AIS receiver, UBS dongle

[Polaris43J]

Hi, I’ve searched the threads for mobile AIS solutions - basically looking to equip laptop with AIS receiver. Use case is to have it serve as a mobile nav aid. I understand the benefits of a full AIS kit to transmit/receive and share the mast mounted antenna, but also exploring a solution whereby AIS receiver completely self-contained with Laptop. For example, saw this eBay listing. Does anyone have experience with this? I have a simple USB GPS that works fine with openCPN, and looking for similar USB input for AIS. There is also one branded ShipXplorer, but without integrated antenna. Thanks in advance, and apologies if my search missed a thread that covers this.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354489677040?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=1kEVtLPFRju&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=l9q96FbURE K&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Tsuru]

Years ago, I installed one of these and intigrated it with the onboard MFD. It worked pretty well and according to the instructions it is compatable with Open CPN. It will need 12 VDC power and an antenna but should install easily.
Good luck

[teppokurki]

https://shop.wegmatt.com/products/daisy-ais-receiver

[ChristianV]

Quark AIS receiver works well with OpenCPN and Navionics on iPhone.
https://www.quark-elec.com/product/q...-gps-receiver/

[verkerkbr]

I'am using an RTL-DSR usb dongle for years, in combination with the calibration of the OpenPlotter application. Works in my office almost daily. Can used on an RPIbut alsoworkds on my Mint Vera amd64.

The cost of the dongle around € 18,-. plus an old VHF antenna..

Input via the SignalK server.

These dongles were made for TV reception.


Bram

[Maelruan]

Short Wave HF alternative to AIS.
MULTIPSK developer Patrick Lindecker has added a HF locator feature to his HAM programme which allows low cost very low power TxRx (QRP) SDR units to provide position info to shore receivers. His developement is an upgrade of a system that has been used on the recent Gloden Globe Race by some competitors, and follows the tracking system used by HAM balloons for some decades now.
Patrick is at index, and this is an extract from his recent email:

The main improvements of MULTIPSK 4.48.2 are described below.
Aimed to mobile stations for long distance communications, it is proposed 3 tracking position beacons, each one using the pieces of information issued from a GPS receiver. These beacons are listed below, from the less accurate in WSPR mode (but the more sensitive in reception) to the more accurate in EM mode.
The received positions can be displayed on a map. It is also displayed the distance between the receiver position and the transmitter one, in km or in miles.

Maelruan

[mickey_YT9TT]

I know this is older thread but may be useful info.
You could buy RTL-SDR blog V3 or V4 receiver or even dedicated dongle from ShipXplorer that is filtered and amplified just to listen for AIS frequency. I have installed them on many laptops and built portable antennas for those that change vessels often and to serve as backup. I explained install steps on this YouTube video (excuse for poor English, it is not my native language ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ5eHXnsQ4g

It also can be used on setup like tablet/phone with OTG cable but it drains battery faster due to processing/screen ON and USB receiver power usage. It can be used with AIS catcher app from android app store.
It works quite good and stable, even tho I am inland, antenna height is low, I am getting good decoding data in big radius.
One info, plugin that is used is currently working with 5.6.2 not with newer versions of OpenCPN but there is a workaround, if you are interested I can explain.

[rgleason]

mickey_YT9TT this is a help help for users and explains the plugin use with OpenCPN. Thank you!

Can you provide some futher description and detail to be added to the plugin manual? It would be a big help.

BTW I could not see all the parameters being entered.

Also if there is enough interest, we can definitely get the plugin updated to work with OpenCPN 5.8.2 and 5.6 and with the PI Manager system. Is there any interest in that?

[duichan]

Is there any interest in that?

Definitely!

[mickey_YT9TT]

Originally Posted by rgleason

mickey_YT9TT this is a help help for users and explains the plugin use with OpenCPN. Thank you!

Can you provide some futher description and detail to be added to the plugin manual? It would be a big help.

BTW I could not see all the parameters being entered.

