software

I am already using Shipplotter software. How can I contribute?

If you have already a receiving station and you are using the ShipPlotter software to process and publish your data, then you may easily send us your data without interrupting at all your current setup. Just configure the ShipPlotter to additionally send the data to our server.
Go to 'I/O settings' and locate the 'UDP peer-to-peer output section'. Enable the output to Remote IP '195.251.168.18', Remote port 5321. That's all.
The same settings may apply to many other chart-plotter programs capable to process AIS messages.

I already have a wideband or a VHF receiver. Can I use it to collect AIS data?

If you already have a wideband receiver or a marine VHF radiotelephone, it is possible to use it to collect AIS data and send them to the central server, without buying a specialized AIS receiver. You have to follow the steps below:

• Tune your receiver at one of the frequencies 161,975 MHz or 162,025 MHz (with FM modulation) or if you operate a VHF radiotelephone, tune it at channel 87. If there is AIS signal reception, you will hear a ‘noise’ repeated at very short periods.
• Connect the discriminator output of your receiver to the input (line-in or microphone) of your computer (for more information on discriminator output of receivers see http://www.discriminator.nl).
• Install the software AIS_Monitor in your computer from here: AISMon_2.2.0.exe (Thanks to Dave Houy: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aismon/)
• Run the AISmon program, select the sound card of your PC and configure the UDP data output to 195.251.168.18:5351. See the ships you are receiving immediately on the real-time map!