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Anchor Alert - Why do I receive an AIS Alert from an unknown vessel?

Why you may receive an Anchor Alert from a vessel with an Unknown name

Written by Matt Crockett

AIS Alerts is a unique feature offered by Anchor Alert. On occasion, you may receive an AIS alert from a vessel with an (Unknown) name.

You may receive an Anchor Alert from an (Unknown) vessel because the vessel has not published its vessel metadata.

Vessel static information (the pop-up box with boat information) that doesn't change frequently, such as the vessel's name, call sign, size and voyage information, is sent every 6 minutes for both Class A and B vessels.

Troubleshooting Unknown AIS Alerts

  1. Wait for 5-10 minutes and see if the name starts to appear.

  2. Check the same MMSI on your MFD / chartplotter, in OpenCPN, AquaMap and Navionics - it should be consistent between them and Anchor Alert.

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