17, 2015 8:15 PM |Reply
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at June 16, 2011 2:18 PM 
My Transas CTRX and Nais 300 also talk to Wingps for years, so nothing new there
hendrik