<John wrote in part: but there are still plenty of commercial tows and other big boats without it which are sailing both inshore and offshore!> We too see many ships that should be carrying AIS according to the IMO standards but aren't. I wonder if this is a oversight on the part of the shipping companies or a direct avoidance of following the rules. Is there anyway of reporting a ship that is "missing" an AIS signature? OTOH we wouldn't be without it now that we've used for over a year. We upgraded to a Class B transponder in June and tho most ships still can't read the full class B data stream, which is another enforcement issue re software upgrades, all the ships we do talk with see at least a part of our data. Still a lot of holes in the implementation, enforcement of the carriage requirements and need to keep it upgraded, IMHO. As always YMMV... Dave & Nancy Swan Song Roughwater 58

You could call the USCG on the radio. You might even find doing so causes the missing AIS to magically come on by remote control! :-) Keith _____ When your photo is taken for your driver's license, why do they tell you to smile? If you are stopped by the police and asked for your license , are you going to be smiling? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Cooper" <swansong@gmn-usa.com> > > Is there anyway of reporting a ship that is "missing" an AIS signature?