I don't come over here often but I have been following
OpenCPN for a while because I used to sail sometimes as a kid and young adult, loved it, and now am into
GPS stuff a bit.
I've enjoyed fooling around
OpenCPN a bit and if someday I might be able to sail again it will be at the top of my list of useful tools...
But, I've never posted here because, its all just too
remote of a chance right now for me to think about it unless it becomes a bit more possible.
But, just tonight, I realized something I knew I really should tell you folks about. (of course, you all probably know about this
already, but if not..check it out!)
Around three months ago one of the developers of the
Linux DVB-T driver made a chance discovery that some of the very
cheap DVB-T dongles that (at that time) were selling for as little as
$15, (a bit more now..) make great little
software defined radios and can receive from around 50 MHz to sometimes as high as
2200 MHz.
They are a bit noisy and prone to signal overload, but, for $20- who cares..
But, anyway, these are digital radios and they can receive digital modes, like
AIS, using gnuradio.
Anyway, I invite you to check them and it out and join the fun and maybe eventually you will be able to add native support to openCPN so you all can get
AIS with it and - that's a good thing because doesn't AIS notify you when a nearby ship is in
distress? Or it should.
"If one life is saved, because of this, its all worth it!!"
*sob sob*
Here are the basic links that I think a programmer would need to get a good idea of what I am talking about. Its not often that such a great hack comes along.. these little things are great, not a day goes by that I don't figure out or read about some fun new thing to do with mine..
You can listen to satellites, download
weather maps.. you name it.
My name is 'christ0ph' on reddit.. if you come by the "rtlsdr" reddit, say hi!
RTL-SDR community on Reddit
The osmocom-sdr Archives
RTL2832U - SpenchWiki
rtl-sdr
http://www.gnuradio.org
(huge ecosystem of FOSS
software defined radio/comms tools)
https://github.com/bistromath/gr-ais.git
(AIS receiver in
software for gnuradio, via git, so you can see how AIS works with an SDR)
RTL-SDR compatibility list v.2 [work in progress, please help!] : RTLSDR /rtlsdr_compatibility_list_v2_work_in_progress/
https://www.cgran.org/browser/projec...k/multimode.py
(general purpose receiver 50-2200 MHz)
https://github.com/bistromath/gr-air-modes (ADS-B software receiver)
There are lots of video on youtube, just
plug in "rtlsdr" or "rtl-sdr"
If you all already know about all this and are on top of it already, thats great! please accept my apologies, I am not trying to spam you.