Making the most of OpenCPN (on my traditional nano-budget)

Reptile Smile

Reptile Smile

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I'm aiming to get a GPS antenna and AIS into OpenCPN as cheaply as possible, and, indeed, interested in any other thoughts anyone has as to how to get the most out of the program?

I'm running Ubuntu 11.10 on a MSI Wind U135 netbook. I presume that the ubiquitous BU 353 USB GPS is a contender, but I really know very little about the AIS side. Cany anyone suggest anything?

Thanks in advance.
 
The cheapest freestanding AIS unit I know of is the one made by NASA which then feeds a PC.

However, if I were you i'd think about an AIS unit which is combined with a VHF radio - something like the STANDARD HORIZON GX2100 vhf. This has a small screen to show targets but can also output the signals to a PC where you can link it to a plotter such as OPENCPN.
 
I used my old laptop for passage planning as it was more comfortable that sitting at the plotter in the cockpit and cheaper than a repeater.

The first laptop didn't have Bluetooth and I already had a Bluetooth GlobalTop GPS for TomTom on my PDA so tried that. I tried connecting it via USB and worked perfectly for 6-7 minutes until auto-shutdown kicked in. i.e. It couldn't find a Bluetooth connection so went to sleep. I bought another Bluetooth GPS for my wife's PDA and it didn't have auto-shutdown so worked well when plugged in via USB.

As far as I can see, just buy the cheapest GPS dongle you can get. Either Bluetooth or wired should be fine as long as there isn't an auto-shutdown. Wired USB connection means you don't worry about charging the GPS but Bluetooth leaves an extra USB socket free (mouse, AIS etc.).

I can't guarantee that all Bluetooth GPS units will put out data via USB.

Search eBay for something like these for £10-£20:
"VODAFONE KEYRING RECIVER 51 CH. BLUETOOTH GPS SAT NAV RECEIVER 4 LAPTOPS MOBILES"

"USB GPS RECEIVER DONGLE ADAPTOR FOR PC NETBOOK LAPTOP"

I bought a advanSea RX-100 from marinesuperstore.com for around £70 (special discount) but they still have some for £100. I haven't used it in anger yet but it has been fitted and seems to work well.

You still need to get an aerial feed for AIS and that means either a spliiter (e.g. Glomex AIS/AM/FM Splitter RA201AIS £53 from marinesuperstore) or a second VHF antenna.
 
Mistroma said:
As far as I can see, just buy the cheapest GPS dongle you can get.
Click to expand...

I agree. I have used such a GPS adapter plugged into a cheap Acer netbook running OpenCPN with CM93 charts below on the chart table. I now use a combined GPS/AIS receiver that saves a USB socket and OpenCPN is quite capable of accepting the two inputs on the same port.

I bought a advanSea RX-100 from marinesuperstore.com for around £70 (special discount) but they still have some for £100. I haven't used it in anger yet but it has been fitted and seems to work well.
Click to expand...
On the specification alone it will be much superior to the ubiquitous NASA engine on the grounds of genuine, simultaneous dual-channel reception alone, let alone USB output. A great price but even at the normal one, not expensive compared to others of similar specification.
 
I have NASA AIS engine 3 and pushpit mounted aerial for it which quickly & easily can also serve as an emergency aerial for the main VHF. Bluenext USB GPS off ebay...
 
I have a couple of BU 353s for backup, but I actually use the builtin GPS from my AIS transponder, which is fed through via NMEA and displayed by opencpn (option GPS-shared fom AIS). Love this setup.
 
My set up

Got a 12v LINX pc (cheap from Maplins) £100 comes with 150 gig hard drive 4 usb port HDMI and VGA wireless Aluminium keyboard with touch pad and sd card slot with a BU 353 USB GPS £29 from amazon works a treat and a digital yacht usb AIS £129 came with free antenna worth £40 quid and a 12inch usb powered touch screen monitor (that was the expensive bit). All works wonderfully with OpenCpn

re USB monitor does not show anything until the USB drivers are loaded in windows. IF I have a start up issue then I wire the LINX vga into the on board 12V DVB/DVD/TV £99 with VGA for the startup options.

Have wired the sound out of the PC into the boats Audio head unit now have a windows touch screen music centre too.

I also use terminal server via the wireless on the PC to give me a chart plotter on my Tablet so I have a chart plotter and media centre in the cockpit.

All for about £500. Very nice.

I have a raymarine intergrated system and would like a seatalk to Nmea Multiplexer to intgrate to Above....So if someone has one to give away RNLI will have a good donation and I will write a report for the forum too......
 
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