Port of Adelaide

[johnmw1]

Hi,

I have been watching the ongoing developments of AirNav ShipTrax for quite some time and have always thought that I would love to buy the system when it finally hits the market.

I have been an avid ship spotter since the early seventies and have been fortunate to have done 5 world cruises in my time.

I live in Adelaide which is the subject of my question. Adelaide is not exactly renowned for its huge amounts of ship traffic particularly cruise ship traffic. As a matter of fact I think Adelaide was one of only two ports in the world where potable water could not be taken on in the day, thankfully at least our water quality has improved.

Given my geographic location, what sort of distance can one expect to be able to cover in a live view, or in my instance would it be like watching paint dry?

Cheers,
John

[AirNav Support]

Hi johnmw1,

Do you have a view of the ocean and port from where your antenna will be placed?

[johnmw1]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I'm approx 3 or 4Km from the coast and maybe 12Km as the crow flies from the Port of Adelaide.

Cheers,
John

[tarbat]

A useful tool for deciding what coverage you might get is at http://www.heywhatsthat.com/main-0904.html

I put in your approximate location to get this:



So, looks like you have a good chance of reception.

For comparison, here's my polar chart using the ShipTrax receiver & software, where I'm over over 22km from Invergordon with NO line-of-sight, but get excellent coverage of the port.  I use a discone antenna in the loft, so not ideal!!

[johnmw1]

Hi Tarbat,

Thanks for the reply. I have just spent the last hour playing around with that link you posted. To be honest I have no idea what I was doing and certainly I could not replicate what you presented. :-) But hey that coverage almost or does reach the other side of the gulf for me.

For what its worth I'm pretty well at sea level + a metre or two at most.

You mentioned about your antenna, assuming from that comment I gather there are different types of antennas that can be connected to ship trax.

Once connected to the system I gather I can see what ship movements there are in Sydney for instance or anywhere else in the world for that matter?

Cheers,
John

[AirNav Support]

Hi johnmw1,

If there sharing on our network then yes. Just had quick look for you and no one in Sydney was online but there was in Melbourne.

[johnmw1]

Thanks AirNav support.

Does that also mean that there is no-one in Adelaide also sharing their info, or simply because the system is so new that there are not many users as yet?

Sorry for all the noob questions, I'm just still trying to get me head around it all.

Cheers,
John

[tarbat]

Does that also mean that there is no-one in Adelaide also sharing their info, or simply because the system is so new that there are not many users as yet?

It means that there are no users of any AIS receiver contributing to AISHUB.  Airnav take a feed from AISHUB for the ShipTrax network.  Coverage details for AISHUB at http://www.aishub.net/aiscoverage.html

You can get some idea of the shipping in your area by going to http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?centerx=138.4955&centery=-34.8005&zoom=10
This shows that users TREVOR and VK5AKK is providing an AIS feed in Adelaide.

[johnmw1]

Hi Tarbat,

Again, many thanks for enlightening me.

Must admit to spending a fair amount of yesterday looking at antenna designs, not sure why cause I still don't understand too much of it, and in my instance not sure of what type I should really be concentrating on given my almost sea level status?

There seem to be a few different web sites around all showing similar info. Looking in Vessel Finder for instance why for a ship such as QM2 would she have only had a last known position of Jan 29 and headed towards Mauritius? I'm guessing it means there is no AIS station in that area, and that she will be due in Fremantle in a day or so and that her position will again be updated?

Too many questions I know. :-)

Cheers,
John

[jannuh]

Hi,

VHF has only a limited distance in which you can receive ais messages; so when leaving Mauritius after 40-60 nm it ends till coming near its next port.
Some ships sent ais data to their own website or marinetraffic when on sea, but internet via sat costs a lot of money, so you wont see that much...

VHF antenna: you don't need a special marine antenna, almost any antenna (not mobile) is fine for ais reception; a HAM antenna for 2 meter band (144 mHz) is great.
Just mount it as high as possible and use good quality coax cable, RG213 or better (Aircell / Aircom etc.)

GL

[johnmw1]

Hi Jannuh,

Thanks for that explanation of why I see big gaps in ships AIS info and as to when they last reported. It makes sense that they could be sending the info directly back to home base or marinetraffic etc.
This would also probably account for why I don't seem to be able to track most of the P&O fleet and their exact last known positions.

Antenna wise I'm almost convinced that because of my almost 0 Mt ASL that I may need to invest (or make) an appropriate antenna for best possible reception as I don't think even mounting it up on my roof would be high enough as there are likely a lot of obstacles between me and the ships or port.

Cheers,
John