161.975 AND 162.025 MHZ, ABOUT AIS, ISLE OF WIGHT AIS, IOW AIS, AIS CHANNELS, AIS COWES HARBOUR, AIS DECODER, AIS DETAILS, AIS DECODING PROGRAM, AIS DECODING SOFTWARE, AIS ENGLISH CHANNEL, AIS EQUIPMENT, AIS FAWLEY, AIS FOR BEGINNERS, AIS FREQUENCIES, AIS FREQUENCY, AIS INFORMATION, AIS ISLE OF WIGHT, AIS LIVE, AIS MAP LOG, AIS MESSAGE FORMAT, AIS MESSAGES, AIS ON WARSHIPS AND NAVAL VESSELS, AIS POOLE, AIS PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR, AIS PROGRAM, AIS SHIP TRACKING, AIS SOFTWARE, AIS SOUND CLIPS, AIS SOUTH COAST, AIS SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS, AIS SOUTHAMPTON WATER, AIS SPITHEAD, AIS ST.HELENS, AIS VIDEO CLIP, AIS WEBSITE, AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM, BEGINNERS GUISE TO AIS, CHEAP AIS, CLASS A MESSAGES, CLASS B MESSAGES, COMMERCIAL AIS, CRUISE SHIP LOCATIONS, CURRENT SHIP POSITIONS, DECODE AIS, DECODING AIS, DETAILED GUIDE TO AIS (PDF DOCUMENT), DO IT YOURSELF AIS, EXPLANATION OF AIS, GETTING STARTED WITH AIS, GUIDE TO AIS, HOW TO DECODE, HOW TO RECEIVE AIS, IMO NUMBER, INFORMATION ABOUT AIS, INTERNATIONAL MARINE CHANNELS 87 AND 88, ITU REGISTER, LEISURE CRAFT AIS, LIVE AIS COWES HARBOUR, LIVE AIS ENGLISH CHANNEL, LIVE AIS FAWLEY, LIVE AIS ISLE OF WIGHT, LIVE AIS PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR, LIVE AIS SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS, LIVE AIS SPITHEAD, LIVE AIS ST.HELENS, LIVE AIS WEBSITE, LIVE RADAR SOUTHAMPTON VTS, LIVE SHIP POSITIONS, LOW COST AIS, MARITIME AIS VESSEL REQUIREMENTS, MESSAGE FORMAT, MESSAGE FREQUENCY, MESSAGE TIMING, MMSI NUMBERS, MONITORING AIS, MOVIE CLIP OF AIS IN ACTION, MOVIE CLIP OF SHIPPLOTTER, MOVIE OF CONTAINER SHIP ENTERING SOUTHAMPTON ON AIS, SOUTHAMPTON AIS SHIP TRACKER NAUTICAST, NAVAL SHIP AIS, PAST SHIP POSITION LOG, PICTURES OF SHIPS, PRESENT SHIP POSITIONS, RAW AIS MESSAGES, REAL TIME PLOTS OF AIS SIGNALS, REAL TIME SHIP POSITIONS, REAL TIME SHIP TRACKING, RECEIVING AIS, SHIP LIST, SHIP PHOTO LOG, SHIP SPOTTING, SHIP TRACKING, SHIP WATCHING, SHIPPLOTTER PROGRAM, SHIPPLOTTER SCREEN SHOT, SHIPPLOTTER SOFTWARE, SHIPPLOTTER SOFTWARE, SHIPS AT ANCHOR, SHIPS IN DOCK, SHIPS IN PORT, SHIPS IN PORT, SHIPS IN PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR, SHIPS IN SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS, SHIPS UNDERWAY, SOLENT AIS PHOTO LOG, SOLENT AIS PICTURE LOG, SOLENT SHIP PHOTO LOG, SOLENT SHIP PHOTOGRAPHS, SOLENT SHIP PHOTOS, SOLENT SHIP PICTURES, SOLENT SHIP POSITIONS, SOLENT SHIP TRACKING, SOLENT SHIPPING DETAILS, SOUND CLIPS OF AIS SIGNALS, AIS TRANSMISSION SOUND CLIP, EXAMPLE OF WHAT AIS SOUNDS LIKE, SOUNDS OF AIS SIGNALS IN AM AND FM MODES, WHAT DOES AIS SOUND LIKE, SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS SHIP POSITIONS, SOUTHAMPTON VTS LIVE RADAR, SPOOF AIS TRANSMISSIONS, RECEIVING AIS, TANKER POSITIONS, TRANSPONDER, USING A VHF SCANNER FOR AIS DECODING, VESSEL REGULATIONS, VESSEL REQUIREMENTS, VESSELS IN PORT, VHF CHANNEL 87, VHF CHANNEL 88, VTS SOUTHAMPTON LIVE RADAR SCREEN SHOT, VTS TAGGED RADAR IMAGE, WARSHIP AIS, WHAT AIS SOUNDS LIKE, WORLD SHIP REGISTER,
The list of ships currently on the maps is taken from the same data that is used to plot the ships on the AIS maps and will therefore update at the same time. Don’t forget that this is just a list of ships with operational AIS. Many of the smaller ships are not fitted with AIS, or it might have malfunctioned or a member of the crew may just have forgotten to turn it on! Ships shown are within a distance of 30 miles from Southampton are updated every minute and ships in the English Channel are updated every 10 minutes. I rely on sharing data with other AIS users for ships greater than 30 miles from Southampton, and if they are not sharing at the time, distant ships will not be listed. As with the maps, always keep your eye on the last update time to make sure you are looking at a recent list. It can happen that there is a recent update time shown but no list displayed. Unless my system has crashed, this is because there are contentions in my system due to simultaneous tasks, and the list should re appear in a minute or two. DON’T TRUST THE AIS DATA. Parameters such as the ships name, vessel type, size (length, breadth and draught in meters), call sign, destination and ETA are entered by a member of the ships crew and sometimes they forget, or just do not do it. Sometimes the destination is the last port of call because the crew has not entered the latest information. They of course can also enter the wrong information. The direction and speed are taken directly from the vessels navigation system so is usually correct. This does however lead to an anomaly, in that sometimes when the tide turns and under windy conditions, vessels at anchor will show in the ‘Ships Underway’ section for a short period of time due the movement of the ship. Local traffic does not update some of the parameters or just put in fixed destinations such as PORTSMOUTH - RYDE. You can manually refresh it at any time by clicking where is says ‘refresh’ at the top left of the page. The ships are listed alphabetically except for new ships which are added to the bottom of the lists. As the ships name is not transmitted so frequently as the ships name, new ships may only display an MMSI number with a nationality code until the ships name is transmitted. Sometimes fictitious rogue ships may appear for a few days. No, I do not know why this is.
Abbreviations that may appear in the list:
HORSETAIL DA - Horsetail dredging area
SOTON - Southampton
NAB T PS - Nab Tower Pilot Station
PMTH - Portsmouth
FBN - Fishbourne
FISHBN - Fishbourne
LYM - Lymington
YAR - Yarmouth
NAB351 and AREA340 - Aggregate dredging areas
WHF - Wharf
NB - Nab Bank (dredging)
GBFAW - Fawley
GBSOU - Southampton
Haz A - Major hazard
Haz B - Hazard
Haz C - Minor Hazard
Haz D - Recognisable hazard
DVR-CQF 90MIN X-ING - 90 minute channel crossing from Dover
To find out more about a particular ship, just select and copy the callsign of the ship you want, then go ‘World Ship Register Seach’ or ‘ITU Register’ (both under the ‘ Ship Registers’ tab on the top navigation bar) and paste the callsign into the callsign field.