Trying to get my AIS to OpenCPN

[mickand]

I love OpenCPN and have it opened on a laptop at the helm next to a small Simrad NSS Evo2.
Simrad shows all AIS targets as normal.
I installed a Yacht Devices dongle to the backbone and it's flashing lights appear to be normal.
I'm not computer savvy and I can't proceed further to get it to show targets etc. on the laptop.
I attach a screenshot of 'output' but don't know if this is AIS output or not.
Any help would be appreciated.

[nohal]

The messages you get are total garbage, AIS NMEA 0183 messages should look something like this:

!AIVDM,1,1,,A,14Uumt0Oi:00GQ0O;Ab6FTuR0L0>,0*36
!AIVDM,1,1,,A,14QsCa002Gww>8LO1T6<A9uP0D0A,0*64
!AIVDM,2,1,1,A,58UQ<802@Vj9TaIWV20pE@PE8h4pB1@T@F22220l2Hk8865E0<Tm<p8888888888,0*46
!AIVDM,2,2,1,A,8888880,2*25

To help you we need some more information, like screenshot of the Connections tab in OpenCPN and screenshot of the Serial Ports part of the device tree in the Windows Device Manager.

[bdbcat]

Looks like maybe bad baud rate on the serial port.
AIS receivers generally use 38,400 baud interface.


Good Luck
Dave

[mickand]

Nohal - connections and port screenshots attached

[nohal]

OK, this seems reasonably OK, so we may progress further.

What exactly is "Yacht Devices dongle"? And what exactly is connected to the two USB ports? I would guess the "dongle" is on COM4 and you try to forward the data to COM5, but there is a problem with that (It is not related to receiving garbage instead of NMEA 0183 data feed, I'm just wondering).

If the dongle is https://www.yachtd.com/products/usb_gateway.html are you sure it is switched to "0183" mode?

[mickand]

That is the gateway device and at present it is factory set to 'auto' which should read 0183.
I have disabled Comm5 - originally thought this was the correct port.

[nohal]

Well what it sends certainly is not NMEA0183. Reading the manual for your device it is using the RAW mode. Please refer to the chapter V. Configuration of Device Operation Modes of the device's manual (https://www.yachtd.com/downloads/ydnu02.pdf) and set it to 0183 mode (OpenCPN must not be running when you do it, only one thing at a time may be using a serial port).

[mickand]

Thanks for your continued help.
I will attempt to change to 0183 - but this will be a challenge for my Abacus-minded brain.
May take me a while.

[nohal]

- Open Command Prompt from the Windows start menu
- type: echo YDNU MODE 0183 > COM4
- Hit Enter
- Close the Command Prompt
- Launch OpenCPN
- Everything should work

[mickand]

Entered the command
This is latest output

[nohal]

Yes, now your device is in NMEA0183 mode, it did not send any AIS sentences during the sub 1 second period of time covered by your picture though (which sure may be absolutely normal).

[mickand]

Getting 0183 info but no AIS VDM or VDO info coming through. Chartplotter is showing all targets and tracking as per normal.

[nohal]

Originally Posted by mickand

Getting 0183 info but no AIS VDM or VDO info coming through. Chartplotter is showing all targets and tracking as per normal.

I'm afraid I can't help you with that. If you are sure the AIS data is coming over the bus to which you connected the gateway, then it has to be the gateway not translating the AIS PGNs, but according to the manual it should do it without any further configuration.

[mickand]

I'll keep trying and I truly appreciate and thank you for all your help.