Hippocampus
Guru
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2020
- Messages
- 4,182
- Location
- Plymouth
- Vessel Name
- Hippocampus
- Vessel Make
- Nordic Tug 42
Let’s step back for a moment.
You do blue water passage. So
You want to leave bread crumbs that others on land (or near land ) can follow.
You want to see the vessels around you and be seen by them.
If you get into trouble you want to yell for help and ideally talk to that help.
MarineTraffic purpose is not to serve any of these functions for the recreational user. It was developed as a tool for shipping companies and fleet operators. We are an epi phenomenon and don’t generate income for MT.
I don’t know of any recreational boat that depends on MT for any of the functions listed above. Going through them
That are a multitude of small inexpensive battery driven bread crumb devices. They are ubiquitous on BWBs. Even those with expansive electronic suites. It’s common to have several. One in continuous operation and another for the ditch bag left charged (also serves as a backup ). They’re so common that you see owner having one and one or more crew bringing theirs along. Might have several in operation at once.
AIS, radar and vhf serve for local awareness and comms.
Epirbs, satphones and even SSB serve for asking for help, getting weather, getting technical support and other long range communications. Particularly true when whole earth coverage is required. Starlink is currently a worthwhile supplement but just that a supplement. That may evolve further. Currently would view it as nice to have to decrease satellite communications expense as airtime is so expensive on traditional platforms.
Nowhere in this list is MT mentioned. Returning to the OP I think the premise of the request is misplaced. The OP is asking for a functionality from MT for which it wasn’t designed to have. Our experience is going from eastern Caribbean- New England you show up leaving, near Bermuda and again as you approach land fall reliably. You may pop up periodically when you are in proximity to major ships. Think that’s around 16nm depending upon how high your antenna is.
Would note the bead crumb devices are vey good and easy to use. Easy for anyone with access to check in anytime from anywhere to see where you are and the progress you’re making. Easy for you to set up a list of people you want to have monitoring you, your safety and progress in an ongoing fashion. When on passage we preselected a small number of people who monitored our bread crumbs at least twice a day. If they had any concerns they would call us on the Satphone. Once we failed to leave breadcrumbs. A phone call told us the battery was flat which was immediately addressed.
You do blue water passage. So
You want to leave bread crumbs that others on land (or near land ) can follow.
You want to see the vessels around you and be seen by them.
If you get into trouble you want to yell for help and ideally talk to that help.
MarineTraffic purpose is not to serve any of these functions for the recreational user. It was developed as a tool for shipping companies and fleet operators. We are an epi phenomenon and don’t generate income for MT.
I don’t know of any recreational boat that depends on MT for any of the functions listed above. Going through them
That are a multitude of small inexpensive battery driven bread crumb devices. They are ubiquitous on BWBs. Even those with expansive electronic suites. It’s common to have several. One in continuous operation and another for the ditch bag left charged (also serves as a backup ). They’re so common that you see owner having one and one or more crew bringing theirs along. Might have several in operation at once.
AIS, radar and vhf serve for local awareness and comms.
Epirbs, satphones and even SSB serve for asking for help, getting weather, getting technical support and other long range communications. Particularly true when whole earth coverage is required. Starlink is currently a worthwhile supplement but just that a supplement. That may evolve further. Currently would view it as nice to have to decrease satellite communications expense as airtime is so expensive on traditional platforms.
Nowhere in this list is MT mentioned. Returning to the OP I think the premise of the request is misplaced. The OP is asking for a functionality from MT for which it wasn’t designed to have. Our experience is going from eastern Caribbean- New England you show up leaving, near Bermuda and again as you approach land fall reliably. You may pop up periodically when you are in proximity to major ships. Think that’s around 16nm depending upon how high your antenna is.
Would note the bead crumb devices are vey good and easy to use. Easy for anyone with access to check in anytime from anywhere to see where you are and the progress you’re making. Easy for you to set up a list of people you want to have monitoring you, your safety and progress in an ongoing fashion. When on passage we preselected a small number of people who monitored our bread crumbs at least twice a day. If they had any concerns they would call us on the Satphone. Once we failed to leave breadcrumbs. A phone call told us the battery was flat which was immediately addressed.
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