New rtlsdr Plugin

[rgleason]

@JohnGC
I use Windows and I spent several days a number of years ago and I was never able to get it working, though I really wanted to. I purchased a dAISy and found it worked well.

Others have gotten it to work I think. Search on rtlsdr in the forum to find those posts.

It would be good to have a setup that worked for Windows.... Sean uses Linux so it works well there.

[JohnGC]

@rgleason
Thanks for the reply. The OCPN log shows that the exe's should be in
C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN\plugins\rtlsdr_pi\bin

I've copied them there and get one step further but still not working.

I update this if I manage to sort it out.

[JohnGC]

I have an alternative for Windows which was quick and easy to set-up.

I'm using a "RTL-SDR Blog V3 R820T2 RTL2832U" and an VHF whip.
My laptop is running Windows 10 64 Home.
I just followed the details here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7XJkeZrW4

I probably had it working with 15 minutes of watching the video.
I downloaded the app from here;
xDeco.org – Console application for RTL2832 and AIRSPY

AISDECO2 runs in a command prompt window console.
It receives both AIS channels.
You specify a UDP address and port on which it outputs the NMEA0183 AIS messages.
Then just set-up OpenCPN connections in the usual way.

[rgleason]

JohnGC Thank you. Looks like it is easier this way!
Perhaps this should be used or written up for the wiki?


youtube code

 

Ik7XJkeZrW4

[JohnGC]

I'll try to find time to look into this in more detail. If it pans out I'd be happy to write a Wiki entry. Leve it with me for a while.

[JohnGC]

An update as promised.

I have successfully used SDR dongles to receive AIS using AISdeco2 on Windows 10.

The method I used is now on the AIS Software page of the Wiki
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...e:ais-software

There are two parts to the instructions.

1. Setting up an SDR dongle using the freeware SDRsharp and Zadig USB driver installer. This is the most complex part of the process. It can be skipped if you already have the SDR working. This set-up method is also valid for non AISdeco2 uses of an SDR.

2. Configuring AISdeco2 with a batch file and making it work with OpenCPN. Should only take a few minutes.

[rgleason]

John I found my rtlsdr and will give this a try. I think I still have my antenna. Thanks for your fine writeup.

[mickey_YT9TT]

Is someone able to run rtlsdr_pi win32\plugin in latest windows versions 5.8+ ?
I cannot find it in plugin catalog and every manual install of .dll file failed
Here is some info from log file (it took me a while to find it)
07:35:44.457 MESSAGE plugin_loader.cpp:271 Checking plugin candidate: C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN\plugins\OpenCPN\plugins\rtlsdr_pi.dl l
07:35:44.457 MESSAGE plugin_loader.cpp:336 Checking plugin compatibility: C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN\plugins\OpenCPN\plugins\rtlsdr_pi.dl l
07:35:44.457 MESSAGE plugin_loader.cpp:1191 Plugin is compatible: false
07:35:44.457 MESSAGE plugin_loader.cpp:344 Incompatible plugin detected: C:\Program Files (x86)\OpenCPN\plugins\OpenCPN\plugins\rtlsdr_pi.dl l

[rgleason]

Mickey I will try to update the frontend and wxwidgets and recompile it for you. This plugin needs some testing and care though, so this may be just the first step

[mickey_YT9TT]

Many thanks, can I suggest to add just one thing, as rtl_ais is now deprecated, can you add in drop down list fantastic new decoder called AIS-catcher (https://github.com/jvde-github/AIS-catcher) ?

[mickey_YT9TT]

I we been busy these days building and experimenting with various AIS antenna designs, so I stopped by to see if is there any news about plugin development. I also build new RF filters and change is drastic when you are in RF noisy environment.