My friend is off to Rio' - http://www.yachtcharlatan.co.nz/.

Added live pages for all sites.

Not a week goes by without some email contact about the web site. This email was particularly interesting:

GOOD MORNING SIR,

WE ARE WRITING FROM SPANISH DETACHMENT IN OPERATION ATALANTA LOCATED IN DJIBOUTI. WE ARE VERY INTERESTED IN INTERNET WEBS PAGES LIKE YOURS THAT COVER OUR ZONE, HORN OF AFRICA GULF OF ADEN AND SOMALIA, IF YOU KNOW THE EXISTENCE OF THIS PAGES PLEASE CONTACT US WITH THE LINKAGE, THIS INFORMATION COULD BE VERY IMPORTANT FOR US.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, AND WARMEST REGARDS.

OPERATION ATALANTA, DJIBOUTI

Added a new set of directional icons to the site. Not sure how much I like them but I'll leave them on there for the moment. I have provided extra functionality to fallback on to the blobs if required.

The site has undergone a complete re-write and now uses Java technology running Apache Tomcat.

Ooops

Welcome back Vancouver.

It's also been another excellent day day for radio propagation as can be seen from the image below..

Vancouver off-line due to a hardware problem with the Smart Radio SR161.

Hacker Attack!

For the complete story see either: HackerAttack1.pdf or HackerAttack1.doc.

We had some pretty high winds last night. The local weather forecasts suggested winds of 60 Knots. My new antenna took the brunt of it and now seems to have a permanent kink. The lower section contains a length of dowel that I think saved it from certain destruction.

The port of Felixstowe didn't do so well. A ship - the Zhen Hua 23 - loaded with cranes broke free and took out two dock side cranes! For some interesting pictures look here.

Added base station information, currently shown in white.

It is not everyday that you see a ship at Great Oakley! The ship is probably making a delivery to Exchem Aditives. The village has a history associated with explosives and I understand that Exchem Aditives still deal with explosives to this day. For more information about how to get a ship to Great Oakley read the report located here.

It's been another excellent day day for radio propagation as can be seen from the image below. The site also identified 108 new vessels in 24 hours.

It's been a good day for radio propagation as can be seen from the image below. Normally I see the Stena Hollandica in Harwich not 108 nautical miles away in Holland! The site also identified 66+ new vessels in 24 hours.

The next picture also taken today show just how busy the North Sea can get!

When does a vessel disappear?

The signals sent out by the vessels seem to be a little erratic or at least they appear to be erratic. From some vessels I may get a message every few minutes, other I may get messages every 40 minutes. How do I decide that a vessel is no longer within view and hence not shown on the map?

I initially did this by looking at the time of the last message received, if it was less than 30 minutes ago then I assume that it is still there and show the vessel at the last given latitude and longitude. The more I think about this the less I like it as some vessels seem to flicker, sometimes they are there and some times they are not. Then they come back again!

To overcome this problem I'm going to change the algorithm so that a vessel will be displayed if a message has been received within the last 30 minutes or a message has been received within the last 60 minutes and the last reported position was within 30 nautical miles. This may just reduce the flickering by giving a larger window in which the vessel may be seen.

The new antenna seems to be better!

Made a new external antenna. A Super J-Pole designed for 161 Mhz formed from 15mm copper pipe. It seems to be giving better coverage but I'm not sure how it will stand up to a good blow. I have inserted a length of dowel in the lower section to add extra strengh.

Added calendar support. There must be some bugs in there somewhere but only time will tell.

Added links from MMSI numbers to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) search web page.

Started to record the dates on which vessels are seen. The plan is to display a calendar of when ships were visible. This should allow pattern spotting to happen. For the moment the dates seen are simply listed.

On the details pages a link has been provided to show the last known position.

Added navigational status, moored, at anchor etc where applicable.

Added tool tips to the markers to show the vessel name where known.

Added Latitude and Longitude of the cursor along with the distance / range from cursor to the antenna.

Added a details page with the intention of providing pictures - eventually.

Added links to Ipswich Marina, Shotley Marina, Levington Marina, and Woolverstone Marina.

Added a new external antenna. A simple J-Pole designed for 161 Mhz formed around a length of 15 mm diameter pipe enclosed within a length of 32 mm diameter pipe. It certainly seems to have made a difference. The previous one was hanging from the curtain rail!

Added code and links to allow the map to focus on Ipswich, Harwich and Manningtree.