This is possible, too! If you already have a Wideband receiver or a marine VHF radiotelephone, you may use either of them to collect AIS data and send it to our central database, without having to buy a specialised AIS receiver. Follow these steps in order to do so:
- Tune your receiver to one of the following frequencies: 161,975 Mhz or 162,025 Mhz (FM modulation) or, if you operate a radiotelephone, tune it to channel 87. If there is any signal reception, you should be able to hear a "noise" repeated at very short intervals. This "noise" would be a raw AIS-transmitted message.
- Connect the discriminator output of your receiver to the input (line-in or microphone) of your computer.
- Install the "AISMon" software on your computer.
- Run the AISMon program, select the sound card of your PC and configure the UDP data output to: 5.9.207.224:5321
- View the ships - the signals of which you are receiving - directly on the AISMon's real-time map!
Note that in case your VHF device does not have a discriminator output available, you may tap into it. If you are interested in doing so, you may find more information and download a relevant DIY guide by following this link.