Callsign MMSI to ship name

[Gazman429]

Hi All,

Just wondering if it's possible or if it is an exotic request,

Is it possible to replace the MMSI callsign with a vessel name callsign,
IE currently on VRS the callsign is displayed as "V:503405000", but I would like to display the vessels name in callsign "ACCOLADE II" instead if I have a vessel's name against a MMSI in my ICAO map or other.
Even for aircraft, most of our recue aircraft in Australia have default fixed callsigns, MMSI 111503031: 0x7C7591 has a fixed callsign of RESC550 (Rescue 550) for example.
Yes I changed a parameter to display the full MMSI from 6 to 9,
I don't know if it's possible or just too hard, but would be a nice feature to have.
I've been looking at the code and either just over looking a possible line on the code to make it work or over thinking.

Gary.

[jvde-github]

I think it is a great idea. However, note that the vessel name must come from a message 5 which might not be available immediately (typically ships and helis broadcast mostly 1-3 and message 9). So, two things need to happen, we need to track for the relevant MMSIs when we receive a shipname and store it somewhere in a database and secondly still use the MMSI as callsign until we know what the shipname is. For helis this might never be received if they only send message 9.

Something to think about but requires some new logic, so I think it will be a bit more than one line of code.

[Gazman429]

I tried this change in send base station and it hasn't worked or I need to make changes else where, does it read messages 5 and 24 from AIS Catcher?.

def sendBaseStation(decoded):
global settings

alt = decoded.get('alt', 0)
lat = decoded.get('lat', None)
lon = decoded.get('lon', None)
speed = decoded.get('speed', None)
heading = decoded.get('course', None)

# Get the vessel's name if available
vessel_name = decoded.get('vessel_name', None)

if lat != None and lon != None and speed != None and heading != None:
    ICAO = '%X' % generateICAO(decoded['mmsi'])

    now_utc = datetime.now()
    dstr = now_utc.strftime("%Y/%m/%d")
    tstr = now_utc.strftime("%H:%M:%S.%f")[:-3]

    # Use the vessel's name if available, otherwise fallback to MMSI-based call sign
   
    if vessel_name:
        callsign = vessel_name[:20] # truncate to 20 characters
    else:
        callsign = "V:" + ("00000" + str(decoded['mmsi']) )[-9:]

    ground_flag = 1 if alt < 1 else 0
    alt_str = "" if alt < 1 else str(alt)

    global client_socket

    spos = f'MSG,2,1,0,{ICAO},1,{dstr},{tstr},{dstr},{tstr},,{alt_str},{speed},{heading},{lat},{lon},,,,,,{ground_flag}\n'
    scs = f'MSG,1,1,0,{ICAO},1,{dstr},{tstr},{dstr},{tstr},{callsign},,,,,,,,,,,\n'

    if client_socket == None:
        print(spos)
        print(scs)
    else:
        try:
            client_socket.send(spos.encode())
            if settings["includeCallSign"]:
                client_socket.send(scs.encode())

            global sent
            sent = sent + 1

        except (socket.error, OSError):
            print("Connection lost. Reconnecting...")
            client_socket.close()
            client_socket = None
            connectClient()

[jvde-github]

Hi Gary, lot more changes. You need to make a datastructure that detects vessel names in the input stream and somewhere store that per MMSI. Then in the send Base you look up a vessel name from this structure and include it in the Basestation output.

In a nutshell, the message with the location we use to send to VRS does not have the vessel_name. Different message types. So needs to be glued together.

[Gazman429]

Ah OK alright hit the pause button and reset time, Cheers.

[Gazman429]

OK had progress, not perfect due to VRS limitations on the map it appears but achieves the goal I was hoping for. Now this works for Virtual Radar Server not sure about other ADS-B programs.

[Gazman429]

If you want to add this in or not, Doesn't pull names from messages, manually entered data instead. My small contribution.
To see what it looks like visit = www.anz-air.com

Note 1 : On Virtual Radar Server on the map there is a limit on character length, some vessel names are longer and so the callsign names on the map do get clipped.

Note 2 : On TAR 1090 I discovered callsigns are limited to the ICAO 7 character standard. I set this to 9 character as VRS (Virtual Radar Server) can accept lengthy callsigns.

UPDATE 26/12/2025

I finally had received AIS SAR aircraft and found the code lines I added for altitude meters to feet conversion stopped aircraft showing, removed that code line for now.

UPDATE 30/11/2025

Minor code change, sometimes / often large vessels or vessels with Class A AIS transponders would not be facing correct heading when stationary or berthed, changed course/heading parameters to show vessels in a more accurate facing position.

UPDATE 25/10/2025

Changes, MMSI callsigns I changed from 6 to 9 so instead of V:158850 it will show V:503158850 if no vessel name is in the map. (helps if you want to build a data base)
I also added code lines to convert altitude from AIS meters to ADS-B feet, (untested as I haven't had any aircraft that transmit AIS in my area for a few months) and was unsuccessful in getting anyone to share data to aid in testing. Anyone in Australia Eastern or Western states wanting to share to test let me know please.

My variations on the original code. just remove the "dot txt" after py (only way I could upload the file)

Base code ( fixed an error that prevented the program from launching )

ais2adsb-gazman429.v0.4.py.txt

Code with some vessel name map

ais2adsb-gazman429-v0.0.4.py.txt

[Phil353556]

Hello,
may be a display's issue ?
From the photo of the vessel:

From the website

Great function!
Thanks
Phil

[Gazman429]

Ah yes I did forget to mention one thing, on VRS callsign character length is limited on the map so vessel names that are longer do get clipped, something I've got to look into on VRS to see if I can change that.