Vesper AIS Transponder Install and Setup for OpenCPN and NASA GPS Repeater – Jan 2019

I purchased a new XB-6000 AIS Class B Transponder manufactured by the New Zealand company, Vesper Marine.

The install on Halo went well. The XB-6000 uses its own internal GPS antenna. For VHF reception and transmission we connected it to our existing backup VHF antenna which is attached to the push-pit of the boat.

The NMEA 0183 serial data 38400 kHz output with AIS and GPS data is now being used as the primary GPS source for our NMEA4WIFI multiplexer, which in turn feeds via WiFi to the OpenCPN chartplotter on my Windows laptop. The NASA GPS Repeater instrument gets its data from the serial output port on the multiplexer. See the document ‘NMEA Data Schematic Diagram’ at Halo Specs.

Once the transponder started transmitting I checked on marinetraffic.com but couldn’t see Halo listed at all. Strange… I later checked with my old Daisy USB AIS receiver with a piece of wire for antenna hanging from the balcony at home and I verified that the AIS was coming in strong over a 1 km distance.

I eventually discovered that it takes a day or two for the Marine Traffic website to add new vessels to its database. It is now displaying correctly. (See screenshot and video below of our first sail with the transponder installed).

I am very impressed with this wonderful product and also the great support provided by Vesper Marine.

PD. Vesper Marine was bought out by Garmin in 2022 and sadly they have now discontinued the XB-6000.