[Walleyed]

Gerry,

I upgraded 2 years ago, to a Standard Horizon GX2200, DSC/AIS builtin GPS. It sends the DSC/AIS/GPS data out via a NMEA 0183 port, which I hooked into my Raymarine MFD.

Now the MFD will display AIS data, let you set all the various alarms, and if a neighboring boat sends a DSC alert, I receive it and it displays right up on the MFD.

And of course, it gives the chartplotter one more option for GPS data.

You can also register a MMSI on the BoatUS website.

No down side to it.