... several years now, it's on all the time when we're moving. I do leave the transmit on. Ours is at the NAV, I simply did not want to clutter up the Helm, we have only a Plotter and Pilot display/control here. Our plotters are older, they do not integrate with the AIS. We do have to run back & forth to the NAV to see the AIS, probably not the best scenario, but I don't mind. It's a nice instrument, I like having it protected at the NAV. Cheers, John