AIS receiver, UBS dongle

[rgleason]

@Maelruan Thanks that is good news.

I have spent some time and updated the documentation page here. I changed it to eight main sections, and added a few links to be clearer and more informative. If others including @mickey_YT9TT review this and the links carefully, and let me know what needs correcting, I would appreciate it.

I am not sure I have expressed Section 6, Step 4 properly, please check and advise.

Also, I am not sure you are aware of it, but for all external plugins, for Windows, we are now using %localappdata%\opencpn\plugins\ for the installation of plugins as of version 5.6.2. Only the internal plugins are installed where you have indicated. We are using %localappdata%\opencpn\plugins\ because it is a USER directory and does not cause the issues you write about. Please see
Installation Paths https://opencpn-manuals.github.io/ma...ion-paths.html and read "User Install Path" in the detail area specifically. I would like to know if you no longer get Windows bellyaching with this change.

I think this part of the documentation should be changed to conform to all other external plugins. It will make the installation easier and cleaner and more consistent. Please try it and let me know.


Also we could use some good informative, key screenshots to help with the documentation. Post them here. 640x Resolution if possible.

[Maelruan]

rgleason,

Unfortunately I have not succeeded in putting AIS-Catcher in the Users folder. OpenCPN fails to find rtl_sdr.exe there. I expect that path has to be in the config somewhere.

Is there a reason for "13" after the UDP port ID in Section 6, Step 4?

[cas206]

My guess is that it's a cut/paste error. The original instructions for setting the port are in step 12. After the port number, there was a line return and then a 13 on the next line for step 13.

[JBP]

Originally Posted by bcn

How do you resolve charging of the Android device as the USB port is used by the dongle?
In general the Androids do not allow for parallel USB devices and charging through the same and only port - there are few exceptions though. For example a Pixel 3 will allow wirless charging and a dongle at the same time.

Hubert

As expected, my Samsung devices charge fine with a Y OTG cable and still see the RTL-SDR, but my elcheapo tablet does not. My Samsung A7 lite is my primary navigation device, so that's OK. My $30 10 inch elcheapo is primarily for watching movies.

[DarioH]

I don't see rtl_ais in the dropdown list, already check steps 3-7. The problem started after updating Windows from 8.1 to 11.
Installed versions: Windows 11 Windows 11 Home Single Language (23H2)
OpenCPN 5.8.4-0+1637c28

Opencpn plugin: rtlsdr 1.4.8.0

AIS-catcher 0.59

Can you help me? Greetings,

[mickey_YT9TT]

Yes, I noticed strange behavior too on several PC-s lately but I solved it by installing older version of AIS-catcher, seems to me like no decoder improvements or changes were made so I think nothing is lost by installing older version.
No clue why some versions do work and some does not.
Version 0.57-0.59 don't work while version 0.55-0.56 x86 seems to work OK.