Also if there is enough interest, we can definitely get the plugin updated to work with OpenCPN 5.8.2 and 5.6 and with the PI Manager system. Is there any interest in that?

Hi, sorry for the late reply, as I said in the video, i live in Belgrade that lays on two riverbanks, Danube and Sava, both are navigable for passenger and cargo ships. I installed at least 10 setups with this combination on various river vessels, for now I have very good feedback from users. Now experimenting with antenna design, LNA, filters and so on (not really necessary, only to experiment)

In description of video are necessary parameters but development of AIS catcher is so fast that this video is bit outdated I have .pdf document explaining install procedure for windows PC users, I could send it to update plugin page.
I got info from users that they would like to see version 5.8+ working with RTL-SDR like ver 5.6

If you/development team want to update plugin for 5.8+, I would highly appreciate to add AIS-catcher decoder (instead deprecated rtl_ais) as this is most up to date and advanced software that I know for decoding AIS with RTL-SDR (and other SDR devices too). I can help with debugging on Windows if necessary, decoder is also cross platform so there is also Linux version (there is also an android app but I don't recommend it, maybe as emergency backup).

Since it can also serve as data feeder to aishub, shipxplorer, vesselfinder and marine traffic here is my feeding data statistics for shpixplorer site


To summarize, captains and other users of this setup that I talked to, will be very grateful if you can update plugin to work with 5.8/ PI Manager system.

[rgleason]

@mickey_9TYTT

Ok we will update it and look forward to working with you.
I can update rtlsdr_pi and configure for building all the supported OS with O58, but I will also need some more heavy duty programming help, is there anyone who is interested in that role?

[mickey_YT9TT]

Originally Posted by rgleason

@mickey_9TYTT

Ok we will update it and look forward to working with you.
I can update rtlsdr_pi and configure for building all the supported OS with O58, but I will also need some more heavy duty programming help, is there anyone who is interested in that role?

I am not so familiar with programming, only arduino/esp 32 low level stuff...
I will send updated manual in day or two.


There is also a workaround for 5.8+, kind of, I created .bat file. First line is to run decoder minimized and then to run maximized OpenCPN, then plugin is not needed. But if someone closes decoder window it will stop working and no vessels will show on OpenCPN. Also you need to configure input data connection.
Content of .bat file is similar to parameters being entered at plugin-preferences window and it looks like this
@echo off
START /max "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN\opencpn.exe"
START /min AIS-catcher.exe -gr RTLAGC on TUNER auto -v 120 -o 2 -a 192K -u 127.0.0.1 10110 -N 8100
exit
Create it in folder where AIS-catcher is extracted and name it like start.bat or whatever.
I will explain options in depth in manual.

[Maelruan]

The attached screen grab is from a test this afternoon while drifting in Dublin Bay this afternoon. AISCatcher switches: "AIS-catcher -v 10 -c AB -p -1 -u 127.0.0.1 10110 -o 1 -gr RTLAGC on TUNER 45 -a 50K". RTLSDR Ver 3, Slim Jim antenna from 300 Ohm ribbon cable hung from crosstrees (design on previous post some years ago). The boat was aligned North East to South West so that the antenna was not screened by the mast while receiving the Aid To Nav 134 NMs away on the far side of Ireland, and the target 111 NMs away across the Irish sea, but never the less, these are the best results yet, well above all the other apps using the same equipment over the past 5 or 6 years. I expect there could well be further improvements using some of the other switches mickey_YT9TT suggests.
AIS on OpenCPN via RTLSDR has proven particularly valuable at night, and when caught in thick fog in busy waterways which happens more often than one would like.

[rgleason]

Thanks Maelruan for your post. I am working on updating rtlsdr for OpenCPN PI Manager (PIM) now with some help from Dave.

[mickey_YT9TT]

Hi to all, I reinstalled OpenCPN on one PC, downloaded newest one and found plugin in PIM hooray
I will try it out today and if it is all OK, I will update manual/install steps and post it here for all interested. Thanks @rgleason (and others too) !