• because you will help the first free public spotter network. Be part of our community and help building a world wide coverage
• Because you will support an open 'community-based' project that provides free information for thousands interested parties and many ways to research maritime live
• Because you will use all functionalities of our site for free, for your area. Enjoy the real-time map, vessel tracks, and real time port traffic
• To put a real time map of your area, showing all vessel movements, in your own web site!
• To include yourselves in the list of our supporters. Ask us to acknowledge your participation in the project and to put a link to your personal or business web site
• To experiment with antennas, area coverage and ship watching if ships and/or amateur radio excite you as much as they excite us

• Any sea area in the world can be covered and shown on the real-time map. If you are located near an uncovered sea area (up to 10 miles from sea or more if at a high altitude), near a harbor or on top of a mountain (!) and you have a computer and any Internet connection always online, then you may start installing your AIS station.
• The VHF antenna need to be placed outside on a high vantage point in the area of interest. The higher the antenna is placed, the better the coverage range will be.

-->  then please read our Shipplotter Page for a "How To Share" description

Just install an AIS Kit and send us your data through any Internet connection.

The Installation Kit

The Digital-Seas Installation Kit provides all of the equipment required for adding a new area. The package combines all of the hardware and software needed to connect your port to the Digital-Seas network.
All that is required locally is a power source, a high outdoor location to place the VHF antenna and a permanent connection to the Internet. Once connected and configured the received information will be displayed on Digital-Seas.com and converted to different formats to include in your website or display it with Google Earth.

Digital-Seas could provide all the necessary equipment including a high quality AIS receiver, whip antenna, serial to Ethernet server, and cables.  Our team will come and install the equipment or ship it and walk you through the installation process. 

 

Equipment List

The Digital-Seas Installation Kit contains the following items and services:

1. AIS receiver.
This is a passive, receive only unit for which no frequency permit or transmission license is required. We currently supply the SR162 dual channel AIS receiver.

2. The Antenna
90 cm VHF whip antenna antenna with 10 metres of high quality LMR400 'low loss' antenna cable. An antenna mounting kit is also included.

3. the DIGI One SP RS-232 to TCP/IP converter
with 10 metres of Ethernet cable.  This device will transmit the AIS receiver's data to the Digital-Seas Internet server. No extra Computer, no power consuming devices. Always available, a very reliable device.

AIS receiver
Typ:
Dimensions : Length: 115mm, Width: 75mm,
Height: 28mm
Weight : 400g
Connectors : Antenna BNC
Output port: 9 pin D socket
 
VHF Whip Antenna
Typ:
Length: 90 cm

Serial2IP Converter
Typ: DIGI One SP RS 232 to TCP/IP converter
Dimensions: 9 x 5 x 2 cm
Weight: 0.1 kg
 
Power supply
Input: 110 240 V~ 50 60 Hz 0.5 Euro connector