Removable AIS/Open CPN system

[Dave22q]

I have an old Raymarine (A70 display) set up using NMEA0183. No desire to change because it works for me. I anticipate some cruising in areas where I might be exposed to commercial traffic such as the Gulf Stream N/B in South Florida. My thought is that if I switch my laptop from Seaclear II with a GPS BU353 dongle to Open CPN there should be a way to directly connect the laptop to an AIS receiver (networking not an option). As the rig would be infrequently used I would want something easy to install and remove. One thought is to upgrade my VHF to a combination radio AIS receiver with a plug connection to the laptop.
All comments/ideas most welcome.

[bcn]

Invest in good antenna and get this one:
https://www.tindie.com/products/astu...ith-nmea-0183/
powered over USB, you just can bundle it with your PC.

[Dave22q]

Originally Posted by bcn

Invest in good antenna and get this one:
https://www.tindie.com/products/astu...ith-nmea-0183/
powered over USB, you just can bundle it with your PC.

Thanks, but a tad cryptic. Is it a simple as putting a splitter on my VHF antenna, cabling to the AIS receiver and running a USB cable to my laptop. do I need a 2ed cable to power the receiver from the laptop?

[bcn]

Why cryptic?

The receiver is powered from the PC - take your time to study the description!

You will need signal - so either a direct antenna or a splitter.
Splitter is a philosophical questions. Another item that can fail, losses perhaps,...

Up to you - ask here about second opinions.

I would go for a dedicated antenna. But this depends really on your possibilities and usage.

[rgleason]

Get a dAISy ais receiver, it works and is simple. You will need an antenna of couse.

[rgleason]

Use of a common coax splitter is not recommended. Vesper makes a booster/splitter that will allow you to use VHF and AIS on a single antennae.

[bcn]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Use of a common coax splitter is not recommended.

Rick,

not just not recommended - a simple T is forbidden if we don't want to fry some equipment.
Splitter is this context has to be an active one, blocking one equipment when the other of two systems is sending.
Seen quite a lot of people who ended up to have two antennas as the splitter was giving problems. But ymmv...

Hubert

[Bill O]

Dave,
Might be a bit over kill, but if you are going to replace your VHF (and upgrade to a DSC function) we have been very happy w/ the Standard Horizon 2200 features and it connects well w/opencpn w the variable baud rate for AIS.

Cheers.
Bill O.

[rgleason]

Thanks Bill, and it is essentially both functions, AIS & VHF and has an internal splitter.

[Dave22q]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Dave,
Might be a bit over kill, but if you are going to replace your VHF (and upgrade to a DSC function) we have been very happy w/ the Standard Horizon 2200 features and it connects well w/opencpn w the variable baud rate for AIS.

Cheers.
Bill O.

How do you connect to your computer to view on CPN? Simple USB cable? Plug and play operation? As the horizon 2200 has internal GPS will a USB connection replace my separate GPS dongle for running CPN?

[Bill O]

Dave,
The easiest way I found was to follow these instructions. I'm using OCPN on a Rpi set up and it works well for AIS overlay. Since I already had a GPS dongle on my Rpi, I never attempted to see if the GPS data would transmit from the VHF to the computer. I'd assume it would work, just need to set up in OCPN which port the GPS info is coming in.

A cheaper source for the same special USB cable (w/internal chips) is here.

Mostly I use keep my computer set up in the nav. station and purchased the secondary mike set up for comm. in the cockpit. This allows direct call access to AIS targets.

Cheers.
Bill O.

[Dave22q]

Many great replies. Thanks to all. It is looking like a smart splitter and the dAISy might works for me at about half the cost of going with Horizon combo unit. That is dictated by my pattern of seldom sailing in or near commercial lanes. If I was near a major city like Miami or Tampa I would go for the combo VHF/AIS with a removable USB connection to view on a laptop OPCN.

[rgleason]

Just updated the AIS section with this info. Thanks.
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...re:ais_devices

KC1BKM