June 8, 2005 05:06
GPSNavX Wrote:Quote:You need the MMSI number so that you can DSC VHF radio the vessel if you're in a potential collision situation...
Have any of you actually entered a MMSI number into your radios and communicated wtih the vessel? I believe most communication is still originated with vessel name or call sign.
I doubt many will go to the trouble to connect their VHF radios to their Mac's (Yet another USB port needed) even if there is a NMEA command to contact via a MMSI number.
Interesting account of a yacht using the MMSI feature here. These are not situations we'll all be in, but having been through the Straits of Gibraltar at night in 1984 (before all this lovely gadgetry), tacking up the separation zone between the ship channels, I would love to have had an AIS:
http://www.motorboating.com/motorboat/el...19,00.html